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CS/CE 218 --- Unix and C Programming
\hfill \today \\

\begin{center}
{\huge Red Tape}
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\section{Grading}

Grading is necessarily subjective,
although we will assign grades as objectively as we are able.
We will take into account style in programs and in English.
For example, written programs should be clear, modular, efficient,
well-documented, and conform to various Unix conventions.
Similarly, your English should clearly present the main points
and supporting arguments with a minimum of excess verbiage.
Clarity in both programs and English is essential,
since it reflects logical thinking.
We will point out your mistakes anyway,
the essential thing is for you to learn to see them for yourself.

\subsection{Class Participation}

Your answers, when called on in lecture, will count for
5\% of your total grade.
This grade, while necessarily subjective, will be based on
how well your answers demonstrate an adequate grasp of the material.
It will {\em not\/} depend on how fast you think;
so don't worry about taking time to think before you answer a question.

See also the section below on required visits.

\subsection{Quizzes}

Quizzes will be given with no advance notice.
They may be given either in lecture or in the laboratory.
They will count for
10\% of your total grade.
Quizzes will be timed (an unfortunate necessity).
They will be based on assigned readings, or material discussed previously
(sometimes given a new slant).

Grades for quizzes will be based on the following absolute scale.
Let $T$ be the total possible quiz points (excluding extra credit).
Let $y$ be the total points you received on the homework.
Let $f = (y/T)$.  Your grade is an 'A' if $f \ge 0.8$,
an `A-' if $f \ge 0.75$, a `B+' if $f \ge 0.70$,
a `B' if $f \ge 0.65$, a `B-' if $f \ge 0.60$, a `C+' if $f \ge 0.55$,
a `C' if $f \ge 0.50$, a `C-' if $f \ge 0.45$, and so on.

Quizzes cannot be retaken if you miss class.
However, if you know you are going to miss a class (e.g., for a job interview),
you may see the professor about being excused from a potential quiz in advance.
If you are sick or have some other legitimate reason for missing class,
see the professor about being excused.

\subsection{Homework}

Homework consists of both ``lab reports'' and other assignments.
Homework will count for 45\% of your final grade.
To allow you some leeway in learning from your mistakes on homework,
you may revise up to 3 lab reports and 10 numbered parts of other assignments,
provided that your revision is turned in within 3 days
after that homework is returned (to the class).
However, we will {\em not\/} accept revisions
during or after final exam week.

Homework grades will based on an absolute standard (i.e., not on a curve),
although some adjustments may be made as necessary.
The letter corresponding to the homework portion of your grade
(and each individual assignment)
is computed as follows.
Let $T$ be the total possible homework points (excluding extra credit).
Let $y$ be the total points you received on the homework.
Let $f = (y/T)$.  Your grade is an 'A' if $f \ge 0.9$,
an `A-' if $f \ge 0.85$, a `B+' if $f \ge 0.80$,
a `B' if $f \ge 0.75$, a `B-' if $f \ge 0.70$, a `C+' if $f \ge 0.65$,
a `C' if $f \ge 0.60$, a `C-' if $f \ge 0.55$, and so on.

To encourage you to explore and learn on your own,
there will be various suggestions for extra credit on homeworks.
Extra credit work will only be taken into account if you are between grades.
Please do as much extra credit as you find interesting and have time for,
but do not do it to ``make up for'' poor performance on the rest of your
homework.
(The extra credit is an effective way of reigning in the professor's
desire to teach you what he considers the {\em really\/} interesting
things, which of course you probably don't really need to know.
Still, they point the way towards further explorations of the subject.)

\subsection{Examinations}

The other 40\% of your grade will be based on the examinations.
The in-class exams are noted on the syllabus.
There will also be a final exam
at the time scheduled by the university.
All exams will be timed.

Grading on exams will be curved, but in no case will the requirements
for a particular grade on an exam be higher than those described above for
the homework.
(That is, if the entire class scores above 80\% on an exam,
I will give everyone at least a B+ on the exam.\footnote{
After I recover from the surprise.})
Barring such a happy event, I will curve each exam as follows.
Let $b$ be the median exam percentage of the all the students
whose current homework grade is a `B'.
Let $\sigma$ be the standard deviation of the exam percentages.
Let $f$ be your fraction of the total available points on the exam.
Your grade is an 'A' if $f \ge b+(5/6)\sigma$,
an `A-' if $f \ge b+0.5\sigma$, a `B+' if $f \ge b+(1/6)\sigma$,
a `B' if $f \ge b-(1/6)\sigma$,
a `B-' if $f \ge b-0.5\sigma$, a `C+' if $f \ge b-(5/6)\sigma$,
a `C' if $f \ge b-(7/6)\sigma$, a `C-' if $f \ge b-1.5\sigma$, and so on.
The intent of this algorithm is to encourage the `C' students to catch up
to the `B' students, and to give the homework some extra influence on
the final grade.

\subsection{Final Grades}

Final grades will be figured based on components listed above,
weighted as described above.

If you do not do the homework, you will fail, regardless of your exam
and quiz grades.

\section{Collaboration/Cooperation}

You are encouraged to discuss the course, including homework,
with other students and exchange ideas.

However, {\em you must make up your own solutions to each homework problem},
since no one else can learn something for you
(and since you will be tested on the material in the homework).
To be specific,
{\em all written material that you hand in must be your original work.}
Answers, whether code, sentences, pictures, or numbers,
must neither be copied (plagiarized) nor jointly developed.
When discussing homework with others in the class please do not put them
in situation where they must either not answer a question or use your answer
by giving away the details of an answer.
What is permitted, is that you discuss homework in a general way:
what the problem says or requires, how to think about the problem,
ways one might consider for developing a solution, suggestions of where
to look in the text for help, issues to consider, etc.

If you use reference materials (other than the course texts)
to solve a problem, please give a citation.
Similarly, if you discuss a solution with another student,
give credit where credit is due by making a note such as
``the following idea was developed jointly with Alyssia P. Hacker,''
or ``the following idea is due to Ben Bittwiddle.''

If the work is too much or too tedious, please complain quickly to the
course staff, but do not cheat yourself out of an education.
It is hard to judge the difficulty of homeworks,
so we ask your help in this matter.

\section{Late Policy}

Homework is due by 5PM on the date specified;
you may give it to your TA if you hand it in after class.
(You may also give it to the professor, but he will just give it to your TA;
if your TA is not in his office, you may leave it in the appropriate
department office to have given to the TA, or you may leave it with
the professor.)

Please try to hand in homework on time.
If your homework is late it will be
marked down 25 percent of the total possible points the first weekday
it is late, 50 percent the next weekday, and 100 percent thereafter.

If you have a terrible crisis (e.g., divorce, death in your family, or
hospitalization), please tell the professor and some arrangement may be made.
If you must be out-of-town for some other reason (e.g., an interview),
please see the professor in advance and some arrangement may be made.

\section{Staff}

Assistant Professor Gary Leavens (Ph.D., MIT, 1989) is the lecturer,
and Bashar Jano and Joseph Reynolds are the teaching assistants.
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lllll}
Name 		& Office 	& E-mail & Phone	& Office Hours \\
\hline
Gary Leavens	& 229 Atanasoff & leavens & 294-1580	& MWF 11-12, MW 4\\
Bashar Jano	&		& jano	  &		& \\
Joseph Reynolds & 17 Atanasoff	& joseph  & 294-0774	& ~ 
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\subsection{Office Hours}

The purpose of office hours is to state the times when you
are guaranteed to be able to reach the staff.
You may call or visit at other times as well,
but we may not be able to talk with you at all times of the day.

\subsection{Other Ways to Reach Us}

You are encouraged to ask short questions by electronic mail.
If you have a simple technical question that is not urgent,
this is an excellent way to reach the staff.
Questions asked by electronic mail will most often be answered
by electronic mail, so please check your electronic mail frequently.

The professor's telephone is answered at all times,
so leave a message if necessary.

\section{Lectures}

The lecture meets from 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
in 103 Pearson.
Your attendance is required.
(If the lectures are boring, please let us know.)

\section{Laboratory Sections}

The laboratory sections meet on Thursdays
in 116 Atanasoff.
Section 1 meets at 10 AM, section 2 meets at 11 AM,
and section 3 meets at 12:10 PM (all for the usual 50 minutes).
You are required to attend the laboratories.
You must attend the during the time for which you have registered;
if you wish to change these times, you must reregister.

\section{Required Visits}

The course staff urgently wishes to help you learn the material.
To encourage you to take advantage of our help, you are required
to visit each of us outside of the normal class periods.
These required meetings may last about 15 minutes (or longer if you wish),
and we will ask you questions, discuss essays or homework,
as well as answer any questions you may have.

Besides lectures and recitations you are required to
\begin{itemize}
\item
visit the professor at least once in his office
to discuss the initial essay assignment;
this must be done before
September 20,

\item
visit your teaching assistant at once in his office
to discuss your lab reports;
this must be done before September 20,

\item
discuss any exam or homework on which you receive a grade
of `C' or lower with a member of the course staff.
Experience shows that students getting such grades
tend to overestimate their grasp of the correct answers.
\end{itemize}

{\em If you do not fulfill these requirements, your grade for class
participation will be reduced to zero.}

\section{Prerequisites}

The prerequisites for this course are
CS 212 (Computer Programming II).
Undergraduates will not be permitted to take CS/CE 218 without this
prerequisite.
You must speak with the professor
if you have not earned at least a ``C'' in CS 212
or if you have not taken CS 212.

\section{Texts}

There are two texts:
{\em Introducing Unix System V\/}
by Rachel Morgan and Henry McGilton
(1987, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York)
and {\em The C Programming Language, Second Edition\/}
by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie
(1988, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

In addition, the university book store has a packet containing excerpts
from the GNU Emacs Manual (Fourth Edition, Version 17) by Richard Stallman,
which describes the emacs editor.

\section{Computer Accounts}

You will receive an account on a cluster of HP machines running Unix System V
(HP-UX).
We will pass out account numbers and passwords in recitation the first
week of class.
Terminals are located in the first floor of Atanasoff Hall
(rooms 116 and 116A, where recitations meet).
Note that these laboratories have limited hours (closing most nights at 11PM,
Fridays and Saturdays at 5PM).

At any hour of the day or night, remote access is possible over ISN.
To connect with a modem, use 8 bits, no parity, and dial 294-1200
(for 1200 baud) or 294-2400 (2400 baud).
At the prompt ``DIAL:'', type {\tt enet}, and press the return key,
you will be prompted for 3 options, choose option 1 (telnet to remote host)
by typing {\tt 1} and then the return key,
you will then be prompted for a host name,
type {\tt zippy.cs.iastate.edu} or {\tt zaphod.cs.iastate.edu}
press return a few times, and then you can log in.

There are terminals in several places on campus;
for example, in Durham center on the first floor.
If you see the ``DIAL:'' prompt on a terminal, it's hooked up to ISN;
so type {\tt enet} and continue as above.

If you are connected to the campus TCP/IP network, you can
use telnet to access {\tt zippy.cs.iastate.edu}, {\tt zaphod.cs.iastate.edu},
etc.

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