CSC403: Expectations [9/11]

We will discuss new concepts each week.

You will have assignments, including quizzes, most weeks. Some of the homework assignments are programming assignments and some assignments may be written assignments.

We will review homeworks and quizzes in class. We will go over concepts that students find particularly difficult.

• You do not have to do it alone, but you must be self-motivated.
• You can ask me and other members of the class for help. Discord is great for getting help quickly!
• You must start assignments early. I will do my best to help you whenever I can, but I cannot guarantee that I can respond to questions over the weekend.
• You must complete the quizzes by the deadline on D2L.
• You must submit all homeworks to the correct folder on D2L. I cannot be responsible for finding your homework if you submit it to the wrong folder.

Getting the homework correct is not enough. Simply getting programming homework to work once will not help you communicate to me that you understand the concepts you need to learn. You need to learn how to draw pictures diagramming concepts we are covering, and to write code on paper, without a compiler, notes, Google, etc.

Repetition and iteration are key to learning! I recommend that when you repeat homeworks on your own, you get used to writing Java code on paper. Write your code out on paper and then type it into IntelliJ IDEA. Compile and run the tests, and fix any problems. Spend no more than 20 minutes on any one problem per day. Keep doing this every day, and you will find that you will be able to write good clean code on paper that is intelligible to me when I'm grading your exams. If you write code on exams that indicates you have not internalized Java syntax and semantics, your exam grade will reflect this!

Deadlines are generally not individually negotiable. First of all, this course moves very fast and covers a lot of ground, so you will want to keep up with the material. Secondly, I want to get you feedback on your assignments quickly, so you can use that feedback as you study. And finally, I cannot keep up with grading multiple students' late assignments - it becomes very time consuming to context switch back to previous assignments.

Since I drop one quiz and two homework assignments, you are covered if you miss an assignment due to unforseen circumstances.