CS 396-4: Course Work

The following document outlines the programming projects, quizzes, and final exam that make up the graded material in the CS 396-4 course.

Programming Projects

There will be a series of programming projects that will build upon one another to illustrate the value of good design and implementation techniques on the communication software lifecycle. Online descriptions of these assignments will be available via the web.

An important goal of the assignments is to teach you about communication software design alternatives by comparing and contrasting designs based on different paradigms.

Projects will involve substantial programming in C++ and Windows/UNIX and will be done individually by each student. Cheating and plagarism will not tolerated. Students are assumed to be competent in C++ and familiar with basic Windows/UNIX operating system features such as electronic mail, web browsers, and USENET newsgroups. Students not familiar with these tools will have to learn them outside of class.

To encourage you to write well-designed software, I reserve the right to change the assignment specifications at any point before the due date. Expect this to happen several times during the semester. If you have written your program in a modular fashion the changes will be trivial to implement.

The programs will be graded using the following criteria:

40% execution correctness
30% structure (e.g., modularization, information hiding, etc.)
10% insightful programming (e.g., developing reusable class components, etc.)
10% Consistent style (e.g., capitalization, indenting, etc.)
10% appropriate commenting style

There will be a mandatory 5 point deduction (out of a possible 100 points) for each day that your program is late after the deadline. Moreover, I will not accept programs that are turned in later than two calendar days after the due date.

Exams and Quizzes

There will be one in-class final exam. This will be worth 25% of your grade. Material tested on the final exam will be comprehensive.

There will be a short graded quiz at the end of class each Wednesday, starting on January 15th. The exam and the quizzes will be based on material presented in class. It is therefore essential that you attend class in order to prepare for the quizzes and final exam. There will be no ``makeup'' quizzes unless you ask permission from me before the quiz. You can, however, drop the score of your lowest quiz. The relative weighting of each portion of the course is presented below:

25% Final exam
40% Programming projects
35% Weekly quizzes

Note that I reserve the right to change the weights during the course of the semester.

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