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Some general notes
for anyone taking my classes:
- Study. If you can work the problems
and answer the questions at the ends of the chapters in the book, you
will probably do well on the tests and in the course. If you can
neither answer the questions nor work the problems, you will almost
certainly do poorly on the tests. If you do not know whether you
can work the problems or not, I invite you to find out.
- Please come to
class prepared. This means you have read the material to
be covered, you have your textbook with you, and you might have
even made a list of questions to ask in class. If you are
prepared, you can ask good questions and it makes the discussion
more interesting. Look at the online material for the course, both the
references I'll link on the class page and from the text.
- Computers in Class. I am inclined to ban
computers from the classroom on the basis that much of their use tends
not to be course-related, but since some students use them to take
notes, follow
along with the material, and look things up, for now they are allowed.
- Do not wait until
the last minute to start on your homework or to turn it in. "My computer
was down" is the modern equivalent of "the dog ate my homework," and
eLearning has a way of going down at inconvenient times.
The best students get an early start on assignments. That way you
can get help if you get stuck.
On a similar note, make backups of your work, and computers are always
available in the labs. Policy for most classes is that you lose
20 points per day or fraction thereof late, so that homework more than
5 days late is worth nothing.
- Pay attention to
details such as the way your programs and papers look,
spelling, organization, and the like. The best programs have both
good form and good function. This is also true for papers. I
realize that for some of you, English is not your first language.
However, you must be able to express yourself clearly in in writing.
Our craft
is details.
- Full-time school
is the equivalent of a full-time job. That is, you should
be spending at least 40 hours per week on school. Consider that if
you're taking 15 hours, you should be spending about 6 hours outside of
class for each 3-hour class. Some weeks it will be more, some
less, but that's a reasonable average.
- Academic Integrity. All assignments, unless
explicitly stated, are individual. That is, you are to turn in
your own work. You are not to work in a group, then each of you
turn in what the group did. Nor are you to get code off the Web
and hand it in as yours. Clear-cut cases of cheating will be referred
to the Dean's office without me talking with you first. The penalty for such cheating on
assignments is, at a minimum, a zero on the assignment.
For UTD's full policy on academic integrity,
look here.
- Grades. I don't give grades,
I assign them according to your work based upon a numerical score for
tests and assignments. Ideally, you would completely master the
various aspects of a subject and not move on until you have done so.
This being impractical with more than 4 or 5 students, you earn a
grade. The published scale is generally 90+ is an A, 80-89 is a
B, and so on. I may curve the grades for a course, or not, at my
discretion. A curve measures your performance against others
while an absolute scale shows competence in the material overall.
Do not ever request a better grade than someone else
who got a higher numerical score. While I understand that you
may lose your internship, your scholarship, or other things you value,
your grade is up to you. Do not be someone who does not read the
material before class, or who misses class, then comes by at the end
of the semester to request a higher grade on that basis. There
is only one basis on which grades are earned: your work.
- Office Hours. I don't consider students who
come to my office during office hours an annoying interruption; I always
welcome the contact and often enjoy the discussions. I'll help you, but
I won't tutor you.
- For all classes, I
will send e-mail only to your UTD e-mail address,
even if you write to me from some other address. There have been times
when I couldn't figure out who the student was because the non-UTD
e-mail didn't carry his or her name. This is also now school
policy. I need to know the e-mail is from you.
- Questions via E-mail. I will try to answer questions sent to me via e-mail, but if
it is something that could be asked during office hours or
in class, you may not get a timely answer, if at
all. Answers to questions of this nature should not take
up time outside of the normal school hours. Always check your
class Web site before e-mailing, especially if the question is about
schedules. If you e-mail me, indicate in the subject line which
class you're in.
- Programs must be documented. That is, they must contain comments.
Some would argue that programs can be written to be self-documenting,
but your instructor respectfully disagrees. What is good program
documentation?
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