Class Policy

HOMEWORK SOLUTIONS

Professional presentation of homework assignments is required.

Professional presentation consists of neat and organized solution of problems on one side of 8.5"x11" papers.

Any homework not complying with professional standards will not be graded and will be assigned zero credit. The homework assignments are due one week after they are assigned. Late homework assignments will not be accepted.

COMPUTER PROGRAM SOLUTIONS

Assignments involving the creation of Web page and Java programs will be an important component of the course. Ample time for their completion will be given.

The format for handing in programming assignments is:

A complete listing of the program,
A listing of the input,
A listing of the program output.
Script files showing typical runs of your program.
The faq page contains instructions for creating a script file. If you are using Windows, a screendump will do. Some students also cut-and-paste the program i/o into Word and hand that in.

The grading of programs will be based on the accuracy of the results, the programming techniques used to obtain the solutions, and the ease of understanding of the output, and of course, programming documentation.

Documentation

All computer programs must be well documented. Documentation includes a description of purpose of the main program. Often it is a good idea to label the input and output parameters from each function. Consider, for example, the following abbreviated Java Program:

/*
 *  ============================================================
 *  FoldedBox.java: Create instances of open folded box objects.
 *                  Compute and print the volume and surface
 *                  area of each box.
 *
 *  Written By: Mark Austin                             May 2007
 *  ============================================================
 */

public class FoldedBox {
   private String sName;
   private double dLength, dWidth, dHeight;

   // Custom constructor for creating folded box objects ....

   public FoldedBox ( String  sName, double dLength,
                      double dWidth, double dHeight ) {
      this.dLength = dLength;
      this.dWidth  = dWidth;
      this.dHeight = dHeight;
      this.sName   = sName;
   }

   // Compute box surface area and volume ....

   public double surfaceArea() {
     return dLength*dWidth + 2.0*(dLength+dWidth)*dHeight;
   }

   public double volume() {
     return dLength*dWidth*dHeight;
   }

   // Create String description of folded box characteristics ...

   public String toString() {
      String s = "FoldedBox: "  + sName + "\n";
      s = s + "Volume       = " + volume()   + "\n";
      s = s + "Surface Area = " + surfaceArea()   + "\n";
      return s;
   }

   // ===========================================================
   // Exercise methods in FoldedBox.java
   // ===========================================================

   public static void main ( String args [] ) {

      // Create and initialize folded box objects

      FoldedBox fbMatch = new FoldedBox ("Match",  2.0, 1.0, 0.5 );
      FoldedBox fbShoe  = new FoldedBox ( "Shoe", 12.0, 8.0, 7.0 );
      FoldedBox fbPacking  = new FoldedBox (  "Packing", 36.0, 36.0, 36.0 );
      FoldedBox fbGift     = new FoldedBox (     "Gift", 12.0, 12.0,  5.0 );
      FoldedBox fbDumpster = new FoldedBox ( "Dumpster", 72.0, 48.0, 48.0 );

      // Print details of each folded box ...

      System.out.println(    fbMatch.toString() );
      System.out.println(     fbShoe.toString() );
      System.out.println(  fbPacking.toString() );
      System.out.println(     fbGift.toString() );
      System.out.println( fbDumpster.toString() );
   }
}

General Advise

Good programming logic is more easily acquired after you have obtained a good general knowledge a language's syntax. So spend some extra time early in the semester to learn the syntax of Java.

And don't leave assignments to the last minute, especially the computer programs!

The concepts in this course are rather straightforward; however, significant amounts of time may still be required to solve problems and write computer programs.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Academic integrity is the foundation for learning. The University of Maryland has approved a code of academic integrity that prohibits students from cheating on exams, plagarizing papers (this includes computer software), buying papers, submitting fraudulent documents and forging signatures.