Project Policies

Scoring

There are five projects. Each project is worth 100 points.

• Roughly half of these points (see individual project descriptions for exact counts) are from required functionality. This really is required; if you do not complete it, you get a zero for the project and fail the course. Required functionality is designed to represent the must-have building blocks of any graphics library. If some portion of it seems unnecessary, please let the TA know.
• The remainder of the points are from a pool of elective functionality. Each elective will have a point value associated with it.
• If you implement more than 100 points worth of functionality, you will be given (score-100)/2 points of extra credit.

Pass-off Procedure

Passoff must be done in person with the TA. If this is difficult for you, e-mail the TA (see email address at bottom of page) to make other arrangements.

When you pass off the TA will need to see:

• Your source code files.
• A list of all options you've completed for credit, with the score you expect to get for each.
• With your first project submission, a statement that you have read and understood:
  • this page,
  • the class policies page,
  • the project overview page,
  • and the syllabus.

Due Dates

Group Work

Work together, but never copy someone else's work.

If you use publicly available code as a starting point, acknowledge the source. This acknowledgment should be in a comment at the beginning of the method and give enough information to allow the TA to find the source in question. For example,

	/* 
	 * Draws a line using the Bresenham algorithm.
	 * Code based on C code given in the course textbook, pages 98-99
	 */
	void drawBresLine(...
	

Late Policy

• Saturdays, Sundays, and university holidays do not count as late days.
• The submission date is the date of passoff unless you show the TA a different "modified" timestamp on your file system.
• You get a total of four (4) free late days.
• Early days on any project can compensate for late days on any project.
• Late days over the allowance are –10 points each.
• Unused late day allowance at the end of the semester has no impact on your grade.
• No more than 5 late days will be imposed for any given project.
• No more than 5 early days can be earned for any one project.
• The late day penalty is applied after the extra-credit adjustment. i.e., if you pass off x > 100 total points t days late, you get 100 + (x–100)/2 – 10t points.
• No pass-offs can be accepted after the last day of class.

Resources

Use the text, the web, friends, and other books. Just credit your sources.

Getting Help

See the TAs during office hours before you get stuck. Yes, we mean before. A good understanding of the algorithm will be more valuable than assistance fixing a poorly-designed implementation. Frequently when students come wanting help "fixing" a method, they end up starting over. We strongly encourage you to drop by the TA and discuss what you are planning to do after reviewing the requirements and before extensive coding.

Work together. Come to the TA in groups. More minds solve problems faster.

Warnings to the wise

In summary, these are some things you should do so that you have a pleasant experience in this course:

• Plan out your full project implementation before beginning. This can save later headaches.
• Start early.
• Begin implementation before a concept is discussed in class. Then you will be able to ask helpful questions.
• Start from the textbook or other 3rd party source code if and only if you understand why it works. The TA reserves the right to consider a method unimplemented if the student cannot explain what it is doing and why.
• Read other texts and outside material.
• Did we mention starting early?