Guidelines for Lab Activities and Lab Exercises

Activities are worth 10% and Quizzes are worth 10% of your total grade in the course.

Activities - The instructor will check your activity assignment and modified activity assignment by the end of your lab session on Mondays (except holidays). It is important that you complete each activity and the assigned modifications so that you are prepared to do the lab project. To get credit for the activity and modification, you should demo your program(s) for the lab instructor, including the modification assigned. The modified version of your activity program should be saved to a new file with a new name that reflects the modification. The modified version of your activity must be sent to your lab instructor after your demonstration and no later than the end of the class period unless your instructor indicates otherwise. Please send the .java file(s) only (not the .class files). Since your grade for the lab activity is based, in part, on your demo, you must be present to receive credit.

Quizzes – Chapter quizzes will be given at the BEGINNING of lab on Wednesday and can cover any material on the assigned chapter. Quizzes will be allotted anywhere from 5-15 minutes at the beginning of lab, and extra time will not be given for students that arrive late (students arriving after the quiz has been collected will receive a 0 for that quiz). Therefore, it is important that you are on time for lab. If you miss a quiz due to a university-excused absence, you must make arrangements with your lab instructor to make up the quiz within one week.

Guidelines for Lab Projects

The lab Projects are worth 20% of your total grade in the course.

1. Turning in Projects
• All lab projects must be emailed to your lab instructor not later than 11:00 a.m. on the DUE date using the following header information:
  SUBJECT: Your last name, first name - Section, Name of project. (e.g., Green, Joshua - Section 1, Lab Project 1)
  TO: your instructor (e.g., soarecv@auburn.edu)
  CC: yourself
• DO NOT paste your programs into an email when you send them. Projects must be submitted as ATTACHMENTS!!
• Please attach the .java files only (the source code of the assignments, NOT the .class files).
• Instructions for specific labs will be given via your lab instructor's web site and/or email. It is your responsibility to read email and check the course web site, as well as your instructor's web page, regularly.

2. Grading Labs
• Any work submitted late will NOT BE GRADED without a valid University excuse.
• Your lab grades will be posted on Blackboard, usually within ONE WEEK of the due date.
• If you have any concerns regarding your lab grades, please bring it to your instructor's attention within one week from the day the grades are posted. After a period of two weeks from the day the grades are posted no requests will be entertained.

3. Determining Grades - Your lab projects will be graded using the guidelines and scales below. You may be asked to demo your programs in lab, and during the demo you may be asked several questions to ensure that you understand the concepts used in your program.

15% style - Your program should include the following header comments completed with your info:
  /**
   * Description of program
   * (include the project number)
   *
   * @author your name and section
   * @version the date
   */

Click here to see an example program with comments: HelloWorldCommented.java.

In general, your program should incorporate features that make it easy to read and understand. This means that your Java program should be well-formatted with appropriate header comments as shown above (2 pts), Javadoc tags for each method (6 pts, this will be explained in the project description), proper indentation (3 pts), and meaningful variable names (4 pts). Generating the control structure diagram (CSD) for it is usually a good start.

10% output style - This means that when your Java program produces output, the output is easy to read and understand.

25% program structure and specifications - As you will see, there are ways to organize or structure your program with respect to classes, methods, control structures, and data structures. This percentage evaluates how well you structured the program and how closely you followed the specifications provided. If for example, the lab specifies that you create one more classes with particular methods or that you use particular features of the Java language to solve the problem, you are expected to follow these directions. If you're not sure what you're supposed to do, ask for clarification!

50% correctness - The points awarded here will be determined according your program's level of correctness as follows:

• 50% - works for all test cases (no loss of points for correctness).
• 40% - works for some test cases but not all (loss of at least 10% of points).
• 20% - compiles and runs but gives wrong answers (loss of at least 30% of points).
• 10% - compiles, but crashes during execution (loss of at least 40% of points).
• 0% - fails to even compile (loss of all points for correctness).

4. Academic Dishonesty: Student are expected to turn in their own individual work for lab assignments. Any direct copying of another person's work, or misrepresentation of other work as your own, will be grounds for getting zero points for that particular assignment. This applies to all parties involved. If this is repeated, the matter will be taken before the Academic Honesty Committee. DO NOT SHARE YOUR CODE OR OTHER WORK WITH ANOTHER STUDENT. You may help other students by answering their questions and by showing them how to do tasks that are similar to the assigned work (i.e., you may facilitate their learning). However, you have crossed the line when you give another student a copy of any part your program or other work. This applies to both hardcopies and electronic copies.