Project Grading

Grading Policy:

Projects will be graded on three criteria. The weight given to these criteria may differ between projects.

  1. Design — does the design adhere to the project specification and follow correct OO and top-down design principles? Do functions perform just one task? Do the classes each model a single entity? Are the methods of each class appropriate for that class? Do the classes exhibit encapsulation and data hiding? Are exceptions thrown where appropriate?
  2. Implemenation — does the code follow all course guidelines with respect to style and documenation? Does the code follow accepted standards for parameter passing, spporpriate use of const methods, etc.? Does the code use the most efficient algorithms and data structures? Does the executable meet the specified running time for the project?
  3. Correctness — does the project compile and link without errors or warnings and produce the correct results.
This means that turning in a project that "works" but is poorly organized or poorly documented or is noticably inefficient will not receive full credit.

Any project that does not create an executable for any reason will lose all points allocated to the "correctness" criterion. Use the tools available to you (i.e. ant run and ant doc) to be sure that you have submitted all necessary pieces to create a runnable program.

ach project grade will broken out in a grading sheet that is specific for that project.

Project Grade Changes

All projects are graded by your TA. Visit your TA during regular office hours (or make an appointment) to request a project grade change when you think the TA has made a mistake. Come prepared to show the TA evidence of the specific mistake. Project grades will not be changed just because you think the TA has graded your project harshly.

Don't waste your time or your TA's time by asking for a grade change just because you're not happy with your grade.

Remember that if you have a question regarding your project grade, you have exactly one week from the receipt of your grade to contact your TA.

Your instructor is the final arbiter for your project grade. If you have spoken with your TA and still feel you were treated ufairly, see your instructor.

Project Regrades

In some unusual circumstances you may recieve a low project score because of a single, simple error that results in many incorrect outputs or results in a compiler/linker error. The definition of "simple error" is determined by your TA. In such cases, your TA may (at his discretion) allow you to fix the simple mistake and have your project regraded.

Remember that if you have a question regarding a project regrade, you have exactly one week from the receipt of your grade to contact your TA.

Students are encouraged to use the CVS utilities provided for verifying that your submission was successful. With these utilities and "cvs -q update" students have several tools to verify that your project is working correctly after it has been submitted. In particular this means that statements such as, "It worked in my directory" or "It worked on my PC" will carry little weight.

A 10-point deduction is assessed when your project is regraded.

Running on Linux

Note that your project will be graded by being compiled, linked and executed on the LINUX GL system (not IRIX) using the /usr/local/bin javac compiler. Be sure that you compile and test your project under LINUX. Compiling it and testing it under IRIX, Windows or any other operating system with a compiler other than javac does NOT guarantee it will perform properly under LINUX.

Hints for enhancing your grade:


Do submit partial work for partial credit. A zero grade is much worse than a low non-zero grade.
If you think you should receive extra credit, let the grader know by submitting a file named grader.README that briefly describes why you should get extra credit.
Do check your submittal by using DAN'S new tool ant run, and ant doc.