CS 444 Course Policies

AI coding/writing assistants: We do not prohibit AI assistants -- especially as a resource for improving your understanding of technical topics -- but strongly urge you to code the assignments without AI assistance. AI can be extremely helpful as an implementation tool, but over-reliance on it is increasingly proving to be a detriment to education. Turning in AI-generated solutions for the relatively straightforward assignments we give you will lead to substantially less understanding of the material. Note that you will not be able to use AI assistants or any other external resources during the exams, and exams will feature questions related to coding and the homework. So, if you heavily use AI to complete the assignments, your performance on the exams will suffer. (Policy adapted from CMU 10-202.)

Unauthorized copying: You are encouraged to discuss assignments with each other, but coding and writing of reports must be done individually or only within your team. Feel free to search the Web for tips or code snippets, provided this does not make the assignment trivial and all external sources are explicitly acknowledged in the report. At the first instance of unauthorized copying, a grade of zero will be given for the respective assignment or test. At the second instance, you will automatically receive an F for the entire course. See the student code for more information on what consitutes an academic integrity violation.

To minimize future instances of unauthorized copying, we ask that you do not post solution code for the class assignments online, e.g., on your personal webpage or on github. It is all right to use your own solution code as part of your personal projects, but do not release such code with an explicit identification with a specific class/assignment.

Working in pairs: When choosing to work with a partner, you assume all associated risk, including but not limited to: partner not completing a fair share of the work, partner producing incorrect or late work, or cheating. The course staff does not have the ability to arbitrate disputes between partners or to assign separate scores to partners. In particular, any cheating or lateness penalty will automatically apply to both partners, even if one of them disclaims all awareness or responsibility for the offense. If you find yourself in an unsatisfactory partner situation, the only solution is to switch to individual submission. Note that you are free to pick different partners for different assignments, or to switch to working individually at any time.

Discussion board: You are highly encouraged to ask and answer questions about assignments on the discussion board. However, the general principle is to avoid directly giving away key elements of solutions. Thus, you should refrain from publicly posting key solution code or parameter values, either to get help with debugging or to demonstrate a possible solution to your classmates. Posting sample code for utility functions or publicly debugging system/platform errors is acceptable. If you need help with code, the preferred route is to attend TA office hours. However, if this is impossible and you wish to make a post with your code, be sure to make it private.

Late submission policy for assignments and project:

Exams: The use of AI or any external references is not permitted during CBTF exams. Each exam can be completed during a window of three days, which should give enough flexibility in the vast majority of cases. Make-up exams will be approved only due to documented exceptional circumstances. If need to request a make-up exam, email the instructor with relevant documentation as soon as you learn of your situation.

Regrade requests: Questions about an assignment score or requests for a regrade must be submitted within a week of receiving your score (or sooner if otherwise specified, such as at the end of the semester). The requests must be directed to the TA who did the initial grading.

Incomplete requests: Requests for an incomplete in the course will only be accepted through the last day of class and must be accompanied by documentation of your special circumstances.