Professor Christopher Andrews
Office 635 McCardell Bicentennial Hall
Email candrews@middlebury.edu
Course Website http://www.cs.middlebury.edu/~candrews/classes/cs461 or go/cs461/
Discussion forum https://piazza.com/middlebury/fall2016/cs461/home
Textbooks Fundamentals of Computer Graphics, 4th Edition
[optional but recommended] WebGL Programming guide
Lectures MWF 1:45 - 2:35, MBH 632
Office Hours
WF 11:00a - 12:00p
TTh 2:00p - 3:30p
or by appointment
| Assignments | 65% |
| Quizzes | 15% |
| Midterm | 10% |
| Final | 10% |
You are expected to attend class. We won't be following any book particularly closely, and I'll try to post some notes, but don't expect to reconstruct classes from the materials I post. Given the class size, I expect the classes to be more interactive, so you will definitely be missing out if you don't attend.
We will approximate one assignment per week. I will expect work to be handed in on the day when they are due. However, I realize that life intrudes and I want to encourage you to do the work, even if it is late. So, I will accept late work, but it will be docked by 5% of the total possible points for each day that it is late. Since there are some points when you just can't complete an assignment on time, you each will have four "get out of jail" cards. Each one is worth one full day off an assignment (and only assignments). You can use them however you like with no questions, BUT no work will be accepted after two days without a conversation with me first.
We will have one to two quizzes a week. These will typically consist of a single question, and may be either in or outside of class.
We are going to be using Piazza for our class discussions outside of class. Rather than emailing questions to me, I encourage you to post the questions on Piazza. This will allow other students to answer questions and to benefit from the answers you receive. This system will only work if you use it, so please do so.
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
- Pablo Picasso (or T.S. Elliot or Steve Jobs… its been stolen a few times)
Short version Help each other, but do not share code.
Long version In computer science, we build on the work of developers before us. Most of us learned to code by copying code and finding ways to tweak it to do what we want. Almost no computer programs are built without building on the work of others, either in the form of algorithms, libraries, or even just short snippets of code.
On the other hand, there are questions of intellectual property and academic integrity. These are considerably murkier waters than you may face, for example, writing a history paper, or doing a problem set in math. With code, you can "accomplish" spectacular things by copying the right chunks of code without ever knowing how it works.
For the most part, navigating these waters is on your head. I encourage you to help classmates to debug misbehaving code. I encourage you to post questions (and answers!) on Piazza. But you need to do so in a way that respects other people's work and in a way that contributes to your intellectual development rather than hindering it (or trying to mask your lack of it). This is not a race to get a good grade. The grade is at best a carrot to "trick" you into doing the work required to become better educated. As such, don't just go looking for code that you can turn in to satisfy an assignment. You can probably find some, but it won't help you much, and I'll probably be able to tell (you will also get on my bad side very quickly, because grading work that wasn't done by someone in the class is a waste of time).
So, as for actual policies? Do not work collaboratively unless indicated by the assignment. You can help one another, but I do not want to see identical assignments that differ only in the name at the top. If someone does show you code (as an explanation or asking for debugging help), do not copy it. Retain ideas, and go away and write your own version later. Attribute any ideas, etc, that you pick up (this goes for classmates, books, online resources, etc). Be explicit. Tell me where you got the idea, approach, technique, etc. Explain what your contribution was. Make sure that your contribution demonstrates that you understand what was not your work alone. Finally, if you have any doubts, just ask me first.
Students who need test or classroom accommodations due to a disability must be registered in advance with Student Accessibility Services. Please contact Jodi Litchfield (litchfie@middlebury.edu or 802.443.5936) for more information. Students who may need disability-related accommodations are encouraged to make an appointment with me as soon as possible. All discussions will remain confidential.