News Archive


May 03: The final exam will be in room 1221 COMP S&ST on Monday, May 10, 12:25 - 2:25 pm.
May 03: CSL End of Semester Announcements about your CS login accounts.
Apr 29: As originally posted, Project 5 had incorrect code for unpackShort. The code was:
 static short unpackShort(byte[] buf, int offset) {
return (short) (
buf[offset] & 0xff
+ ((buf[offset + 1] & 0xff) << 8)
);
}
It should be:
 static short unpackShort(byte[] buf, int offset) {
return (short) (
(buf[offset] & 0xff)
+ ((buf[offset + 1] & 0xff) << 8)
);
}
Note the extra parentheses around (buf[offset] & 0xff).

Apr 29: Project 4 has been graded. Here is a summary of grades.
Score 60-64
75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100
Count 2
2
14
12
27
28
10
Count 95, mean 90.78, median 93, standard deviation 6.980.

Apr 13: A bug has been fixed in Shell.java that was implementing the exit command incorrectly. You can grab a new version from ~cs537-2/public/html/source/p4/Shell.java

Apr 08: Project 3 has been graded. Here is a summary of grades:
Score 60-64 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99
Count 2 4 6 10 29 32 12
Count 95, mean 87.46, median 89, standard deviation 7.231

More details are available in your handin/login/grade and handin/login/P3/p3_grade.txt
Having trouble understanding where you lost points? See the TA who graded yours.

Mar 31: The Project 4 instructions are available.
Mar 22:Check the list of partners to see which TA will be grading your project.
Mar 17:The midterm exam grades are available. The distribution of grades is as follows.

For Lecture 2:
Score 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99
Count 1 2 2 2 4 7 12 5 5 1
Count 41, mean 79.10, median 81, standard deviation 9.992

Combined Lecture 1 and Lecture 2:
Score 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100
Count 1 1 2 4 6 6 12 17 18 14 9 3 2
Count 95, mean 77.81, median 78, standard deviation 11.590

The grade file in your top-level handin directory now includes these results as well as any corrections and adjustments reported by March 17.

Mar 08: Project 2 has been graded. Here is a summary of grades: 
Score 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100
Count 6 4 4 18 23 31 8
The mean mean grade was 91.11 and the median was 93.

Details of the grading may be found in the file p2_grade.txt in your handin directory. You can find a summary of all your grades, as well as your rank in your section of 537 and the entire 537 class in the file grade in your top-level handin directory ~cs537-2/handin/yourlogin/grade.

Mar 04: Some sample midterm questions are available here.
Mar 04: The due date for Project 3 has been moved to March 25.
Mar 03: The instructions for Project 3 are now available.
Feb 23:A few grades for Project 1 have been been adjusted. The grade file in your handin directory now shows your current class rank both in your section and in the combined sections.
Feb 22:Errata sections have been added to Project 2 and Project 2 FAQ.

We have placed a new version of Project2.java into the directory ~cs537-2/public/html/source/p2. This version prints an additional line at shutdown time that summarizes the total activity (of all metals by all brokers). It looks something like this: Totals: produced = 119, consumed = 42, remaining at brokers = 77, net = 0 There is no new information here -- it just totals up information already printed -- but it makes is a bit easier to see the overall results. If your program is correct, the "net" value should always be zero.

Feb 20: Fixed two mistakes in the project 2 page:

First, the introduction said, "The brokers are represented by three threads, one for each metal." The word "threads" should be "monitors", as indicated later: "BrokerImplementation is a `monitor' class, meaning that a broker does not act on its own, only in response to a call from a refiner or consumer."

Second, one reference to the broker constructor mistakenly called it Broker(int specialty) when it should be BrokerImplementation(int specialty). Constructors are not inherited, so interfaces cannot have constructors, only the classes that implement them.

Sorry for any confusion these mistakes caused.

Feb 19: Project 2 deadline is Tuesday night (just a few days and nights from now!) and it is 15% of your grade.
Feb 19: Reminder for Midterm Exam: Wednesday, Mar 10, 7:15 - 9:15 pm, room 1221 Computer Sciences.
Feb 18: Some more items have been added to the Project 2 FAQs.
Feb 18: The list of teams and the handin instructions for projects is posted here.
Feb 12: I have corrected two errors in the specification for Project 2: There is no field METAL in the IBM interface, it's METALS, and there is no supplier(int) method in the Project2 class, it's specialist(int). Thanks to Dhruv Bhoot for finding these errors.
Feb 12:
Project 1 has been graded. Here are the details:
Score 0-4 30-34 35-39 50-54 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100
Count 6 1 1 1 1 2 3 3 8 21 24 21 3
The mean grade was 82.21 and the median was 90.

You can find your current record and class standing in the file grades in your top-level handin directory: ~cs537-2/handin/yourname/grade.

More details about your grade may be found in your project 1 handin directory in the file P1/p1_grade.txt.

Policy on appeals:

  1. If you don't understand something about the grading or think there may have been a mistake, first go see the TA who graded your program (his name is in p1_grade.txt). It helps to start with a positive attitude. The TA may have made a simple mistake, or there may be a problem with your program that you overlooked. Remember, the same TA will likely be grading the rest of your programs, so it helps to say on good terms with him.
  2. If you and the TA cannot agree, you see the lecturer for your section for a second opinion.
  3. If you have any problem with the grading, you must see the TA no less than one day no more that two weeks after the grades are released. For project 1, that means appeals must be registered between Friday 2/13 and Thursday 2/26 (inclusive).

Feb 09:
The class StopThread was accidentally omitted from the source directory and the online documenation. It has been added. Thanks to Michael Kasianowicz.
Feb 06: Project 2 is released and can be accessed from here. Enjoy!

Jan 31: Reminder: The Nightmare begins! Deadline for Assignment 1 is approaching fast! Don't miss it.
Jan 31: A new section has been added at the end of this page that links to the summaries of the lectures and our discussions.
Jan 16: If you are not familiar with the Unix computing facilities in the CS department at UW, you may find it helpful to attend one of the Unix orientation sessions. If you are new to Unix, you should also purchase the CS 1000 handout at the DoIT Tech Store.
Jan 15: The systems programming assignments will have to be done in Java.