Programming Assignment Guidelines

This file is copied almost verbatim from the Winter 2000 CSE 326 Programming Assignment Guidelines. It is used here with permission of the author, Steve Wolfman.

Robustness: Your primary task is to create a working, robust program. This means that your program should produce correct answers on all legal input and produce comprehensible error messages on invalid input. Keep in mind that (unless otherwise mentioned) unreasonably long running time is probably an error. How should you ensure robustness? Well, at the least, try to complete without problems all four Unpatented Wolfman Steps to Robust Code^!TM in succession on the Linux instructional UNIX machines (fiji, ceylon, sumatra, tahiti) before submitting your code:

• Compile without warnings or errors with g++'s -Wall flag enabled. (Notify us of errors in our code.)
• Run correctly on all test data we give you. (Tell us if you find our test data in error!)
• Run correctly on test data of your own which has:
  • difficult cases
  • boundary cases (both sides)
  • minorly and egregiously incorrect input
  • the empty file
• Run correctly on the test data of another group. You must credit this group in your README.

Coding clearly: You should always make an effort to write code that is easy for other people to read. In the real world, this is an important skill that is valued higher than cleverness or using the least number of lines/characters possible. In this class, it is important so that we can understand your program and grade it fairly. By reading through your code and comments, we should be able to figure out how your code is organized and why it works. If we can't, we reserve the right to deduct points.

Commenting: One aspect of writing clear code involves commenting your code so that it is clear what it does without reading it line by line (nothing is more boring). Comments should be used: (a) at the top of each file to tell what code it contains, (b) at the top of each function to tell what it does, (c) at the declaration point of important variables, (d) on any lines whose purpose is non-obvious.

Coding simply: Although C and C++ allow it, there is no benefit to writing overly complicated statements such as:

    if ((i = myfunc(counter++)) < num_iterations) {
       ...
    }

when they could easily be rewritten in a clearer manner:

    i = myfunc(counter);
    counter++;
    if (i < num_iterations) {
      ...
    }

Coding should not be a macho activity. It should be like writing English sentences that you truly want someone to understand (including yourself).

Speed: As long as your program takes a reasonable amount of time, we will neither dock points nor give bonus points on the basis of speed. In other words, all of your data structures should have the expected asymptotic time and space complexity, but the constants will not generally matter. Robustness and clarity come first! If you're curious about how to make programs run blazingly fast, talk to us, and we'll give you some tips and tools. (Here's a freebie: never optimize any piece of code until you've tested your program's speed and discovered that that code is a bottleneck.)

Working Individually vs. with Partners: All of the programming assignments except the first one will be designed to be completed in teams. If you choose to work on a programming assignment individually, you may collaborate during the brainstorming stage as described on the course syllabus (cite the individuals you work with in your README), and we will try to simplify the assignment slightly for individuals. However, we expect that all of these assignments will be easier completed in groups!