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\title{Semantic Models for Programming Languages: \\
Course Policies}
\author{Gary T. Leavens \\
Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University \\
Ames, IA, 50011-1040 USA \\
}
\maketitle

\section{Staff}

Assistant Professor Gary Leavens (Ph.D., MIT, 1989) is coordinating the class.
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lllll}
Name 		& Office & E-mail	& Phone		& Office Hours \\
\hline
Gary Leavens	& 229 Atanasoff & leavens@cs.iastate.edu & 294-1580 & TR 11
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\end{center}

This is a small course, so please feel free to visit me
to discuss administrative or technical questions,
either during office hours, whenever I have my office door open,
or by making an appointment.

Questions may also be asked (and answered) by phone or electronic mail.
If you have a simple technical question that is not urgent,
this is an excellent way to reach me.
There is a network news group 
(isu.coms.641) for discussion;
you may contribute both questions and answers
(so that the communication is not just one-way).

My telephone is answered at all times,
so leave a message if necessary (although e-mail may get you a faster answer).

\section{Class meetings}

The class meets from 1:10 PM to 2:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays and also from 5:10 PM to 6 PM on Tuesdays
in 1201 Coover.

\section{Text}

The course text is
Mart\'{i}n Abadi and Luca Cardelli,
{\em A Theory of Objects\/},
(Springer-Verlag, 1996).

In addition, other reference materials and papers will be passed out in class.

\section{Discussions}

You are urged to meet with me as often as you like to talk about
homework problems, projects related to the course material,
how the course material relates to your research, or any other topics
related to the class.
There are no formally scheduled discussion sections.

\section{Grading}

To help you focus on learning instead of grades,
I won't normally assign letter grades to homeworks,
although I will correct all of your homework and give you comments
and feedback.  However, I can also give you letter grade estimates if you wish.

Your final grade will be based on a term project
and an oral final examination,
evidence that you may furnish that you have mastered the material
through the homeworks (so save your homeworks),
and class participation.
Class participation will have a small weight as well.

\subsection{Final Examination}

The oral final examination will be comprehensive,
about an hour long,
and scheduled by appointment during final exam week.

\subsection{Evidence}

The ``evidence'' referred to above will take the form of written work,
including homework assignments, self-study projects, and your term project.
If I think that you need more work on some problems,
I will ask you to come and talk with me, after which I may give you another,
similar problem to do.
The idea is to promote a dialogue about the topics and complete understanding.

I plan to have everyone work on some sort of term project,
which will be discussed further in class.
If you are interested, you may pursue additional self-study projects
to investigate certain
topics more fully or to relate course materials to their own work.

You will be required to submit your ``evidence'' to me
at the end of the term (it will be returned).
	
\subsection{Homework}

You are encouraged to discuss homework problems
with other students and exchange ideas about how to solve them.
However, you should make up your own solutions to each problem,
since no one else can learn something for you.
(Also beware that sometimes you may learn more about a problem by
struggling with it yourself, at least for a while.)

It is fine to pursue term projects or self-study projects
with the aid of other class members, but keep me informed of who you
are working with.

If you use reference materials to solve a problem, please give a citation.
Similarly, if you discuss a solution with another student,
give credit where credit is due by making a note such as
``the following idea was developed jointly with Alyssia P. Hacker,''
or ``the following idea is due to Ben Bittwiddle.''
There is no penalty attached to such an attribution of credit.
(Of course, it will not help your education to copy another student's work;
it is also unethical.)

If the homework is too much or too tedious,
please complain quickly to me.
If you have additional or more interesting homework problems,
please suggest these to me.

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