Computation of the Final Grade

• Homeworks (mostly weekly), 15%.
• Your scribe assignment, 10%.
• Quiz on background material: 5%.
• One midterm exam, 20%
• A comprehensive final exam, 20%.
• Machine problems + presentation, 30%.

As you can see in the syllabus, the course is divided in two parts: a first part dealing with existing networking technologies, a second part dealing with basic algorithms that make those technologies work. So the mechanics of the course will be different during these two parts. For the first part, on technologies:

• There is some background material that I will assume known to you: elementary calculations in probability theory, and elementary software development skills. To give us (both you and me) a chance to see how well prepared you are for this task, I am going to do the following:
  • The lecture on Tue 8/30 will be devoted to covering background material that I expect you to either be already familiar with, or else be able to acquire on your own, without slowing down the pace of this class.
  • The lecture on Thu 9/01 will be spent on a quiz on this background material, worth 5% of your final grade.

• Homeworks: (roughly) weekly. Late homework policy:
  • 0-24 hours: subtract 10%
  • 24-48 hours: subtract 25%
  • 48-72 hours: subtract 50%
  • after 72 hours: subtract 100%
  Now, since I understand that sometimes there are legitimate reasons that might prevent you from completing a homework on time, in the computation of your final grade, I will drop the worst homework for each person. These are the only accomodations I will make on the subject.

• Shortly after the end of the first part, we will have a midterm exam, covering everything from the beginning of the semester.

• In this part your workload in terms of homeworks will decrease significantly (not to zero though), to make room for your project work.

• In the project, once we learn how some basic network functions are implemented today, you will be asked to implement a network overlay for transmitting video signals.

• Please note, very important. These are the only tools you can use in this project:
  • The Linux machines in PH329. (Of course you can write and debug your code anywhere you want -- but you are responsible for having that code running smoothly by the deadline in the 329 lab.)
  • Your programs must be written in C, and must compile using the gcc compiler. You can use the development tools available for this environment: make files and the gdb debugger.
  • Some subroutines that we will provide to you.

• Your project will involve a (short) final presentation, describing your system, the methods you employed, and a live demo of everything working. You will also have to turn in a written project report.

Scribe assignment: you will be required to turn in typeset notes of my lectures. We will discuss the logistics of this in the first lecture.

Academic Integrity

You may discuss homework problems with other students in the class, but you may not collaborate on the actual writing of the problem sets or development of solutions. Under no circumstances would it be acceptable for two or more students to turn in substantially similar answers to a homework problem, or to have possession of each others' homeworks. It is your responsibility to protect your work from unauthorized access. Everyone with whom you discussed the homework set must be cited on the submitted homeworks. No part of the homework may be copied from or be based on solution sets on the web - also keep in mind that the solution sets on the web are often incomplete and incorrect.

Any violations of the academic integrity code will be penalized according to the Cornell Academic Integrity Policy, and may result in failure in the course, suspension, or expulsion from the university.