Thu, 21 Oct 2021, 17:24 a few things...

My students,

I have several items to share with you.

First, I am sensitive to the fact that it is possible that your grade on PL1
does not reflect your understanding of the concepts, that you received a grade
much lower than you should have because a simple mistake adversely affected
too many cases.  So, I am doing the following: if you think your low grade on
PL1 was caused by a simple error, I want you to correct ONLY the simple error
and then re-submit, along with an email to Ying-Wei of what error you are
correcting.  Ying-Wei will check your code to be sure you only corrected the
simple error, and if that is the case, he will re-test your program, and give
you the grade the re-submitted program earns minus 10 points for the simple
error.  Please correct ONLY the simple error.  If Ying-Wei finds that you
corrected other errors, he will not re-test your program.

For example, apparently some of you left off the final TRAP instruction to ask
the Operating System to terminate your program.  When TRAP x25 was added to one
student's program and the program retested, the grade was 100%.  100 - 10 points
equals 90, which is the grade that student gets.

Some students received a zero grade for not following instructions as to what
to name the file you submit.  I do not consider that overly harsh.  Everyone
in our class is a student at UT and should be able to follow simple
instructions.  There are 184 of you, and if you cavalierly decide to ignore
simple instructions, you are making the job of me and my TAs unnecessarily
harder.  This one time only, if your zero was due to not following our
directions on what to call the file you submit, send email to Ying-Wei,
and he
will test your program.  Your grade will be the grade the program earns minus
25 points for not following simple instructions.

Second, PL2 is more challenging than PL1, and PL3 is more challenging than PL2.
Your first attempt at a solution may not work the first time.  The debugger
part of the Simulator should help you correct your errors IF you know how to
use it.  Please take advantage of the TAs' office hours and discussion sessions
to make sure you know how to use the debugging features of the Simulator.
It can make a big difference in your ability to find errors in your program.

Third, PL2 and problem set 4 have both been posted.

Finally, the due dates of the programs have been adjusted.  PL2 is now due
on
October 31.  PL3 is now due on November 14.  PL4 is now due on November 23.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Good luck.
Stay safe.
YNP