Syllabus for Summer 2025

Prof. Michael R. Nowak|Teaching Assistant Professor
Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
[email protected]| Office: 2338 Siebel Center for Comp Sci | +1 (217) 244-8894|michaelrnowak.com

See the Course Communication section of the syllabus.

At the end of the course, a successful student should be able to:

• Manage, organize, and compile C++ projects of simple complexity using basic Unix-based tools
• Use basic editing and debugging tools such as GDB and Valgrind
• Understand the features of computer systems that make them useful for solving problems, including computation, memory, storage, data access and networking
• Use object-oriented design to appropriately structure data and couple data and behavior
• Decompose problems of modest complexity into simpler components with well defined interfaces
• Formulate and implement useful algorithms that solve real problems and can be implemented and run on a computer
• Construct and test code from a simple specification

After reading the course syllabus (cs128.org/syllabus), please visit our getting started page (cs128.org/start).

This class breaks from traditional collegiate lectures by delivering course content through a series of asynchronous daily lessons available on-demand through our course website. Each lesson introduces new material through a combination of text, video, and interactive walkthroughs. You will find interactive coding exercises interspersed throughout most lessons, which are designed to reinforce the material that you have been learning about.

Office Hours

• Office hour times are posted on the course calendar (cs128.org/calendar).
• All office hours will be hosted via Zoom: illinois.zoom.us/j/81147519615 (password is howdy).

Discussion Forum

The discussion forum (discuss.cs128.org) is meant for smaller questions that can be easily answered in text form. Most policy questions are answered in this syllabus. For almost anything else, search the forum—maybe another student has asked your question and we've already answered it. If you still can't find an answer, post your question on the forum. While we do not debug solutions on the discussion forum, we're happy to provide clarification about smaller snippets of code. If you're posting code, please make sure your post is private so that you do not violate our academic integrity policies.

Rule of thumb: any general questions about the assignment -- e.g., I don't understand what I'm supposed to do, what does the prompt mean by x, etc. -- can be asked publicly on the course forum. However, any implementation specific questions or otherwise must be asked privately. If you are unsure whether your discussion forum post's contents could go against course policies, you should make your post private.

Only exceptional performance will constitute an A grade. If you're okay with just getting by or are a quiet quitter, this course will likely be too fast-paced for you.

Method of Evaluation

Course grades will be calculated using the following weights:

Grade scale

Course grades will be assigned according to this scale:

Final Grade Modifiers

You must earn at least 67% on each machine problem to become eligible for a course grade higher than a B+. Suppose you fail to submit any solution that earns at least 67% for some machine problem. In that case, the maximum grade you are eligible for in this course is a B+. Late submissions are considered submissions, so please take advantage of our late policies to meet this modifier's stipulation. This policy effectively caps your grade at a B+ should you not earn at least 67% on each MP. To receive an A-block grade, you must get at least 67% on each machine problem and meet the "Minimum % of Total Points Earned" for an A-block grade.

Last Day to Submit Coursework

We do not accept any submissions past the semester's last day of instruction. The date for the current semester's last day of instruction is found on the University's academic calendar. Search the academic calendar for "Last day of instruction".

Regrades and Audits

Regrade requests, challenges, and/or otherwise of the grade on any assessment must be submitted within one week (7 days) from the date that the respective student work is handed back.

• For all works submitted to PrairieLearn or to the website (cs128.org), this is within one-week from the assignment due date (not the late due date).

We reserve the right to audit the grades for any assessment submitted to this course; during the audit process, we can decrease or increase your score. Examples when this might occur include (but are not limited to):

• a mistake made by our auto-grader;
• student circumvention of a test case by any means;
• breach of any extent of the academic integrity rules; and
• student failing to follow an assignment requirement

Whenever there is uncertainty, it is your responsibility to seek clarity. Never assume; instead confirm.

• You must treat each Machine Problem (MP) as you would an exam or quiz by completing all work individually and without collaboration.
• Machine problems are also called MPs throughout this document and the course.
• New MPs will be released according to the schedule below.
• To achieve the best outcomes, begin working on your solutions as soon as each MP is released and continue steadily until the due date—waiting until the last minute often leads to poor results.
• Each MP increases in difficulty and sophistication compared to the previous one.
• All MPs are graded by the PrairieLearn autograder, and partial credit may be awarded for passing some of the test cases. However, any solution that does not compile will receive no points.
• MP Schedule

  #	Release Date	Formal Due Date	Points
  0	2025-06-16 05:00:00	2025-06-25 23:59:59	10
  1	2025-06-25 05:00:00	2025-07-02 23:59:59	100
  2	2025-07-02 05:00:00	2025-07-09 23:59:59	100
  3	2025-07-09 05:00:00	2025-07-18 23:59:59	100
  4	2025-07-18 05:00:00	2025-07-30 23:59:59	100
  5	2025-07-30 05:00:00	2025-08-06 23:59:59	100
  * All date-times are in the Champaign-local time zone.
  Each MP's Release Date and Formal Due Date are subject to change; any changes will be communicated via the course forum.

• Late policy:
  • We strongly encourage you to complete all MPs well in advance of the deadline; however, each machine problem will be accepted through the semester's last day of instruction with a grade cap imposed (capped at 70%).
  • You cannot receive an accommodation to extend the late submission period, as the assignment will already be past due by then.
• Late penalty waivers
  • Students can elect to waive the late penalty on TWO (2) machine problems (past, present, or future) from the "MP Late Penalty Waivers" section of My.CS128 (cs128.org/my/waivers).
    • This is a "No Questions Asked" waiver that is available for everyone.
    • This is not automatic, and you are not required to use these waivers should you choose not to.
  • Without exception, students must add and delete late penalty waivers by the semester's last day of instruction.
  • For any MP you've elected a late penalty waiver, submit the assignment to PrairieLearn by 23:59 Champaign local time on the semester's last day of instruction.
  • The late penalty waiver will not show in PrairieLearn in real time. Therefore, late submissions will reflect the earned score with our late penalty.

• A lesson is considered a graded lesson if it has at least one programming activity and/or question.
  • Therefore, the interactive coding activities and multiple-choice questions interspersed throughout the daily lessons are graded.
  • You may work through the lesson programming activities and questions together, but each person must write their own unique solution. Please carefully read the relevant section of this document on graded lesson collaboration so that you understand what's allowed and what's not.
  • We expect you to complete these activities and questions the same day that the lesson was released.
• Submission policy
  • Within a graded lesson,
    • each programming activity and question will specify their individual point value and the number of submissions you have been allocated for that activity/question;
    • your score for each activity/question will be recorded as the maximum score across all submissions of that activity/question.
  • Your score for the graded lesson will be the number of points that you've earned out of the maximum number of points available within that lesson; each graded lesson contributes equally towards the graded lesson component of your final grade.
  • Due date: A lesson week is defined as the lessons assigned within a Monday through Friday period. All graded lessons within a lesson week are due on the Sunday directly following that lesson week by 17:00 Champaign local time. The only exception is that the last week of class's graded lessons will be due by 23:59 Champaign local time on the last day of instruction.
• Late policy: You must complete these activities by their due date. Do not contact the course staff regarding a missed graded lesson. In order to accommodate illness and other potential excused absences throughout the semester, we will drop ten (10) graded lessons when computing the graded lesson component of your final grade.

When life happens—whether expected or unexpected—we recognize that there may be times when you're unable to attend class, complete an assignment, or meet a deadline. The course includes built-in flexibility in the form of drops and late penalty waivers to help you manage such situations.

We expect you to use these tools first, as they were built into the course to support you in navigating the kinds of situations where completing work on time isn't possible. These accommodations are intended to cover a range of life events, from illnesses and personal emergencies to scheduling conflicts or other unexpected obligations.

Please make sure to save documentation for any instance in which you use a drop or late penalty waiver (e.g., doctor's notes, official communications, etc.). This documentation may be requested, especially if you seek further accommodations beyond what is already built into the course.

In summary:

• Use the built-in accommodations first: The course design anticipates life's challenges, so we require you to use the provided drops and late penalty waivers as your first recourse.
• Document every case: Always save the necessary documentation for any drop or late penalty waiver you use.
• Additional accommodations: Once these options have been exhausted, we can discuss further accommodations if needed.

This policy is designed to support your success while ensuring fairness and consistency across the course.

No collaboration with other human beings, AIs, or otherwise is allowed on the Machine Problems (MPs). If you have any questions about your solution, approach, or otherwise, course staff members can meet with you during office hours. You may not receive help from other individuals, including your classmates.

Searching for homework‐specific algorithms, complete solutions, or code snippets that directly implement parts of an MP is strictly prohibited and will be treated as cheating. If we catch you viewing or submitting a solution found on the Internet (or via any other source), you will receive a FAIR violation. We are serious about this—don't cheat yourself. You are expected to complete these assignments independently, as intended.

That said, it is perfectly acceptable to consult C++ language documentation or other general references to learn how to use the language’s features or the standard library. For example, looking up how to:

• iterate through an std::map’s keys,
• clear the contents of an std::string,
• preallocate memory for an std::vector, or
• use any other standard container, standard algorithm, or language facility

is allowed, provided that you do not copy or adapt code that solves the MP itself. In other words, you may seek guidance on "how to use this C++ feature," but you may not search for "how to implement any aspect of this MP."

You may find it helpful to collaborate on the graded lessons with others. This is permitted in CS 128, subject to the rules outlined below.

The goal is to support each other’s learning and practice talking about the problems and computer science together. However, there are lots of ways to work together that could lead to you both learning less than if you had worked independently. And please keep in mind that you will need to complete the machine problems on your own, and the graded lessons are a critical way to prepare for these assessments.

If you are interested in collaborating on the lesson problems, you may do so freely. We encourage you to find good collaborators. A good collaborator is someone who works at a similar pace and who you feel comfortable exchanging questions with. When you complete the problem, you should both feel confident that you understand the problem you worked on together, and could tackle it on your own.

You may examine code written by your collaborators—either in person or virtually. However, you may not electronically directly transfer or receive source code. All collaborators must enter their own solution, and we expect to see small differences even from students who worked together.

One final thing to keep in mind is that the course assistants are always available to help! You’ll find helpful tutors on our tutoring site. In many ways, our tutors are better prepared to collaborate with you on your lessons than other students. They have completed the problems, but are not experienced enough to quickly notice every mistake. And, most importantly, they are trained to help you in ways that enable your learning, not just quickly lead to you to a solution.

If you believe that you have identified a problem with a quiz question, machine problem, lesson, or otherwise, please report the problem to the course staff through a private note on the discussion forum. Do not post your questions publicly.

Once we have received your report, we will do one of the following:

• If the question has a bug, we will correct it and ensure that all affected students receive full credit or have an opportunity to address the issue at our discretion—including those who completed the quiz before the bug was identified.
• If the question has a minor typo that we don't think affects its ability to be correctly answered, we will fix it and distribute that change.
• If the question is fine, we will not do anything.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Student Code should also be considered as a part of this syllabus. Students should pay particular attention to Article 1, Part 4: Academic Integrity. Read the Code here.

Academic dishonesty will result in a sanction proportionate to the severity of the infraction, with possible sanctions described in 1-404 of the Student Code. Every student is expected to review and abide by the Academic Integrity Policy as defined in the Student Code. As a student it is your responsibility to refrain from infractions of academic integrity and from conduct that aids others in such infractions. A short guide to academic integrity issues may be found here. Ignorance of these policies is not an excuse for any academic dishonesty. It is your responsibility to read this policy to avoid any misunderstanding. Do not hesitate to ask the instructor(s) if you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism, cheating, or any other breach of academic integrity. It is imperative that each student clearly understand those rules and the severe consequences that can result from the adjudication of an Honor Code Violation.

By submitting anything to this course, electronically or otherwise, you are asserting the following: "I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work. In particular, I certify that I have not received or given any assistance that is contrary to the letter or the spirit of the collaboration guidelines for this assignment."

In particular, every student should understand that complicity – helping or attempting to help another student commit an act of academic dishonesty – also constitutes academic dishonesty and carries the same punishment as cheating.

• In other words, if you provide your solution to another student, even if that student does not turn it in for credit, you have committed an act of academic dishonesty and will both be subject to the same consequences.

Furthermore, writing, interjecting, or otherwise, codes and/or comments to reveal test cases or to otherwise circumvent our auto-grader / bypass any test cases is considered an academic integrity violation. You may never hard-code against the test cases in our suite.

Moreover, in defense of FAIR violations, students have claimed that another student (typically a friend) stole their solutions while leaving their device unattended or on loan. We will no longer entertain this scenario as a defense against academic integrity violations. Therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure that your computer and coursework are secured should you leave your device unattended or loan it to another individual.

Cheating

All work submitted to this course must be your own. Specifically, the following activities constitute cheating and will be dealt with according the sanctions below. You may not:

• Turn in work that was completed by anyone other than yourself.
• Copy or paste code that you did not write from any source.
• Misrepresent your work as the work of another student.
• Examine another classmate's solution, reproduce it, or submit it as your own work.
• Share information about the content of quizzes or other private course assessments.
• Publish your MP or coursework anywhere where other students can find them. Note that this includes publishing your MP publicly on GitHub. If you want to impress employers, fill your GitHub page with your own independent projects.
• Email or share your code with anyone in the class now or in future semesters.

We will run cheating detection software on all submitted student work. These programs are extremely accurate, and any evidence of cheating that they uncover will initiate academic integrity violation proceedings. We are serious about this, and ask you to be serious about learning. If you want to learn more about how accurately this software detects cheating and plagiarism, read this article.

Please note: the CAs and TAs have zero responsibility to warn you about potential policy violations; the responsibility to be aware of course policy, and what is allowed, is strictly that of the student. Suppose you have any questions about academic integrity or otherwise. In that case, you should seek immediate clarification from the instructor via a post made to the course forum before interacting with another student, an AI (never allowed), or otherwise on an assignment in any capacity.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of the work of someone else's work as your own. Submitted work will be examined for plagiarism using computer software designed for that purpose. We compare your code with every other student’s code and code from easily accessible repositories found on the internet. If there is a high similarity between your code and another student’s code (or code from online solutions), and we believe it is more probable than not that an academic integrity violation has occurred, we issue a FAIR violation. Moreover, examinations are meant to measure the knowledge or skill of each individual, so giving or receiving unauthorized assistance during tests and quizzes is cheating. It is assumed that college students know what is honest and what is not.

Self-plagiarism

Self-plagiarism is reusing the work you have already submitted to a class. In CS 128, you cannot reuse/submit work you've completed during a previous semester. Instead, you need to think through the problems and compose new solutions. Past performance is typically indicative of future performance. Sitting out and disengaging while resubmitting old work is unsuitable for your learning. Accordingly, I will only allow submissions of a past semester's work if one has an extraordinary circumstance. For example, if one had to withdraw due to medical reasons. This policy is not meant to be harsh or otherwise; I sincerely want you to do well in my class and future courses in our program. Therefore, to encourage learning, I can only allow you to submit codes from a previous semester this semester if you have an extraordinary circumstance that I consider and subsequently decide to approve in writing.

Therefore, if you are retaking the course this semester, you will need to compose solutions without any reference to your work a last semester. Failure to follow our self-plagiarism policies will result in a FAIR referral. Therefore, do not review your solutions from a previous semester, and you should be good.

Sanctions

If you are caught cheating in CS 128 you will (without question) receive a FAIR violation. The penalty for the first infraction will be:

• A letter grade reduction in the class and a zero score on each assessment involved in the violation.

For a second offense or extreme act affecting other students:

• An F in the course.

Please note that these sanctions deviate from the departmental recommendations.

We have set up a comprehensive and well-organized course website and discussion forum to help you find what you need to know. Our goal is to avoid email and other 1-to-1 forms of communication that don't scale well to large numbers of students.

There are two primary sources of information for CS 128:

1. This website
2. The course forum at discuss.cs128.org

Most policy questions are answered in this syllabus. For almost anything else, search the forum—maybe another student has asked your question and we've already answered it. If you still can't find an answer, post your question on the forum.

Addressing Course Staff

While I recognize that today's world is more casual than ever, I prefer to keep things formal and professional. Therefore,

• When addressing your professor, please address us with our professional title. For example, Prof. Nowak.
• When addressing a graduate TA, I suggest using the prefix Mr./Ms./Mx. unless your TA tells you otherwise.
• When addressing an undergraduate CA, feel free to use their first name.

What You’re Responsible For

You are responsible for email sent to your @illinois.edu email address. We will occasionally use a course email list to send important announcements.

You are also responsible for announcement messages posted in the course forum. These announcements are important and we will frequently post in this category in lieu of using email.

Contacting the Course Staff

The course forum is your primary point of contact with the staff.

You may think the professor's five minutes of responding to your email is not a huge problem. Five-minute responses to 100s of students can consume many hours, though. Therefore, we kindly ask you to post to the course forum.

This is not because we don't like you. It's because there are many of you, a much smaller number of us, and many of the questions you have tend to be shared by other students. If you email us, we can answer your question with one person: you. If you post on the course forum, we can answer your question for the entire class. You may find that your question has already been answered by searching before posting or that another student can answer it for you before the course staff.

Here is a general guide about how to contact the course staff:

• I need help installing... post on the course forum.
• I'm confused about the concept... post on the course forum.
• I need help with... post on the course forum.
• I can't find... post the course forum.

In contrast, here are some cases where you can and should contact the course instructors:

• I think that my friend is cheating in CS 128... contact the course staff.
• I'm really sick and getting behind in the class... contact the course staff.
• I'm feeling really overwhelmed and need someone to talk to... contact the course staff, or an academic advisor, or a friend.

In this course, we will use the Google C++ Style Guide (https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html).

Course Materials

The course materials used in this course are copyrighted. All material prepared for this class is copyrighted; this includes the syllabus, lecture slides and notes, exams, machine problems, lab work activities, etc. Given that all course material is a copyrighted work, you do not have the rights to copy or distribute the course material, unless the author expressly grants such permission.

Recording

Students may not record audio or video of any course activity unless the student has an approved accommodation from Disability Resources & Educational Services permitting recording. This accommodation letter must be presented to the instructor in advance of any recording being done. Students who are allowed to record classes are not permitted to redistribute audio or video recordings of statements or comments from the course to other individuals without the express permission of the faculty member and of any students/staff members who are recorded.

Our course goals can only be accomplished in a setting of mutual respect.

Your instructors are committed to creating a classroom environment that welcomes all students, regardless of their identities—race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs. We value diversity in all of its definitions, including who we are, how we think, and what we do. We cultivate an accessible, inclusive, and equitable culture where everyone can pursue their passions and reach their potential in an intellectually stimulating and respectful environment. The effectiveness of this course is dependent upon each of us to create a safe and encouraging learning environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas while also ensuring equitable opportunities and respect for all of us. Everyone is expected to help establish and maintain an environment where students, staff, and faculty can contribute without fear of personal ridicule, or intolerant or offensive language. If you witness or experience behavior that goes against these expectations, you are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the course instructor. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make sure everyone is encouraged to succeed in this class.

Our Values and Code of Conduct

All members of the Illinois Computer Science department (faculty, staff, and students) are expected to adhere to the CS Values and Code of Conduct. The CS CARES Committee is available to serve as a resource to help people who are concerned about or experience a potential violation of the Code. If you experience such issues, please contact the CS CARES Committee. The instructors of this course are also available for issues related to this class.

Illinois law requires the University to reasonably accommodate its students' religious beliefs, observances, and practices with admissions, class attendance, and the scheduling of examinations and work requirements. Therefore, we recommend that students examine each syllabus at the beginning of the semester for potential conflicts, notify the instructor/professor, and follow their directions on how to request accommodations.

This class requires students to notify the instructor via email of any class activities or assessments affected by a religious observance. To best facilitate planning and communication, you must notify your instructor within the first two weeks of classes for the semester in which any accommodations request applies.

If you have DRES Accommodations, it is required that you formally submit your letter of accommodations for this course. Instructions on how to fulfill this requirement will be found on the the Start Here page. We must to receive your accommodations letter before you start using them. It's important to note that we won't be able to apply accommodations retroactively in any situation.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the course instructor and the Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, call 333-4603, e-mail [email protected] or go to https://www.disability.illinois.edu. If you are concerned you have a disability-related condition that is impacting your academic progress, there are academic screening appointments available that can help diagnose a previously undiagnosed disability. You may access these by visiting the DRES website and selecting "Request an Academic Screening" at the bottom of the page.

Please ensure that you have a laptop device that meets the College of Engineering's recommendations (https://techzone.illinois.edu/site_engineering_recommendation.asp), with either Window, Mac, or Ubuntu operating system, and the Google Chrome web browser (used to access our website) installed.