Adapted from Prof. Ethan Bolker and Prof. Carl Offner
You are taking this course in order to learn as much as you can about the material it covers. No learning occurs in a vacuum. You learn from lectures and reading, by playing with ideas, by talking to other people about what you are trying to learn. That is particularly important in Computer Science. A kind of terminal-room-and-email camaraderie develops that makes learning easier and a lot more fun. But part of the ethical code under which we function at a University requires that we acknowledge the sources of ideas we use in work of our own. When you turn in work that you have discussed with someone, or which contains ideas that you found in a book, you must indicate that fact. I expect you to talk to each other and to read materials other than those assigned. I also expect to see in your work evidence that you have done so. I cheer when I see a reference, say, to another book on Computer Science, or a comment in your code that says that you didn’t understand recursion until Ada Lovelace helped you out. Learning to acknowledge intellectual debts is part of learning. It has nothing to do with grades or dishonesty. You should be reading, talking to each other, and telling the world that you have done so.
Some kinds of sharing, however, are unacceptable. You may not use the computer to copy someone’s code and submit it as your own any more than you may use a photocopier to steal someone else’s words — even if you acknowledge that theft! You may not have your friends do your work for you. Versions of the assignments in this course have been given in previous years. You may not use answers to those assignments. To any of you who may be tempted to cheat: the best reason not to is that it’s wrong. Another is that if you cheat you learn considerably less. A third reason is that you will be caught more often than you think. If I find evidence of cheating, I will act as described in the Penalties for Infractions section below.
You may only receive help from people in the ways described below and you must acknowledge any help you get.
| Course Staff | CS451/651 Grads | Classmates | Others | |
| Discuss concepts with | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Acknowledge collaboration with | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Expose your code/work to | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| View code/work of | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
| Copy code/work from | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ |
You are not allowed to submit solutions obtained from websites such as Chegg or Course Hero, or using AI systems such as ChatGPT.
You are not allowed to post questions about the course or about any of the assignments on any website other than our Piazza page.
If you are caught cheating on an assignment/exam and if it is your first offense, you will receive a 0 for that assignment/exam, and you will be reported to the appropriate department official. If you repeat this behavior and are caught again, you will receive an F for the course and you will be reported to the appropriate university personnel.