I reserve the right to adjust the percentages based on the number of assignments and quizzes, and other factors
More on that pre-requisite
If you are are a transfer student (or a non-UVA student during the summer term), then your pre-req is all of the following:
two semesters of programming experience
knowledge of programming in C or C++
knowledge of programming in assembly
Exams
As mentioned, two midterms
Thu, Oct 2 and Thu, Nov 6, both in class
Final exam
Monday, December 15th from 9am to noon
You can’t take it early, so please don’t ask
You can’t take it late, either
Homeworks
Late homework is docked 25% per day (or fraction thereof)
Thus, more than 72 hours late will receive a zero
Homeworks will generally be given out, one per week
Some “easy” ones will be more often
Some “hard” ones will have a bit more time
Note that the difficulty level of the homeworks varies considerably
Extensions
You can get 6 extensions for homeworks throughout the semester
Each one adds 4 days to the due date; late penalties would kick in after
There is no bonus for not having used them all
This is done through an online extensions system; link on Canvas landing page
This covers ALL accommodations: travel, holidays, being busy, family emergencies, SDAC (generally), dog ate your homework, religious observances, interviews, thunderstorms, power outages, temporal dislocation, etc.
Us and you
Office hours will be posted on the Canvas landing page
And by appointment
I avoid e-mailing the class; announcements will be discussed each day in lecture and posted to Canvas / Piazza
To contact me, chat with me before, during, or after class
We also have Piazza as well for questions
Course Materials
We are coordinating out of a Canvas workspace
It should be all configured, with the assignments and exams already in the calendar
It only copied itself from system to system over the Internet
BUT: Copying monopolized system resources until they had to be shut down
Worm reached 10% of entire Internet
Creator did not realize it would be that resource-intensive
Creator was convicted of felonies!
And is now a professor at MIT. Go figure!
Morris Worm Lessons
Consequences of a virus or worm cannot always be foreseen
Severe damage can be done without destroying data
Excessive resource usage is destructive enough to be criminal
Criminal Prosecution
Attackers have been prosecuted for:
Stealing passwords, even if never used
Copying copyrighted materials
Accessing confidential data, even if it was never used for harmful purposes
Entering a system without permission, causing sys admins to spend time tracking them and securing the system, even without otherwise causing harm
Moral: Don’t assume it is legally safe to do any of the above
Ethics Violations
Violations by students endanger our ability to offer this course
As a result, they will be treated severely
UJC (University Judiciary Committee)
Course grades
Criminal prosecution
ACM Code of Ethics
ACM is the primary professional organization for computer scientists
IEEE is the other
The entire code is available at http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics
Ethics Questions
Scenario: John Doe attempts to guess the password of a user of a system on which John Doe has no account. After a few guesses, he succeeds, but finds nothing of interest on the system and logs off.
Q1: Has he committed a crime?
Q2: Are his actions analogous to any common crime not involving computers?