University of Virginia, Department of Computer Science
CS655: Programming Languages
Spring 200/0

Position Papers

Questions

  1. Due Monday 24 Jan: Write a "Why X is not my favorite language" paper (Selected student papers)
  2. Due Monday 21 Feb: An Array of Arrays
  3. Due Monday 28 Feb: CLUs about Ada
  4. Due Monday 3 Apr: Mock Trial Verdict
Your grader will stop reading your paper after pressing the space bar four times. Don't submit anything longer than the template.

Logistics

Papers are due at 11:59pm on the due date. Submit your paper by both: We assume all submitted papers may be freely reposted on the course web site and distributed (in excerpt or in full) to the class. If for some reason you do not want something you submit to be public, contact one of the course staff.

Grading

Position paper grades are described by the language:
   0 |  ( - | + ) *
where the value of a position paper is determined by the following attribute grammar:
   grade     ==> 0             { grade.value = 0 }
   grade     ==>  modifiers { grade.value = modifiers.value }
   modifiers ==> - modifiers   { modifiers_l.value = .5 * modifiers_r.value }
   modifiers ==> + modifiers   { modifiers_l.value = 2 * modifiers_r.value }
   modifiers ==>               { modifiers.value = 1 }
There is no limit to the number of -'s or +'s a paper may receive. The standards are: An average of 1 on position papers is approximately a B. An average of 2 would be an A+. Note that the value of +++++ is 32, so if you get one of these and don't turn in any other position papers, your position papers grade (assuming 6 papers during the term) is 5.3, which will give you an A in the class even if you don't do anything else.

If you are unhappy with a grade on a position paper and feel it was misunderstood by the grader, you may submit a one page response that adresses the criticisms of your paper. Your grade may be adjusted either up or down based on your response.


CS 655 University of Virginia
CS 655: Programming Languages
cs655-staff@cs.virginia.edu
Last modified: Mon Feb 26 12:48:17 2001