FAQ (implied extension of all syllabi)

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Frequently Asked Questions “contributed” by students. Revised August 2009.

Introduction by Helen.

Welcome. I will be the column-mistress.

You can email me if you have questions about Dr. Silverman's courses to helent95@yahoo.com

At some point you will learn that computers distinguish between upper and lower case. In other words, abc, aBc, aBC, are all different strings. If you want to know more now, look up ASCII or Unicode character set. Then look for b and B.

[1] Q: How to communicate with the professor.

A: There are several ways, read his website, use email, or come to his office in office hours (no appointment needed).

Contact Information

Office DBH (a.k.a. P Building), Rm. 285.

Phone: (209) 667 3872

by email.

See more info about email below.

[2] Q: How to communicate with the professor using email.

A: Email Communication (not for submitting hwks):

email: rsilverman@csustan.edu(best channel)

If you want to send instructor email, on any topic, please follow this format.

Starting Spring 2009, we will use csustan email.

Use that csustan email login name.

In the email subject specify: <class-num>; <csustan-email-login>; <topic>

Ex: subject: cs1234; jsmith; hwk3 question

(note, everything is lower case)

(note semicolon and single space between the three fields.)

Note that this subject: cS 1234,jsmith;hwk 3

has about 6 errors. For incorrectly subjected email, the email filter routes the message into the misc directory which he will read after the end of the semester.

[3] Q: How long before I get email response.

A: For correctly subjected email, he usually will respond within 24-48 hours on a working day.

If you did not get a response within 24-48 hours, recheck your sent email, and if it is wrong you can resubmit. For incorrectly subjected email, the email filter routes the message into the misc directory which he will read after the end of the semester.

[4] Q: How does the professor communicate with me.

A: The professor uses for communication csustan email (starting 2009/01/01)

and this website. If on any document in his class it says write your email login, it means csustan-mail login.

Note that you can forward your stanemail to any email you want like hotmail or cs mail.

http://www.csustan.edu/OIT/ClientServices/FAQ/WebMailFwd.html

[5] Q: Why is the FAQ page so long.

A: Originally the Syllabus was short and this page did not exist. Then students asked questions. Some questions were asked frequently, and were recorded here so that we do not waste time in the class where I am asked to explain something too many times. This is a form of e-learning.

[6] Q: I heard the professor explaining how to do something in the Lab, but I decided to explore and do it in another way. Then I got stuck. What should I do.

A: Professor Silverman said that you should follow his procedures in the Lab because he has no time to debug N students’ procedures. But, he allows, nay, he encourages, that you go home, and try doing it in any way you want.

[7] Q: I heard the professor explaining to do something in the Lab, but I decided to explore and do it in another way. Then I was successful. I then called professor Silverman to show it to him that I have a different way to do the same thing.

A: Professor Silverman said that you should follow his procedures in the Lab. But if you do it in another way, do not call him to show him your new way, he has another N - 1 students to whom he needs to pay attention.

According to professor Silverman, with computers, there is almost always more than one way to solve a problem, and he is showing you just one way in the class, because he has no time to cover all the different ways. You can, and in fact he encourages you, to go home and try other ways to solve the problem.

[9] Q: What do I do, if I think that I do not deserve the given grade on my project or exam.

A: You need to submit request as follows in a timely fashion. On the day you received the grade for your work, you will write on top of the first page why you think the professor made a down-mistake. Then you will submit your paper by sliding it under professor’s door. It is rare for the professor to make mistake, but usually if there are mistakes, they balance out. The professor will check the whole paper and fix any down-mistakes and up-mistakes.

Your reason why you disagree with the grade should be short, clear, and specific.

For example: Dr. Silverman, my answer to question number 3 is correct because the gravity on the Moon is only 1/6 of the gravity on Earth and therefore it is possible for a human to jump 30 feet high.

[10] Q: What do I do if I want to ask a question or give an answer in the class.

A: Please use the following protocol. Raise your hand and after the professor selects you, you can ask your question or state your answer. Do not just yell out your question or answer. Incidentally, this is one of the communication protocols used by I/O devices connected to a shared bus as you will learn in CS2700/CS3740.

[11] Q: I have answered all questions correctly in the hwk. How come I lost points.

A: In addition to learning about computers, we are learning professional communication and presentation skills that you will need in the workplace. It is your responsibility to submit your hwk on time, in the proper format, and submit correctly. If the content is perfect, but you did not meet the presentation or communication requirements, you will loose points. Luckily these mistakes are easily eliminated because the correct procedures are described on this website.

[12] Q: Can I use different version of Program X.

A: You should only use the specified version of Programs. Here is the reason. Some of these programs were originally developed many years ago. They had many versions. Each version of a program may be little different from another version or may be vastly different. In fact it may be so different that say Prog X, ver 6, will not be able to read data generated by Prog X, ver 4.

[13] Q: Can I still ask questions about the mechanics of submitting hwks.

A: Yes, but sooner is better.

[14] Q: Can you give me some examples of good and bad questions.

A: Bad question is a question on administrative issues that are discussed on this website, or stated in the class, for example, when is the hwk due, or what should be the format of my hwk.

Having said that, if *after reading the pages here*, you are not clear about something written on this website you should ask and you should ask early in the semester.

Another really bad question is student requesting to change the syllabus or the grading criteria -- the syllabus is the the domain of the professor.

A good question is any question on the material. Professor Silverman, I read the chapter about binary search trees, and I still do not understand why the insert data method sometimes goes to the left and sometimes to the right.

[15] Q: I would like to know, how many points do I lose if I submit my hwk late, or I submit it incorrectly, or if I send it in a wrong format.

A: Let me address your question in more general terms and then I will give you specific answer. The professor explained to everyone in the class the hwk submission process. The process is also published on the HwkSubmission page. (There is a separate hwk submission page for cs4000.)

Before you submit hwk, you should (a) read the submission process carefully and (b) go to see the professor if something is not clear. You should start and complete your homework early. On the day you want to submit your homework, you should allow 2 hours for your first submission. It actually takes 3 minutes, but you have to expect that the first time you may make mistakes. If you allowed enough time and discover that you made a mistake, you will have time to resubmit. For grades, see the hwk submission page.

There are no late homeworks accepted because you have plenty of time to do them if you start promptly. The professor will make exception if you were sick in a hospital for more than 50% of the time and you bring him official doctor note.

[16] Q: Can students make changes in the syllabus or decide on the grading policy in Dr. Silverman's courses.

A: No.

[17] Q: Why can't I get extra time for the homework or get other special treatment. I am a married woman and have 2 small children and I am taking 9 units?

A: It is required by the teaching contract that the professor treats all students as equally as possible. He takes his responsibility very seriously. I am sure that you would not want Dr. Silverman to treat you worse than the other student who is a single man with 5 children that is taking 22 units and holds a full time job.

[18] Q: Can you give me an example how is the final grade affected by tardiness.

A: Let's say that your exams and hwks resulted in raw average (ra) = 78. Let's say that you were tardy 4 times (based on the classroom clock) during the semester. The final average is computed as follows: (fa) = 78 - 10 * floor(4/3) = 78 - 10 * floor(1.33) = 78 - 10 * 1 = 68. (instead C, you get letter grade D).

[20] Q: Am I required to attend classes.

A: Yes.

[21] Q: What do I do if I miss a class.

A: It is your responsibility to find out what was discussed from another student.

If you missed a class for a valid reason (you will bring instructor a note from the doctor), you can come and see Dr. Silverman in his office hours for help. Make sure you are not contagious, as if Dr. Silverman will get sick, the other n-1 students will loose.

[22] Q: What material is on the Exam. What format of questions are used.

A: Exams may contain questions of any kind/format appropriate to test the subject.

They will be based on material discussed in the class, book, lecture notes, hwk, and labs.

Exams are primarily based on the last 1/3 or 1/2 of the course, however, they will implicitly or explicitly refer partly to previous material.

[23] Q: Is academic honesty required.

A: Yes.

[24] Q: Are projects, exams, and hwk group effort.

A: All efforts are individual efforts unless the professor specifies that it is a group effort. Students are encouraged to form study groups to discuss the class material.

[25] Q: What happens if your exam or quiz answers are not written legibly.

A: If the instructor can't read your work, you will receive zero points for this work.

In order for you to know what he considers “legible”, here a two digitized documents hand written by students. Sample legible. Sample illegible. Pls note the legibility and size of the characters (you may have to print this as your image viewer scales the image). If you have doubts about your handwriting ability, bring a sample to the professor and he will be happy to categorize it. If you are told by Dr. Silverman in any course that you need to use word processor, you need to do it for all of his courses unless you meet with him and show him samples that indicate that your handwriting has improved.

[26] Q: How should I answer a multiple part question.

A: For example, you are asked to give 3 advantages of X over Y.

Ex Good answer:

1. (on new line) X is faster than Y because Blah Blah Blah Blah blah blah Blah Blah Blah Blah blah blah Blah Blah Blah Blah blah blah.

2. (on new line) X is cheaper than Y.

3. (on new line) X smells better than Y.

Bad answer:

X is cheaper than Y, it smells good and Y costs more than X.

[27] Q: What should I do if I have difficulties to keep up with the professor talking and taking class notes?

A: This professor is the “Slowest talking professor in the West”. However, if you do have difficulties taking class notes, the Tutoring Center has a “class” on how to take “effective class notes” or you can take MDIS 1040 which teaches college success skill.

[29] Q: What are my responsibilities as a college student?

A:

1. Students are required to read their email three times per week.

2. Students are required to read the course web pages and other relevant pages three times per week.

3. Students are required to be in class on time.

4. Students are required to think.

5. Students are required to be able to take college class notes.

6. Students are required not to interfere with other students' right to education.

[30] Q: What do I do with hwk if the professor is sick or on furlough.

A:

The electronic version is due as normal. The paper version you will give to CS Admin Marlys. If she is not there, you slide it under professor's doors.

[99] Q: Why doesn’t the professor tell me everything in the class.

A: There are different reasons why the professor does not tell you everything. Sometimes he forgets to tell you something -- but that is rare. More frequently he wants to present the material in certain stages, and so you should not interrupt the sequence of his presentation and it is very likely that he will explain (if it is important) what you wanted to know later. Also often, the professor does not tell you everything, because he wants you to go on your own, to think, or search, and discover answer to your question.

[100] Q: Do I have to know what is on this page.

A: Statistics show that students not reading these pages have 7.2 points lower grade average, which can be a difference between B and C.

Nomenclature:

SW software

HW hardware

hwk homework

TBD -- to be decided

<xxx> -- This means that you have to replace the <xxx> with something.

Ex: If you see <class-number>, replace <class-number> with your class number, such as cs1234.

<csustan-login> is your csustan login name.

Copyright

All information on this website is copyrighted by Robert R. Silverman, 2002, ... current date. No part of this system or information presented here can be reproduced using any means, such as: book print, physical, electronic, chemical, biological, mathematical, telepathic, or other not yet discovered means without the explicit permission by Dr. Robert R. Silverman, CSU Stanislaus, rsilverman@csustan.edu An explicit permission is given to all my students to copy this material as needed for educational noncommercial purpose.