Rules

Type of project to choose

CS 50 is about analyzing problems and designing programs; it is not primarily about programming at the method level. Therefore, what we are looking for in projects are problem domains that are "interesting", i.e., have

• around 2 dozen key concepts, and
• interesting relationships between these concepts.

Suppose you have a choice between two projects.  Project A has many concepts with complex relationships, but each resulting class is simple to implement.  Project B has fewer concepts, but each class is difficult to implement because it involves tricky algorithms. For CS50, project A is a much better choice. The goal is for you to learn how to develop a large software project and to learn object-oriented analysis and design. Thus, a major portion of your work on the class project should be in these areas. Once you have the individual class and interface definitions, the implementation should be relatively simple. In other words, the emphasis is not on algorithms (e.g., superfast sorting).

Source code requirements

• All source code must be 100% pure Java, version 1.5 compatible. You may use an IDE, like Netbeans or Eclipse, to prepare the source, but you must insure that all of the source compiles and executes properly using the pure JDK platform tools like javac and java.
• Each interface and class (excluding inner classes) must be in a file by itself.
• Each source file must contain a package statement (part of the design process will include organizing classes and interfaces into separate packages).
• All code must be original, or it must be properly cited. See the note about plagiarism below.

Grading guidelines

The Grades page gives the percentage that each component contributes to the course grade.

Late submissions receive reduced grades. No items are accepted more than 48 hours past their posted due dates.

Grades are applied equally to all members of a given team. In the event that individual members do not willingly contribute their fair share of the work, the other members of the team should: (1) first attempt to gain the cooperation of the lagging member; and (2) if that attempt fails, they should inform the team's manager (TA) less than one week after the affected assignment is turned in, with a specific recommendation for reducing the grade for the uncooperative member.

About plagiarism

Just as a reminder: All work that you submit must be entirely your own, or its origin must be properly cited. That is, it's ok to use an idea, a design, or code  from somewhere, but only if you tell us so.

Plagiarism is a very serious offense, and we are obligated to spend effort trying to find it. If we detect it, the offending group's grade is reduced by at least 25 percent even for minor infractions. For anything other than a minor infraction, the grade is zero, and the students' behavior is reported to the appropriate university authorities. According to university guidelines, "any act of academic dishonesty ... is unacceptable and will be met with disciplinary action".