Improvements that need to be implemented for the future terms

According to the grad TAs, we need to have marking scheme notes for all assignments, especially in assignment 1 where they might not have experience in marking, and therefore need more assistance in it. This is also true because more of the markers aren't as familiar with Scheme as they are in C, so more emphasize should be covered in Scheme programs, which most of them are found in the earlier assignments.

For the marking scheme, you should also provide “more possible answers that students might give sometimes”, so that the markers would be better covered in case that they need to mark an unusual submission.

It might also be easier if the students explained how their code ran so that the markers don't have to read the code line by line, taking a long time in marking.

Scheme

If tutors feel comfortable with Scheme, they may find it worthwhile to run a tutorial or lab on Scheme, specifically for the marking TAs. KyleSpaans created a tutorial for this purpose in Winter 2009, based on materials created by Prof. Ragde (PR) in previous terms. It can be found in ~cs136/u/kspaans/09W-CS136/ScmTut. Ask PR for hints and guidance if necessary.

It's worthwhile to note that in Winter 2009, student attendance of tutorials was low, and that instructors and tutors agreed that a more hands-on lab may be more beneficial. This is probably also true for getting marking TAs started with Scheme.

-- SanderzFung - 28 Apr 2009

C

Header files and function prototypes

At Winter 2009 We taught about the header files. Students were very confused about this and some, even to the end of the term could not understand why the header files were required. The texts of textbook page 163 - 165 tells this point quite skillfully. It is worth having a look and tell students to take a read. The book was C Programming: A Modern Approach by K.N.King. 1st edition.(They now have the second edition but the office will have a first edition copy)

Also for the header files, chapter 15.2 does a very good job on explaining the header file. The prior reading of page 163-165 is required to understand the concept, however.

C Programming Style

Page 79 - 80 of the textbook shows the 4 C programming indentation style; When creating a mark scheme of the C codes, it's paramount that the student uses the consistent style throughout their code.

We generally prefer the K&R style, and this could be a good tutorial material.

Mnemonic coding style

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic

Tell student to use the meaningful names for their variables. Add this in the marking scheme.

Switch from scheme.

Many students will be facing this issue; be prepared of it.

The compiler test.

In Winter 2009, a professor requested a test in automarking for compiling with no warning. this was done by a script, and the codes can be found in 1091 archive after assignment 7. (there was a bug in assignment 6 code where it passed the test for a non-submitted code). marking/testp.0(or any folder with the print)/in/any C question/wall

The code is also on this Wiki at BitterSuiteVerifyingCCompilesWithoutWarnings

-- KyungMinKim - 30 Apr 2009