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Approximate optimistic overview
- Administrative stuff [10 min]
- On SoLA 1 [15 min]
- Questions and answers [10 min]
- Lab [40 min]
- Turn in Lab [5 min]
Administrative stuff
Introductory notes
- Yay! We have Otter.ai recordings again, at least for today. Does anyone
use them?
- I will be out of town Tuesday through Friday this week, attending the
annual ACM Technical Symposium in Computer Science Education.
- No office hours this week.
- I’ll check Teams Messages from time to time.
- You will have subs on Wednesday and Friday.
- For reasons we will discuss, today’s class is less ready than normal.
- I’m moving the cut and compose quiz to next week.
- I may swear in class today. Apologies in advance. At times, profanity
seems necessary.
Upcoming activities
Scholarly
- Tuesday, 25 February 2025, Noon–12:50 p.m., PDR 224C (White Dining Room).
CS Table: Should academic achievements take precedence over
human integrity?
- Wednesday, 26 February 2025, Noon–12:50 p.m., Noyce 1023.
Dr. Dana Ulery ‘59: My Unexpected Journey as a Pioneer
- Wednesday, 26 February 2025, 4:00–5:00 p.m., Noyce 2024.
Informal conversation with Dr. Ulery.
- Thursday, 27 February 2025, 11:00 a.m.–Noon, JRC 101.
Scholars’ Convocation: Emily Wilson: Retranslating the Classics
- Tuesday, 4 March 2025, Noon–12:50 p.m., PDR 224C (White Dining Room).
CS Table: TBD
- Tuesday, 4 March 2025, 7:00–9:00 p.m., Harris Concert Hall.
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive: Creating Meskwaki Poetry and
Songs through Animism and a Series of Otherworldly Events
- Thursday, 6 March 2025, 11:00 a.m.–Noon, JRC 101.
Scholars’ Convocation: Lisa Mueller:
Most Protests Fail. It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way
Artistic
- Friday, 28 February 2025, 7:30–8:30 p.m., Roberts Theatre.
Day/Dream.
- Saturday, 1 March 2025, 2:00–3:00 p.m., Roberts Theatre.
Day/Dream.
- Saturday, 1 March 2025, 2:00 p.m., Sebring-Lewis.
Grinnell Orchestra presents Rimsky-Korsakov Symphony No. 1.
- Saturday, 1 March 2025, 7:30–8:30 p.m., Roberts Theatre.
Day/Dream.
- Sunday, 2 March 2025, 2:00–3:00 p.m., Roberts Theatre.
Day/Dream.
Multicultural
- Friday, 28 February 2025, 4:00–5:00 p.m., HSSC N1170 (Global Living Room).
Middle of Everywhere: International Women’s Day
Peer
Musical, theatric, sporting, and academic events involving this section’s
students are welcome.
Wellness
- Tuesday, 25 February 2025, 12:15–12:50 p.m., GCMoA.
Yoga in the Museum.
- Tuesday, 25 February 2025, 4:30–6:30 p.m.,
BRAC P103 (Multipurpose Dance Studio).
Wellness Yoga.
- Thursday, 27 February 2025, ???.
Forest Bathing.
- Friday, 28 February 2025, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m., Aux Gym.
Badminton Club (Smash that bird!)
- Friday, 28 February 2025, 9:00 p.m., Noyce Elbow.
Nerf at Noyce.
- Saturday, 1 March 2025, 4:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m., Aux Gym.
Badminton Club (Smash that bird!)
- Tuesday, 5 March 2025, 12:15–12:50 p.m., GCMoA.
Yoga in the Museum.
- Tuesday, 5 March 2025, 4:30–6:30 p.m.,
BRAC P103 (Multipurpose Dance Studio).
Wellness Yoga.
- Tuesday, 5 March 2025, 5:00–6:00 p.m., HSSC S1003 (Atrium).
Therapy Dogs.
- Tuesday, 5 March 2025, 7:15–8:15 p.m., HSSC S1003 (Atrium).
Therapy Dogs.
Misc
- Tuesday, 25 February 2025, 7:00–8:00 p.m., Science 3820.
Mentor Session
- Sunday, 2 March 2025, 7:30–8:30 p.m., Science 3819.
Mentor Session
- Tuesday, 4 March 2025, 7:00–8:00 p.m., Science 3820.
Mentor Session
- Sunday, 9 March 2025, 7:30–8:30 p.m., Science 3819.
NO Mentor Session
Other good things
These do not earn tokens, but are worth your consideration.
Upcoming work
- Tuesday, 25 February 2025
- Wednesday, 26 February 2025
- Quiz: Conditionals
- Makeup quiz: Tracing
- Makeup quiz: Documentation
- Remember that you can bring a sheet of notes for each quiz.
- Remember that you can stay until about 4:30 p.m. if you need extra time.
- Thursday, 27 February 2025
- Friday, 28 February 2025
- Sunday, 2 March 2025
- Wednesday, 5 March 2025
- Quiz: Lists (and the big three)
- Makeup quiz: Tracing
- Makeup quiz: Conditionals
- Makeup quiz: Cut and compose
- Remember that you can bring a sheet of notes for each quiz.
- Remember that you can stay until about 4:30 p.m. if you need extra time.
On SoLA 1
Observations
Online
Observation types
Type one: Pairs of students with (nearly) identical solutions
turned in within a minute or two of each other.
Type two: Code that does not match the style we use in our
course, but almost precisely matches what you get back when you plug
our questions into ChatGPT.
Type three: Code that solves the problem using many different
procedures that we have not covered in class (e.g., solving the
Olympic Scoring problem using lists, car, cdr, and sort).
Class mentors: “Um, Sam, it looks like students are using ChatGPT
for the LAs. Or maybe some other LLM.”
Sam: “The students indicated that they had not done so. They wouldn’t
lie, would they?” (Sam tends to adopt a Pollyanna-esque attitude.)
A colleague: “It is…demoralizing when students take inappropriate
shortcuts on tasks that have been designed to remove, as much as
possible, the temptation to take inappropriate shortcuts.”
A class mentor; “This is not good. The entire point of take home exams
is being ruined.”
Reflection
I think in-class exams are stressful. Most students seem to agree. And
many students would like to be able to use DrRacket when solving problems.
Mastery grading is supposed to make all testing less stressful. If you
miss something, you get more chances. So it shouldn’t be a big deal if
you miss something.
In-class exams that also include “make up” problems create administrative
issues. And perhaps more stress.
Hence, take-home exams with mastery grading should be the appropriate
approach.
I used to say, “I’d rather do what’s right for the vast majority of students
even though a few students might behave inappropriately.” It’s hard to say
that when “a few” seems to be a “many”.
Who cheating affects
The person who cheats. You don’t learn. (You may have difficulty in
future courses.) You lose a sense of achievement. If caught and found
responsible, lots of penalties. (If accused and found not responsible,
still have the stress of doing a CAS hearing.)
Their professor. Feels unhappy. Wastes time on the stuff (including
CAS cases). Undermines trust in students.
Their classmates (and other students). Trust undermined. Time wasted.
Their teammates (if on a team).
A pause
I’m wearing my Polyanna hat with respect to this exam. I will assume
that there are other factors at play. That is, all of these things
are coincidence. I will not make that assumption on future take-home
exams (if we have future take-home exams).
Options
Here are a few:
- Switch to in-class exams without computers.
- Switch to in-class exams with computers.
- Maintain the status quo, but aggressively pursue the issues mentioned
above.
- I can say IDGAFF (which isn’t really true) and then plan to retire
(which sounds increasingly appealing) so that I don’t have to deal
with this crap.
- ???
- Suggestion: List all the valid procedures and keywords we can use on
each exam.
Do you have any other suggestions? (Note: Sam is not allowed to impose
individual penalties for academic dishonsty.)
We will come back to this topic next Monday, after you’ve had a chance
to reflect on the issues. I also plan to post a survey.
Questions
Administrative
Scheme
How can I learn about your expectations for Scheme style?
From SamR’s Style Guide for Racket,
conveniently available from the Handouts menu.
Readings
What’s the difference between map and apply?
map applies the procedure to each element separately.
apply applies the procedure to all the elements en masse.
(map fun (list v1 v2 ... vn)) -> (list (fun v1) (fun v2) ... (fun vn)).
(apply fun (list v1 v2 ... vn)) -> (fun v1 v2 ... vn).
Perhpas Sam will do some examples.
> (map - (list 1 2 3 4 5))
'(-1 -2 -3 -4 -5)
> (apply - (list 1 2 3 4 5)) ; (- 1 2 3 4 5)
-13
> (map sqr (list 1 2 3 4 5))
'(1 4 9 16 25)
> (apply sqr (list 1 2 3 4 5)) ; (sqr 1 2 3 4 5)
. . sqr: arity mismatch;
the expected number of arguments does not match the given number
expected: 1
given: 5
> (sqr 1 2 3 4 5)
. . sqr: arity mismatch;
the expected number of arguments does not match the given number
expected: 1
given: 5
Other
What is a Pollyanna-esque perspective?
An outlandishly optimistic view of the world.
Lab