Cooperation vs. Cheating

Labs

The purpose of lab exercises is not primarily to earn points, it is to acquire knowledge -- among other things, so that you pass the exam. It's important that you do the exercises yourself (together with your partner), and do not just use someone else's solution. Of course, you may get stuck, and in that case you should ask for help. Solving the exercises with help is perfectly acceptable: that is why we have tutors! It can also be useful to discuss the problems with your fellow students, and this is also perfectly acceptable -- even encouraged.

However, when you ask a tutor for help, he or she will not give you a complete solution. Instead, your tutor will look at what you have done yourself, try to see where you have a problem, and give you a hint to enable you to make progress. When you discuss the labs with your friends, you should neither give nor receive more than such hints.

Take home exams

The take home exams are viewed as any other exams. Your are to solve the take home exams individually, and may not cooperate in any way with other students. You're always allowed to talk to the teachers, but during the take home exams we will only answer questions about the tools. The single exception is if you get stuck, then you can talk to either of the teachers to get a hint. We will note this, and subtract a small number of points from your exam (about the same amount of points that that a correct solution of that particular detail was worth).

Cheating

You may not include code written by anyone other than yourself (or, for labs only, your partner) in any solution you submit, whether or not you make modifications.

You may not allow another person to make use of code which you or your partner wrote. You are responsible for ensuring this does not happen.

The lab exercises and the take home exams are part of the examination of this course; cheating on a lab is as serious an offence as cheating in any other exam.

Most students never consider cheating, of course, but we know from experience that a few will be tempted. Therefore it is important to state clearly what is allowed and what is not, and it is important that you read this page.

How can I prevent others from using my code?

Do not leave printouts of your solution where they can be found and copied.
Do not store your solution in a file which your fellow students can copy.

In particular, be careful if you store your solution on the dtek system. This is set up so that users can read each other's files, and in the past cheats have stolen solutions from other students' dtek directories without their knowledge. You can prevent this by making the directory where your solutions are stored private. To do so, change to that directory and use the shell command

 chmod go-rwx .

(Note the dot at the end of the line!) Of course, it is also safe to store your solution on your own computer.

You may, if you wish, change lab partner during the course -- you do not need to do every lab with the same partner. If you do so, you should ensure that your former lab partner has no access to your code.

What happens if I am caught cheating?

Of course, you will be failed on the lab part of the course, or on the take home exam in question, which means you will have to repeat it next year. You will also be reported to the President of Chalmers, who will send your case to Chalmers' Disciplinary Board. The disciplinary board can impose a variety of penalties, ranging from a warning, through suspension for up to six months, up to expulsion from Chalmers in the most serious cases. Suspension means you are not allowed to take part in Chalmers teaching or exams, and (of course) you cannot receive studiemedel during that time.

You risk these penalties even if another student copies your code without your knowledge.

Lastly

I know most of you would not even consider cheating, and I am preaching to the converted. We are working together with a common goal: for you to learn. That demands an atmosphere of trust. In the past, a few people have violated that trust, which I found personally very upsetting. There are few things worse than discovering that someone you are trying to help is, in return, trying to deceive you. This year, I hope that none of you will.

You can also usefully read KTH's Code of Honour, which puts what we expect of you very well.