In addition to this FAQ page, this course has a dedicated help page.
Getting started#
Checklist#
- Make sure you can access the course Ed Discussion forum. Let Alex know if you are having difficulty
- Read the course policies page carefully.
- Make sure you have signed up for a tutorial group through the MyTimetable System.
- Make sure to attend the first lecture in Week 1!
I’ve got an Education Access Plan (EAP), can I get help?#
Yes, we are very happy to made adjustments to accomodate students with an EAP or any other issues that affect accessibiliyt of the course. Talk to your tutor, ask a question on the forum, or send an email to the course convenor and we’ll figure something out.
Forum#
COMP2120 uses Ed Discussion for the course forum. If you can’t access it then get in touch asap.
Labs#
Are there labs in week 1?#
No, there are no labs in Week 1, make sure you have signed up for a lab group through the new MyTimetable System. Labs start in Week 2.
The labs I can attend are full#
If you post a question to instructors on the course forum we will consider your case but the answer might be no if it’s a physical lab with limited seats.
Can I attend a different lab?#
No, you must turn up to your own lab session—these aren’t “drop-in” labs. If you have a good reason, post privately to instructors on the course forum and we can arrange a something. If you’re not sure which lab you’re in, have a look on MyTimetable.
Are labs marked or assessable?#
No, labs are not marked, assessed, and attendance is not taken. However, you are strongly encouraged to attend your lab session.
Labs will contain various exercises designed to help students learn the lecture material. They also provide a chance to get to know your tutors, your fellow peers and get feedback on in-progress assignment submissions.
Assignments/Assessment#
Are there assignments? What are the assessment items for this course?#
Yes, there are four assignments in total and a final exam. There is no mid-semester exam for this course.
Can I post my code on the forum?#
No, you can’t post your full assignment code publicly on the COMP2120 forum, or even significant sections of it. If you have specific questions, be very specific and ensure that you ask and word your questions appropriately, you can post privately to the instructors on the course forum and we may be able to help guide you a bit.
My actual assignment code was in another commit (i.e., not in HEAD), can you mark that instead?#
No, the last commit on the GitLab server is your submission.
I’ve just realised there’s a tiny bug/typo in the assignment I submitted—help?#
If we’re marking your assignment and it’s buggy or otherwise doesn’t seem to work right we will do some basic debugging to try and get it to work. Your mark will reflect that the project falls short of requirements.
Will my assignment be marked by a human?#
Yes, it’ll be marked by your tutor. You can get some feedback about how your assignment is going and what you can do to improve so it’s very important to attend your labs and discuss your assignments with your tutor.
How do I check if my submission has been pushed to the GitLab server properly?#
Look at the GitLab page for your fork of the assignment repo: the files shown there are the ones we’ll mark.
If the files you want us to mark aren’t there, that might be because:
- You haven’t added that particular file to git yet
- You might have committed the files to git locally, but not pushed them to gitlab
Whatever the reason, only the files on the GitLab server count as your submission. Any other files will not be marked.
When will assignment marks & feedback be released?#
We’ll try to release marks & feedback for all assignments within two weeks of the submission deadline. In large classes it is sometimes not possible to meet this deadline.
Where can I find my marks & feedback for my assignment?#
Coming soon
How can I get more feedback and figure out how to do better next time?#
If you want more detailed feedback, you can ask your tutor a follow-up question. Don’t ask during the lab time—that’s for doing the lab work—but you can ask on the course forum.
I don’t understand/am unhappy with my assignment mark, what should I do?#
Remember that the tutors and I mark a lot of assignments, and we work hard to make sure things are fair for all students. You should ask your tutor on the course forum about your assignment and we can help you understand our marking decision.
Can I get my assignment re-marked?#
Take a look at the appeals policy.
Course Software#
This course will use GitKraken - You can get full GitKraken for free if you register for the GitHub Education Student Developer Pack with your ANU email.
You can also use draw.io for any images if you would like to. Regardless of what software you use to draw diagrams, make sure they are of sufficient size and quality to be easily read by your tutors.
Some assignments will also use Android Studio, which students can get for free.
You will also need an IDE of your choice (i.e. VSCode or VSCodium).
Course Website#
I’ve found some inconsistent info between the website and some other place—which one is correct?#
Firstly, you should raise the issue on the TBC — this is the sort of thing we need to get fixed up right away.
If in doubt, the information on the course website is the authoritative version.
Git#
What is Git?#
Git is a version control program, which means that its job is to help you take “snapshots” of your files as you work on them and store these on another computer. In COMP2120, the other computer is our gitlab server, and you share your code with us so that we can mark it.
Am I expected to know how to use git for this course?#
Yes—git & GitLab have been covered in the course pre-requisites, these are vital skills for computing courses and professional life. If you are unsure about the details, you need to start learning about it from week 1. Set yourself a goal of being a git-wizard by the end of this course. If you need a refresher you can take a look at the github docs.
Everything’s stuffed! Why is git so painful?#
Take a deep breath, it’ll be ok. If everything really is stuffed, then the question to ask yourself is are there any changes on my local machine (i.e., things I’ve done since I last pushed to the GitLab server) that I really can’t do without? If the answer is no, then perhaps the simplest solution is to just delete the whole folder and re-clone from the GitLab server.
As always, if you get stuck, ask a question on the TBC .
Do I have to type in my password all the time?#
No, if you set up SSH keys then you can do all the git stuff without having to put in your password. This step isn’t necessary, but it is super-handy.
The basic idea is this: when you have trusted friends, you leave a key out for them so that they can get in to your house when you’re not home. git allows you to do sortof the same thing.
This is so that the GitLab server knows that it’s you (you don’t want someone else submitting something on your behalf). Added bonus: no more passwords.
I’ve borked my git repo somehow, how do I fix it?#
There are lots of things which could have gone wrong, and without knowing what the exact error message is it’s hard to say how to fix it.
Ask a question on the TBC clearly stating what the situation is, what behaviour you expect, and what behaviour you see (including any error messages).
Academic Integrity#
Will my submission be run though plagiarism detection software?#
Yes.
Statement of Originality (SoO)#
For every assignment you must submit a statement of originality for your submission. There will a Wattle quiz to submit for every assessment item.
What needs to go in my SoO?#
The short answer is: everything that you didn’t create yourself. Remember that the beginning of the SoO states:
I declare that everything I have submitted in this assignment is entirely my own work, with the following exceptions:
Here are a few examples of places you might have taken code/images/music/words/videos/ideas from: other students, lectures, lab content, videos online, tutorial websites, books, artworks.
If you’re unsure, check with your tutor or ask on the forum. In general if anybody asks “should I cite this on my SoO?” on the forum, the answer is “YES!”
Should I include the licence for code/assets I found on the internet?#
Yes, if a licence is available, put it in brackets after the name of the code/asset that you have included in your work.
Will I lose marks if I incorporate stuff from others in my own work?#
You are marked on your original contribution to your artwork, so if you ONLY use code/assets you have found on the internet, without adding any of your own ideas, you won’t get many/any marks for your work.
A better approach would be to take inspiration from something on the web, and use it in an original and creative way. You could get a great mark this way.
Do I have to be specific about which files I’ve copied/taken inspiration from?#
Yes. You need to specifically specify every source in your SoO. What if base my submission on someone else’s code, but I’ve made changes?
You must credit the original author in your SoO, even if you’ve made non-trivial changes. Otherwise, it’s plagiarism—even though you’ve done some of your own work as well.
What happens if I don’t change the SoO file from the version in the template?#
We’ll assume that everything is your own work. If you have included code/assets/text that you did not create in your assignment, you may end up involved in a academic integrity case.
Can I use ChatGPT or CoPilot etc?#
While we encourage you to get familiar with these tools and you may use CoPilot for the coding parts of our assignments, the point of this course is to teach and assess good report-writing techniques that would allow you to use ChatGPT successfully in the future. In the final paper-based exam you won’t be able to use ChatGPT so we do not want you to use it for the internal assessment items either to be able to receive appropriate feedback or to be able to pass the exam in the end. Good communication skills are essential in the software engineering profession so this course is designed to prepare you for it, including future use of ChatGPT where appropriate. This is similar to how there is no point using CoPilot when doing COMP1100, COMP1110, and COMP2100 as you learn the coding skills to be able to make smart use of CoPilot in courses such as the COMP2120 where we don’t mind you using generated code in an appropriate manner. You may be able to utilise ChatGPT as appropriate in the future once you learn how to write the appropriate text and communicate. This is similar to how primary school kids need to learn basic arithmetic before they can make good use of a calculator in a higher level of school.
Also see:
Can I see an example of a completed SoO?#
---
declaration: >-
I declare that everything I have submitted in this assignment is entirely my
own work except for the references listed below
# sign *your* name and uid here
name: Alex Potanin
uid: u1234567
# list numbered references below (replace the example with your own references)
---
# References
- [1] Alice McGuffing. 2022. Ideas for creating the animated ripple effect