CS-1012: What to remember when submitting work

Most important:

The submission requirements are stringent. You MUST name folders and files exactly as described.

In particular: be careful to avoid spaces where they shouldn't be spaces, and to use lowercase when asked. For example:

module0.pdf (correct)
Module0.pdf (wrong: starts with uppercase)
module 0.pdf (wrong: space before 0)
module0.docx (wrong: not a pdf).

Your programs must do what's asked, no less no more. If you print more than what's required the autograder will not grade your program.

If you've forgotten how to make folders, zip files etc, now may be a good time to review your computerese skills

Another important thing to remember: You will be submitting your PDF files TWICE, once inside the zip file and once separately in Blackboard.

Correct folder structure on your laptop

For the overall class you should have a folder named cs1012 on your computer:

You can create one such folder on your Desktop, but you could also place this inside some other folder.
Notice: it's all lowercase, with no spaces.

In the cs1012 folder, create a folder for each unit. Eventually, you will create a folder for each unit and each module in a given unit.

You must name your folders with the following rules:

There will be 3 units, so you will ultimately have folders called unit0, unit1, and unit2 inside your cs1012 folder.
Name the unit folders carefully:
- For your Unit 0 work, name that unit's folder unit0.
- For your Unit 1 work, name that unit's folder unit1.
- For your Unit 2 work, name that unit's folder unit2.
Each unit has several modules. For each module folder inside the each unit folder, you must name the module folder according to these rules:
- For your Module 0 work, name that module's folder module0.
- For your Module 1 work, name that module's folder module1.
- And so on.
Each unit has will also have assignments. For each assignment inside each unit, make a folder. You must name the assignment folders according to these rules:
- For your Assignment 1 work, name that folder assignment1.
- For your Assignment 2 work, name that folder assignment2.
- And so on if there are more assignments.
Thus, one looks inside your 1012 folder, we'd expect to see three sub-folders called unit0, unit1, and unit2.
And, if one further looks inside the unit0 folder, we'd expect to see 9 sub-folders:
- 7 of these will be called module0, module1, module2, module3, module4, module5, and module6.
- 2 of these will be called assignment1, and assignment2.

Correct location and naming of files within folders

Every module and every assignment will feature multiple files:

Most files will be Python programs. The names of these will end in .py.
For example: myname.py.
Another example from Module 0 in Unit 0: In Exercise 0.4, you are instructed to create the files error1.py and error2.py. These need to be saved in your module0 folder when using your code editor (Thonny or Spyder).
Every module will also have a single PDF file with the same first-part named as the module name. For example: you will make a file called module0.pdf in your module0 folder.
When is the PDF file to be used? The single PDF (one per module) is used when you are to write responses outside of Python code. For example:
- In Module 0, you are asked to submit a picture and write (in English) something about yourself. You can write in Word, and save to a PDF file called module0.pdf in your module0 folder.
- In Exercise 1.11 of Module 1, you are asked to describe an error. You will describe (in plain English) by writing in module1.pdf. Similarly, Exercise 1.8 asks you to describe the output of a program. Copy-paste the output from Thonny/Spyder into module1.pdf. Make sure module1.pdf is saved to in your module1 folder.

Making a zip to submit

When you zip your files when preparing to submit them, you must zip only the files for the current module and you must name the zip file for the corresponding folder.

The easy way to do this is to zip the folder containing the files.
For example, for Unit 0 : Module 1, you must zip the module1 folder that is inside the unit0 folder. Since this folder will contain the module1.pdf file, it will get included in the zip file.
When you submit your work to Blackboard, you will submit both the zip file and the pdf file as two separate files. Yes, the zip file contains a copy of the pdf file; however, you are required to also submit the pdf file as a standalone file as well. For example, for Unit 0 : Module 1, you submit both a file named module1.zip and module1.pdf.

Sam's story (an example)

To help you understand more clearly here is Sam’s story:

On the first day of class, Sam creates the cs1012 folder on his Desktop as instructed.
When Sam starts Unit 0, Sam creates a unit0 folder inside the cs1012 folder on the laptop.
When Sam starts the exercises for Module 0 in Unit 0, Sam creates a module0 folder inside the unit0 folder.
When Sam starts the exercises in Module 0 (of Unit 0), Sam saves the programs in the module0 folder created in the previous step.
For example, when Sam does Exercise 0.1, then based on the instructions, Sam creates a file named helloworld.py in the module0 folder that's inside the unit0 folder (both of these were already created by Sam in previous steps).
For Exercise 0.6, Sam creates a Word document and saves that as module0.pdf in the module0 folder.
Similarly, when working on the exercises in Module 1 that require written responses beyond Python code, Sam makes a fresh Word document, For each answer in the document, Sam labels that answer with the corresponding exercise number and then answers the question. When Sam completes the written answers, Sam uses the Export option in Word to save a pdf file named module1.pdf in the module1 folder.
Thus, the module1 folder on Sam's laptop contains both a module1.pdf and a number of Python programs such as my_string_example.py.
Next, Sam finishes the Module 1 homework and prepares to submit the work. To proceed, Sam opens the module1 folder to double check that all the Python files for each exercise are in the folder as well making sure the module1.pdf file is in the folder too. Then Sam zips the all of the files in that folder into a zip file named module1.zip.
Sam submits this zip file on Blackboard before the 11:59pm deadline. To do so, Sam opens the submission page for "Unit 0 : Module 1 : Exercises" on Blackboard. Sam clicks the "Browse My Computer" button and finds the module1.zip file clicks the "Open" button. Then, Sam clicks the "Browse My Computer" button again and finds the module1.pdf file and clicks the "Open" button again. Sam notes that both the module1.zip zip file and the module1.pdf file are uploaded to Sam’s Blackboard submission. Sam clicks the "Submit" button in Blackboard.

You might note that in Sam's story, Sam submitted the pdf in the zip file AND as a standalone file. Yes, you must do this. When we download your work, we should download two files for your submission, the zip file for the module with the corresponding module name and the pdf file for the module with the corresponding filename. If you do not follow these instructions you run the risk of receiving a zero for your grade on these exercises.

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