Fundamentals of Computer Science

CS 2500, Spring 2014

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Online Management

The DrRacket Plug-in

You can install the plug-in via DrRacket. Go to File -> Install .plt File. Click the "Web" tab, and enter the following URL in the URL field. Then click OK.

  http://www.ccs.neu.edu/course/cs2500sp14/cs2500-client.plt

Common Install Problems

  • Running overly paranoid antivirus software that won’t let DrRacket access the internet: Disable their firewall temporarily, or figure out how to whitelist DrRacket.

  • Contract Violations errors: Make sure the URL has been pasted correctly, exactly once, without white space.

  • DrRacket claims package is already installed/up to date, but handin plug-in button is not in the toolbar next to Check Syntax: Run the script to fix totally killed systems.

  • Cryptic error about ‘setup’ not working because ‘cs2500-f13-client’ is not installed while running script to fix totally killed systems: disable overly paranoid antivirus software.

Setting up your Account

Every student registered on or before Jan. 2 2014 already has an account. Your username is your MyNEU/Husky username. Your default password is "password". Use the Manage CS 2500 Handin Account menu option and change your password. You should also enter your full and 9 digit NUID.

If you registered late, please email the head TA from your MyNEU/Husky email address.

Submitting Homework

You will do a mock submission to the test assignment with your partner, to get a handle on the process. You can submit what ever you like... just make sure it’s correctly formatted teaching languages code.

To submit your homework, make sure it is open in the Definitions Window and saved to disk, just in case you need it for later assignments. Then click the CS 2500 Handin button. For pair submissions, enter both your and your partner’s usernames joined by "+", as in baggins.f+gamgee.s. Enter either person’s password.

Select the correct assignment name (test for testing) from the drop down menu. When you are ready, click CS 2500 Handin within the popup window. DrRacket will report on whether your submission was successful, and might give you an error message. If submission fails, carefully read the error message and correct your submission appropriately.

Notes (1) You are encouraged to submit your assigments well before the deadline. You may/should re-submit as many times as you like up until the deadline. We will grade the latest before-deadline submission. It is up to you to make sure that you submit something before the deadline. Technically, the time that matters is the timestamp that the homework server applies once it receives your submission. I.e. it is not your watch or your computer’s clock that matters but the clock on the homework server, which is synchronized to global time. If you submit nothing and then wait until just a few minutes or seconds before the deadline then you are risking not only potential issues with your computer’s connection to the homework server but also potential discrepencies between what time you think it is and the actual system time on the homework server. The fact that the homework server accepts your submission does not guarantee that it is on-time; it is only on-time if the server timestamp is before the deadline. You can check the server timestamp as described below

(2) For each assignment, once you have made a submission with a partner you cannot later make a submission alone or with a different partner. Similarly, if you make a submission alone, you cannot later submit with a partner.

(3) DrRacket allows you to embed literal in-line images in your source code. Such literally embedded images are now supported by the homework server.

Checking Grades

Log into the handin server username and password. It will take you to a page listing all of the homeworks so far. For each homework it shows whether you handed it in, the server timestamp and a link to your latest submission, and your grade once we finish grading it. If you have any questions contact your friendly Instructor, especially if you notice some inconsistencies.

Your graded files will be annotated, highlighted, and posted on the server as soon as they are graded, so you can see what we took points off for.