Choosing Code Segments to Exclude from Code Similarity Detection

When student programs are compared for similarity as a step in the detection of academic misconduct, certain segments of code are always sure to be similar but are no cause for suspicion. Some of these segments are boilerplate code (e.g. public static void main String [] args) and some will be code that was provided to students as part of the assessment specification. This working group explores these and other types of code that are legitimately common in student assessments and can therefore be excluded from similarity checking. From their own institutions, working group members collected assessment submissions that together encompass a wide variety of assessment tasks in a wide variety of programming languages. The submissions were analysed to determine what sorts of code segment arose frequently in each assessment task. The group has found that common code can arise in programming assessment tasks when it is required for compilation purposes; when it reflects an intuitive way to undertake part or all of the task in question; when it can be legitimately copied from external sources; and when it has been suggested by people with whom many of the students have been in contact. A further finding is that the nature and size of the common code fragments vary with course level and with task complexity. An informal survey of programming educators confirms the group's findings and gives some reasons why various educators include code when setting programming assignments.Peer reviewe

Oral history interview with Edsger W. Dijkstra

Transcript, 24 pp. Audio file available at http://purl.umn.edu/96226In this oral history Edsger Dijkstra recounts his early education and training as a theoretical physicist and as a 'programmer'. Dijkstra describes his work developing software, and his activities at several early information processing conferences. Dijkstra also discourses on the development of ALGOL 60 and the origins of computing science in Europe and America

Language hierarchies and interfaces /

"The international summer school took place fom July 23 to August 2, 1975, in Marktoberdorf ... and was sponsored by the NATO Scientific Affairs Division under the 1975 Advanced Study Institutes programme."Includes bibliographical references

Building Spatial Choice Models from Aggregate Data

Choice model construction is usually based on information about a number of separate choice situations, for which all relevant quantities are known. This paper concerns the case where only higher level, aggregate information is available about the choice results and the prevailing conditions. We demonstrate the applicability of a generic inverse parameter estimation method in estimating a model for grocery store choice. We also propose some enhancements to standard spatial choice models and demonstrate their applicability. Copyright Blackwell Publishing, Inc 2003