roommate said when he took fortran they were had one lab where they could pretty much drop, not count it whatever, that was 2 years ago. They havent said nething about it this year. anyone know if that is common?

3/10/2008 8:00:01 PM

they automatically dropped our lowest lab grade when i took it spring of last year

3/10/2008 8:53:58 PM

I taught fortran as a TA for about 3 yrs back when I was in school and this was the common policy. I wouldn't imagine that they stopped doing it. In all likelihood, your TA either forgot to mention it or they just aren't too good at communicating. Email Joe Pack, he is the head lab admin, his email address can be found on the fortran lab main page. Also, I'd suggest saving your one drop policy. When you get to recursive functions, you'll know why.

3/11/2008 8:41:48 AM

Quote :

"When you get to recursive functions, you'll know why."

As long as you're willing to put in the time and effort to write all of the programs, you can get a good grade on everything. Unless you wait until the absolute last minute, you shouldn't have to use the policy.

3/11/2008 10:48:48 AM

ive been good so far, but spring break plus arrays for some reason werent clicking with me. Maybe the TA didnt explain it the best way to me, idk. For what it's worth, im a stat major with math minor so maybe the function stuff will be easier?

3/11/2008 10:51:21 AM

Don't you roll your eyes at me homeslice, I can guarantee you that half the TAs teaching the course don't know how to do recursive functions themselves, let alone explain it well enough that a class full of students will understand.

3/11/2008 2:16:57 PM

i can guarantee you that google is all you need to ace this class.

[Edited on March 11, 2008 at 3:39 PM. Reason : i guar-an-tee]

3/11/2008 3:38:40 PM

i feel like the main problem with not knowing how to do stuff in this class comes from the ta's explaining the real basic, intro level topic stuff in class, and then the labs require much more indepth use of the new code you just learned etc that they didnt really cover.

3/12/2008 12:39:30 AM

^That definitely is the problem. When I was teaching, I made sure I went through the content that you would need to know for the inlabs and then let the students figure things out for themselves on the outlabs which was pretty effective for the most part. Lots of the newer TAs have trouble with that... they know the material really well themselves but they just aren't too good at conveying it. Send me a PM if you want, I know a few good TAs that I worked with in the past that I know will help you with whatever you need. They will even let you come sit in during their class.

^^That would have worked in earlier years, but the new(est) lab admin isn't as laid back as the previous ones. He has a very strict policy on cheating and actually seems to get a thrill out of catching students red handed. He literally would tell me stories about students he caught with a giant grin on his face, laughing his ass off about how they had to go talk to Paul Cousins. Granted, some of these students were pretty dumb (IE copying someone's code without changing the "PROGRAMMER'S NAME" section in the documentation). Anyways, he runs MOSS a lot nowadays.

[Edited on March 12, 2008 at 8:27 AM. Reason : ]

3/12/2008 8:25:25 AM

i was just referring to the fact that online fortran tutorials are better than the TAs and the joke of a "textbook"

3/12/2008 11:05:44 AM

Just so you know we no longer drop your lowest lab grade. The lab administrator made that change as well as quite a few others this semester.

3/12/2008 5:50:35 PM

well fuck

3/12/2008 6:07:18 PM

the days of fortran being a total joke are apparently over

had they been running MOSS back in the day one of my roommates would have been busted hardcore

3/12/2008 7:05:52 PM

Just go to your lab and do the 3 ones that they give you, then go to another lab and do the outlab so that you don't have to spend as long in there. I lose focus after the first hour....

3/12/2008 9:38:07 PM

when i took that class it was worthless

thank god for the TA's teaching us everything we needed to know in the labs

3/14/2008 7:28:50 PM