Hardcoding is when someone puts cout statements in their code to print out portions of the sample output(s). For example in project #0 if someone had modified the main.cpp main function to have a print statement such as:

   cout << "23456789012345678901234567890 is greater than 999999999999999999999999" << endl;
   // or
   cout << "   123" << endl;
   cout << " + 90" << endl;
   cout << " = 213" << endl;

Another small "tip for success" is to develop (write) your code one piece at a time and thoroughly test each piece as you write it. Amazingly the TA's are seeing students in office hours who spent hours writing all of the code and then didn't start testing it until after they had most of their code written - even the best programmers out there generally aren't that brave!

You should start with the most essential functions (typically the ctor's and dtor and a print function) and write those and then test them:

int main() {
   HugeInt h1( 1 ), h2( 123 );
   cout << h1 << " " << h2 << endl;
   return 0;
}

int main() {
   HugeInt h1( 987654321 );
   cout << h1.size() << endl;   // size is a private helping function which
   return 0;                    // was *temporarily* made public to test
}

The original primary input and output tested a substantial portion of the functions (not extensively, but tested most of them none-the-less) and it made it so that almost 100% of the project had to be completed before you could submit. This has been changed and for details you should read the following file (which is in the posting account):

When you come to see someone in office hours for help on your project, you should always bring a current printout of your code and if possible a printout of the compiler error messages (if there are any) and if it compiles a printout of the programs output (and the input used to generate that output). If you want to get the output of the compilers error messages you will need to redirect error output as follows:

%  make  >&  my.comp.errors

Having the requested information above will assist the instructional staff in being better able to assist you and others who are waiting to be assisted. Please also understand that the office hour room is a shared resource with other classes and we ask that you be respectful of the room and others using the room.

Another VERY IMPORTANT thing to do prior to going to office hours is attempt to "debug" your code as much as possible when you have a problem and that way when you see the TA you can point to the line (or lines) of code causing the problem (it should typically only be one line) and explain to them what the problem is and hopefully they will be able to figure out the problem (and a solution) and explain it to you so that you can determine how to fix it. When "debugging" code you can either attempt to use a debugger (see the tutorials in the posting account) or just use good old fashion debug cout (or cerr) statements:

    cout << "GOT THIS FAR" << endl;  // very important to use endl;
    someFunctionCall();
    cout << "DIDN'T GET THIS FAR" << endl;

Please re-read the course syllabus regarding email policies. Although it may not have been explicitly stated, DO NOT EMAIL PROJECT QUESTIONS AS THEY WILL GO UNANSWERED - if you have a question you must see someone in person during the posted advising hours - even if it is the weekend or 2am in the morning - in which case you will need to remain patient, work on other parts of the project, study other material, work on other classes, or take a break. The course syllabus states that the email addresses of the instructional staff [this includes the TAs] are provided for emergency situations only.

So far at least 4 people have sent email about the project, most with "what if" or "can I" type questions:

1. Can I add a mutable data member to the HugeInt class? Answer: This is addressed in the header file itself.
2. Can I add a friend function to the HugeInt class? Answer: The header file states you may add private member functions and that you may not modify the header file in any other way.
3. What if someone tries to copy a float into a HugeInt or a long or ... Answer: you were not asked to handle these cases and given the header file provided you have no way to handle these cases as the only way to do so would be to modify the header file (see prior questions).

Note: all students should strive to submit projects well PRIOR to the 11pm due time and if you are unable to, then fortunately you have up to 48 hours to fix whatever problems may have kept you from submitting ontime. Due to the fact that students are given ample opportunity to meet with the instructional staff prior to a project being due, no question regarding a project is considered an emergency situation. An emergency situation would be if the class computer accounts were encountering problems - if something like that does occur you should check the class webpage (click on the announcements link and the FAQ page for the respective project) and if the problem is not mentioned there, then and only then should you notify the instructional staff.

Additionally, email is perhaps one of the worst mediums/means for holding a conversation and many people think that it is an instant medium. When adequately answering a question a conversation is generally needed. So the next concern might be to say, but how about a clarifying question or a yes/no type of question - this is where the instant medium becomes an issue - 1) we do not have the resources to satisfy the instant wants of everyone and 2) it is not best to do so - rather than "fire off" (send off) an email everytime a little question pops up (like can I do this, what if this, how do I fix this, ...) students should learn to think about their problem/question first and see if they themselves can either 1) answer the question or 2) look up an answer to the question (without violating the honor code). This is perhaps the most important of items - attempting to think about the problem (do I absolutely have to have a mutable data member?, Is there any other way I could do this that works per the project specifications?, It appears that I am having difficulty with the std:: portion of the code - when do I need std:: and when do I not?, ...).

A FAQ is a list of Frequently Asked Questions and in particular the FAQ's for projects in this class will have questions listed in reverse chronological order (meaning the most recent question will appear at the top of the FAQ list and the first question asked/answered will appear at the bottom of the list).

Project #0 is due by 11pm on Thursday, February 6th, 2003. Note: any project may be turned in late up to 2 days as specified on the class syllabus. For details regarding the late policy and any penalties associated with submitting late projects please see the class syllabus.