Computational Methods Junior Honours: Marking Guidelines


The demonstrators and staff will assess checkpoints according to the following criteria and performance measures.

Note that having a working code is only half the story. You must be able to explain clearly to the demonstrator how the code is designed, and similar information must be present in the code itself so that someone else could reuse and modify the code. A good way to do this is to use pseudocode. If you present someone elses code, or a commented version of the model code, you can score marks only for the second two catagories (i.e. maximum 10/20)

Pseudocode is typically a flow chart of the structure of the code. It is not written in Java and represents a pictorial view of the algorithm. It is a good idea to plan your code before writing it, to determine what classes you will need, how the loop structure will go, and what information is required by which class. Clearly written pseudocode will help enormously when you come to explain to the demonstrator how the code works.

Object oriented programming design may help here, but it neglects the importance of algorithms in solving physical problems.

  1. Code completion, code quality, correctness (10)
    1. The code ran with no known bugs.
    2. The code did all the checkpoint asked for
    3. Clear, well thought out and well-commented design.
    4. Used meaningful names and systematic naming convention to enhance code readability.
    5. Correct use of indentation

 

  1. Student comprehension of material (5)
    1. The student clearly understood both the language syntax / constructs AND the objectives / limitations of the checkpoint.
    2. The student clearly understood the key features to be developed;
    3. the scope of problem was well-defined.

 

  1. Advanced sections (5)
    1. Student completed or partially completed optional sections.
    2. Student exceeded the requirements of standard sections with good scientific ideas or exploited advanced language features.
    3. Student demonstrated good understanding of Advanced material.

 

 

Each Checkpoint is marked out of 20