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Implementing Dynamic Memory Allocation Solution
In this assignment, you will be writing the dynamic memory allocation and deallocation functions of malloc, free, realloc, and calloc. These functions are confusing to write, so we have provided an in-depth guide below. Please read through this entire pdf before beginning. The speci cs for each function are located in malloc.c as well as subsections 1.6 - 1.9 below.
1.1 The Basics
It is the job of the memory allocator to process and satisfy the memory requests of the user. But where does the allocator get its memory? Let us recall the structure of a program’s memory footprint.
+
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+ (low memory)
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CODE
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+
-------------------
+
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DATA
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+
-------------------
+ <-- Break
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+
-------------------
+
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STACK
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+
-------------------
+ (high memory)
When a program is loaded into memory there are various \segments" created for di erent purposes: code, stack, data, etc. In order to create some dynamic memory space, otherwise known as the heap, it is possible to move the \break", which is the rst address after the end of the process’s uninitialized data segment. A function called brk() is provided to set this address to a di erent value. There is also a function called sbrk() which moves the break by some amount speci ed as a parameter.
For simplicity, a wrapper for the system call sbrk() has been provided for you as a function called my sbrk located in suites/malloc suite.c. Make sure to use this call rather than a real call to sbrk, as doing this can potentially cause a lot of problems during program execution. Note that any problems introduced by calling the real sbrk will not be regraded, so make sure that everything is correct before turning in.
If you glance at the code for my sbrk(), you will quickly notice that upon the rst call it always allocates 8
KiB. For the purposes of your program, you should treat the returned amount as whatever you requested.
For instance, the rst time I call my sbrk() it will be done like this:
my_sbrk(SBRK_SIZE); /* SBRK_SIZE == 2 KB */
-----------------------------------------
| 8KB |
-----------------------------------------
^
|
\______ The pointer returned to me by my_sbrk
Even though you have a full 8 KiB, you should treat it as if you were only returned SBRK SIZE bytes. Now when you run out of memory and need more heap space you will need to call my sbrk() again. Once again, the call is simply:
my_sbrk(SBRK_SIZE);
-----------------------------------------
| 2KB | 6KB |
-----------------------------------------
^
|
\____ The pointer returned to me by my_sbrk
Notice how it returned a pointer to the address after the end of the 2 KB I had requested the rst time. my sbrk() remembers the end of the data segment you request each time and is able to return that value to you as the beginning of the new data segment on a following call. Keep this in mind as you write the assignment!
We’ve written my sbrk to be able to only hand out a certain amount of memory before returning -1 to indicate that its done. This limit gives us the ability to test the behavior of the code when my sbrk can’t get more memory.
1.2 Block Allocation
Trying to use sbrk() (or brk()) exclusively to provide dynamic memory allocation to your program would be very di cult and ine cient. Calling sbrk() involves a certain amount of system overhead, and we would prefer not to have to call it every single time a small amount of memory is required. In addition, deallocation would be a problem. Say we allocated several 100 byte chunks of memory and then decided we were done with the rst. Where would the break be? There’s no handy function to move the break back, so how could we reuse that rst 100 byte chunk?
What we need are a set of functions that manage a pool of memory allowing us to allocate and deallocate e ciently. Typically, such schemes start out with no free memory at all. The rst time the user requests memory, the allocator will call sbrk() as discussed above to obtain a relatively large chunk of memory. The user will be given a block with as much free space as they requested, and if there is any memory left over it will be managed by placing information about that left over block of memory in a data structure where information about all such free blocks is kept. This is called the freelist and we will return to this later.
In order to keep track of allocated blocks we will create a structure to store the information we need to know about a block. Where should we store this structure? Can we simply call malloc() to allocate space for the information?
No we can’t! We’re writing malloc(); we can’t use it or we’d end up with in nite recursion. However, there’s an easier way that will keep our bookkeeping structure right with the data we’re allocating for easy access.
In order to keep track of allocated blocks, we will create a structure to store the information we need to know about a block, also known as metadata, inside the block itself! A crucial part of the metadata is the canary. Canaries are integers that we generate via information about the block itself. They bu er the user data, so if the canary is incorrect, the user data has been altered. For more information about canaries see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow_protection#Canaries, but note that the canary we implement will be one for memory allocated by malloc, not static arrays.
Metadata (contains beg. canary)
User Data
End Canary
Figure 1. The beginning and end canaries bu er the area for user data, creating a ’block’
Whenever you malloc, you will set both of the beginning and end canaries. Since the canaries are pseudo-random numbers used for veri cation purposes, we will calculate them by xor’ing the address of the block with CANARY MAGIC NUMBER and adding 1890 for fun.
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unsigned long canary = ((uintptr_t)block ^ CANARY_MAGIC_NUMBER) + 1890;
We will need to take into consideration the leading metadata and end canary whenever we allocate blocks. To let the user have as much space as they requested, when they request a block of size n bytes we will allocate a block of size sizeof(the metadata) + n + sizeof(tail canary). Along with the beginning canary, the size requested by the user will be stored in the metadata. As well, the metadata will contain a piece of information that is critical for the freelist discussed in the next section. As depicted in my malloc.h, this is the struct de nition for the metadata:
typedef struct metadata {
struct metadata *next_size;
unsigned long size;
unsigned long canary;
} metadata_t;
The size portion of the metadata struct contains the size that the user requested. In order to get the total size of the block, we add this size with the TOTAL METADATA SIZE, a macro holding the size in bytes of the metadata and end canary which will be described in detail in the next section. For ease of reading, this macro will be represented as TMS in all of our block representation diagrams. The user does not care about the metadata for the block, they just want the size they requested. Therefore, when you return a block to the user, you will need to use pointer arithmetic to ’step over’ the metadata and return the address of the data. What this looks like:
Pointer returned to the user
Metadata (contains beg. canary)
User Data
End Canary
Figure 2. When a block is returned to the user, the pointer returned points to the beginning address of the area used by the user.
1.3 The Freelist
When we split up memory, we give one piece/block to the user. The remaining pieces/blocks are placed in a linked list, called the freelist, to be used at a later time. For this semester, we are representing our freelist as a single singly linked list that is organized by the size in ascending order. This linked list will be de ned as a global le variable and to help you out, we have already de ned it for you.
metadata_t *size_list;
To help visualize this, below we have an example representation of our freelist.
Block B
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
block in use
Meta Size: TMS
block in use
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
by the user
Usable Size: 10
by the user
Usable Size: 30
Total:3 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
Total:30 + TMS
Note: If two blocks are the same size, place the newer block before the older block in the size list.
For the remainder of the pdf, we will represent the freelist without spaces for the blocks currently in use by the user like so:
Block B
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
Usable Size: 10
Usable Size: 30
Total:3 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
Total:30 + TMS
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A Quick Note: The node representations in our freelists should be read as the following:
1. First Line: The name of the block ("Block B")
2. Second Line: Meta Size ! The size of the metadata for that block
3. Third Line: Usable Size ! The size of the space available to the user
4. Fourth Line: Total ! The total size of the memory taken up by this block
Since the size list is singly linked, be sure to properly update the next pointer when adding and removing nodes from the list.
1.4 Simple Linked List: Allocating
When we rst allocate space for the heap, it is in our best interest not to just request what we need immediately but rather to get a sizable amount of space, use a piece of it now, and keep the rest around in the freelist until we need it. This reduces the amount of times we need to call sbrk(), the real version of which, as we discussed earlier, involves signi cant system overhead. So how do we know how much to allocate, how much to give to the user, and how much to keep?
For this assignment we will request blocks of size 2048 bytes from my sbrk(). We don’t want to waste space, though, so we want to give to the user the smallest size block in which their request would t. For example, the user may request 256 bytes of space. It is tempting to give them a block that is 256 bytes, but remember we are also storing the metadata inside the block. If our metadata and canaries takes up sizeof (metadata t) + sizeof (int) = 20 bytes for example, we need at least a
256 + 20 = 276
byte block.
Note that the size of your metadata will vary based on your computer’s architecture and platform. Use sizeof() to avoid depending on the platform, and the macro TOTAL METADATA SIZE that sums the beginning metadata and end canary so you don’t have to worry about it.
How do we get from one big free block of size 2048 bytes to the block of size 276 bytes we want to give to the user? In this simple implementation, you will traverse the size list to nd the best block to satisfy the user’s request, which should be equal or greater than the size requested, and \split" o however much you need from the front or the back. For this assignment, you must split o from the back.
Say we have the following situation:
Block B
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 30
Usable Size: 35
Usable Size: 100
Total:30 + TMS
Total:35 + TMS
Total:100 + TMS
When we malloc for a certain size, we rst want to use a block of that exact or best size, remove it from both the size list and return it to the user.
Ex: malloc(35) would leave the freelist as so:
Block B
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 30
Usable Size: 100
Total:30 + TMS
Total:100 + TMS
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If we do not have a perfectly sized block, then nd the next block that is big enough to split i.e. A block that is big enough for the size of the malloc call + TMS with room for another block, MIN BLOCK SIZE. (In our case, MIN BLOCK SIZE is de ned to be 1 byte + TMS)
Ex: my malloc(25) would split block B into two blocks B(size 25) and B’(size 5) (5 being greater than MIN BLOCK SIZE). Remember to split your block from the back, in which the left portion of the block will remain in the freelist.
Block B’
Block B
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 5
- TMS
Usable Size: 25
Usable Size: 35
Usable Size: 100
Total: 5
Total: 25 + TMS
Total:35 + TMS
Total:100 + TMS
Once Block B is returned to the user, this call will leave the freelist as such:
Block B’
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 5
- TMS
Usable Size: 35
Usable Size: 100
Total: 5
Total:35 + TMS
Total:100 + TMS
Don’t forget to set both canaries and move the pointer to the beginning of the space the user uses at the end of the metadata before returning the block to the user.
1.5 Simple Linked List: Deallocating
When we deallocate memory, we simply check the block’s canaries and return the block to the size list in the appropriate position. When the user calls the free function with a block body pointer, we do some pointer arithmetic to nd the starting point of the entire block (i.e. the start of the metadata). Notice we don’t clear out all the data. That really just takes too long when we’re not supposed to care about what’s in memory after we free it anyway. For all of you who were wondering why sometimes you can still access data in a dynamically allocated block even after you call free on its pointer, this is why! We like the freelists to contain fairly large blocks so that large requests can be allocated quickly, so if the block on either side of the block we’re freeing is also free, we can coalesce them, or join them into the bigger block like they were before we split them.
How do we know what blocks we can join with? The left side one will have its address + its total size = your block’s address, and the right one will be your block’s total size + it’s address = the right block’s address.
To deallocate blocks, we would rst iterate through the size list to see if the block could be merged with a curr block to the right or left. If we nd such a block, we would remove the curr block from the size list, combine the two blocks and re-enter it into the size list. If the block could not be merged, we would insert it in the appropriate positions in the size list. The following examples demonstrate a few of the possibilities with deallocation.
Let’s start with this situation:
Block B
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
Usable Size: 8
Usable Size: 10
Total:3 + TMS
Total:8 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
If we deallocated a block of size 6, Block D, we would rst iterate through the size list for the correct left and right addresses of the block and check to see if the block needs to be merged either to the right of left. In this example, the block to be entered is not directly next to any other blocks, address wise, so we would just insert it into the size list. This would leave the freelist as seen below.
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Block B
Block D
Block A
Block C
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
Usable Size: 6
Usable Size: 8
Usable Size: 10
Total:3 + TMS
Total:6 + TMS
Total:8 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
If Block B and D were right next to eachother in memory (i.e. the address at end of block B is equal to the address at the beginning of block D), then we would need to perform a left merge. To perform this left merge, pop block B from the size list , add block D to it, reset the size and canaries, and nd the new block its’ proper home in the size list. These steps are depicted below.
Remove Block B from the free list and merge it with Block D to make Block BD.
Block B
Block D
Block BD
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
Usable Size: 6
Usable Size: 9 + TMS
Total:3 + TMS
Total:6 + TMS
Total:9 + 2 TMS
Add this new block BD back into the freelist in its proper position (Assume TMS is 4 bytes).
Block A
Block C
Block BD
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 8
Usable Size: 10
Usable Size: 9 + TMS
Total:8 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
Total:9 + 2 TMS
If Block D and A were right next to eachother in memory (i.e. the address at the end of block D is equal to the address at the beginning of block A), then we would need to perform a right merge. To perform this right merge, pop block A from the size_list, add block D to it, move block A’s metadata to block D, reset the size and canaries, and nd the new block its’ proper home in the size list.
Remove Block A from the free list and merge it with Block D to form Block DA.
Block D
Block A
Block DA
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 6
Usable Size: 8
Usable Size: 14 + TMS
Total:6 + TMS
Total:8 + TMS
Total:14 + 2 TMS
Add this new block DA back into the freelist in its proper position (Assume TMS is 4 bytes).
Block B
Block C
Block DA
size list
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Meta Size: TMS
Usable Size: 3
Usable Size: 10
Usable Size: 14 + TMS
Total:3 + TMS
Total:10 + TMS
Total:14 + 2 TMS
Note: To compare pointers, cast them to uintptr t rst
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1.6 my malloc()
You are to write your own version of malloc that implements simple linked-list based allocation:
1. The size of the block we are looking for is the size that the user is requesting. (Note: if this size in bytes is over SBRK SIZE - TOTAL METADATA SIZE, set my malloc errno to the error SINGLE REQUEST TOO LARGE and return NULL. If the request size is 0, then mark NO ERROR and return NULL).
2. Now that we have the size we care about, we need to iterate through our freelist to nd a block that best ts. Best t is de ned as a block that is exactly the same size, or the smallest block big enough to split and house a new block (MIN BLOCK SIZE is de ned for you). If the block is not big enough to split, it is not a valid block and cannot be used.
(a) If the block is exactly the same size, you can simply remove it from the size list, set the canaries, and return a pointer to the body of the block.
(b) If the block is big enough to house a new block, we need to split o the portion we will use from the back of the block and return the front to the freelist. Remember: pointer arithmetic can be tricky, make sure you are casting to a uint8 t * before adding the total size (measured in bytes) to nd the split pointer!
(c) If no suitable blocks are found at all, then call my sbrk() with SBRK SIZE to get more memory. You must use this macro; failure to do so will result in a lower grade. After setting up its metadata and merging it if possible (in this assignment, there must never be two di erent blocks in the freelist who are directly adjacent in memory), go through steps (a)-(c). In the event that my sbrk() returns failure (by returning NULL), you should set the error code OUT OF MEMORY and return NULL.
Remember that you want the address you return to be at the start of the block body, not the metadata. This is sizeof (metadata t) bytes away from the metadata pointer. Since pointer arithmetic is in multiples of the sizeof the data type, you can just add 1 to a pointer of type metadata t* pointing to the metadata to get a pointer to the body. If you have not speci cally set the error code during this operation, set the error code to NO ERROR before returning.
3. The rst call to my malloc() should call my sbrk(). Note that malloc should call my sbrk() when it doesn’t have a block to satisfy the user’s request anyway, so this isn’t a special case.
1.7 my free()
You are also to write your own version of free that implements deallocation. This means:
1. Calculate the proper address of the block to be freed, keeping in mind that the pointer passed to any call of my free() is a pointer to the block body and not to the block’s metadata.
2. Check the canaries of the block, starting with the head canary (so that if it is wrong you don’t try to use corrupted metadata to nd the tail canary) to make sure they are still their original value. If the canary has been corrupted, set the CANARY CORRUPTED error and return.
3. Attempt to merge the block with blocks that are consecutive in address space with it if those blocks are free. That is, try to merge with the block to its left and its right in memory if they are in the freelist. Finally, place the resulting block in the size list by setting the respective next pointer in each node for the size list.
Just like the free() in the C standard library, if the pointer is NULL, no operation should be performed.
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1.8 my realloc()
You are to write your own version of realloc that will use your my malloc() and my free() functions. my realloc() should accept two parameters from the user, void *ptr and size t size. If the block’s canaries are valid, it will attempt to e ectively change the size of the memory block pointed to by ptr to size bytes, and return a pointer to the beginning of the new memory block. If the canaries are invalid, it returns NULL and sets my malloc errno to CANARY CORRUPTED.
Do not directly change the freelist or blocks in my realloc() | leave that to my malloc() and my free(). This means you don’t need to worry about shrinking or extending blocks in place1; if size is nonzero, just always call my malloc() to attempt to allocate a new block of the new size. Make sure to copy as much data as will t in the new block from the old block to the new block. The rest of the data in the new block (if any) should be uninitialized.
Your my realloc() implementation must have the same features as the realloc() function in the standard library. Speci cally:
1. If the pointer is null - make a call to malloc using the size argument (i.e. malloc(size))
2. If the canaries are corrupted - set the CANARY CORRUPTED error code and return null
3. If the size is equal to zero, and pointer is non-null - make a call to free using the ptr argument and return null (i.e. free(ptr))
4. Else, create a new block via my malloc and and copy the old block’s data to the new block up to min(new block data size, old block data size)
Hint: Look at the man page for the C function memcpy
1.9 my calloc()
You are to write your own version of calloc that will use your my malloc() function. my calloc() should accept two parameters, size t nmemb and size t size. It will allocate a region of memory for nmemb number of elements, each of size size, zero out the entire block, and return a pointer to that block.
If my malloc() returns NULL, do not set any error codes (as my malloc() will have taken care of that) and just return NULL directly.
Hint: Look at the man page for the C function memset
1.10 Error Codes
For this assignment, you will also need to handle cases where users of your malloc do improper things with their code. For instance, if a user asks for 12 gigabytes of memory, this will clearly be too much for your 8 kilobyte heap. It is important to let the user know what they are doing wrong. This is where the enum in the my malloc.h comes into play. You will see the four types of error codes for this assignment listed inside of it. They are as follows:
NO ERROR: set whenever my calloc(), my malloc(), my realloc(), and my free() complete suc-cessfully.
OUT OF MEMORY: set whenever the user’s request cannot be met because there’s not enough heap space.
1Even though we don’t extend or shrink blocks in place in this homework, keep in mind that real-world implementations (which are not written in a panic right before nals) very well could.
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SINGLE REQUEST TOO LARGE: set whenever the user’s requested size plus the total metadata size is beyond SBRK SIZE.
CANARY CORRUPTED: set whenever either canary is corrupted in a block passed to free() or realloc().
Inside the .h le, you will see a variable of type enum my malloc err called my malloc errno. Whenever any of the cases above occur, you are to set this variable to the appropriate type of error. You may be wondering what happens if a single request is too large AND it causes malloc to run out of memory. In this case, we will let the SINGLE REQUEST TOO LARGE take precedence over OUT OF MEMORY. So in the case of a request of 9kb, which is clearly beyond our biggest block and total heap size, we set ERRNO to SINGLE REQUEST TOO LARGE.
1.11 Using the Make le
If you are not on docker, before running the Make le, you need to install Check, a C unit testing library the provided tests use. The following command should install the packages you need for this homework (you should already have them installed but here it is again):
sudo apt-get install pkg-config check gdb
You can run the provided tests with make run-tests and run gdb with make run-gdb.
In order to run gdb with a speci c group of tests (the di erent test cases are not individually testable), run make TEST=*NAME OF TEST GROUP* run-gdb. For example, for the test group called Malloc Init, you would run make TEST=Malloc Init run-gdb
If you run into a permission errors with verify.sh, run the command sudo chmod +x verify.sh or simply chmod +x verify.sh.
1.12 Deliverables
Submit only my malloc.c to GRADESCOPE under \Homework 11." Please don’t zip it.
Do NOT modify or submit the header le, my malloc.h. We will grade with the original copy. Any functions or variables you add should be marked static so they do not con ict with the grader.
Also, please note that the tests are not weighted, so the grade you get in your terminal will NOT be the grade you get on this assignment. You can submit to Gradescope to get a better idea of that, but we reserve the right to add test cases later.
1.13 Suggested Helper Methods
Coding malloc can seem like quite a daunting challenge, but your debugging process can be helped along tremendously if you do not write all of malloc in one method and instead split it up into helper methods! Helper methods are incredibly useful for understanding what is going on and also results in cleaner code, so it’s a win-win strategy. Below are some TA recommended helper methods to implement, and while they are not required and will not be tested with the autograder, we advise that you use them.
All helper methods must be declared static:
static metadata_t* find_right(metadata_t*) static metadata_t* find_left(metadata_t*)
static void merge(metadata_t* left, metadata_t* right)
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static void double_merge(metadata_t* left, metadata_t* middle, metadata_t* right) static metadata_t* split_block(metadata_t* block, size_t size)
static void add_to_size_list(metadata_t* add_block)
static void remove_from_size_list(metadata_t* remove_block) static void set_canary(metadata_t* block)
Remember, this is not an exhaustive list of operations that can performed with helper methods. Feel free to implement helper methods for any aspect of malloc that works for you.
Note: We are declaring these functions to be static because we want them to be private to my malloc.c. DO NOT put any function prototypes in my malloc.h
1.14 Debugging
Yes, we assigned malloc
which makes us pretty cruel.
But here are some debugging tips
because we are actually kind of cool
When you run the tests, you will see a pretty hefty output in your terminal. Each line of the output provides critical information depicting which tests you are failing/passing. The general format of:
suite filename.c:420:fun test case:test description
states a test named test description is failing/passing in an individual test case named fun test case, located in that speci c test suite suite filename.c at line 420. That is, test suites contain test cases which contain tests. For example,
malloc suite.c:37:Malloc Perf Block1:test malloc perf block1 lists
tells us whether the address list and size list is correct when we malloc for a perfectly sized block. More information about the test is written in malloc suite.c, and the assertion that failed is on line 37.
To run an individual test case, run
make run-tests TEST=Malloc_Perf_Block1
To debug an individual test case with gdb, run
make run-gdb TEST=Malloc_Perf_Block1
• Frequently Asked Questions
1. I have a segfault, will you debug it for me?
No, debug it yourself with gdb. Here is the gdb video one of the TA’s created:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsK1fComPkFiYc4oX8Ef9QUyiWVM5BaKe
Here are some other gdb tutorials:
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https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~gilpin/tutorial/
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/aspnes/pinewiki/C%282f%29Debugging.html http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/UnixAndC/CLanguage/Debug.html http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/debug.html
http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/gdb/gdb_toc.html
2. Can we build our freelists with list heads/dummy nodes?
No. No dummy nodes. The autograder checks the state of the freelist and if you have dummy nodes it will throw it o .
3. Should we rst initialize the freelist to NULL?
No, it is static and is therefore already initialized to NULL by the compiler.
4. The assignment says to just call my sbrk() again. But won’t this mean we then have 2 heaps?
Not exactly, it will expand the heap by another 2KB. You don’t get two heaps. Once it has been expanded to 8KB, calls to my sbrk() will return NULL.
5. Are the provided tests comprehensive?
Yes. We reserve the right to change our mind on this, but if you get a 100 on the tester, you should expect 100 on the homework. Just keep in mind that the tests may be weighted di erently when grading than in the provided student tester.
6. Can I use the malloc() from the C standard library? No. Absolutely not.
• Rules and Regulations
3.1 General Rules
1. Starting with the assembly homeworks, any code you write must be meaningfully commented. You should comment your code in terms of the algorithm you are implementing; we all know what each line of code does.
2. Although you may ask TAs for clari cation, you are ultimately responsible for what you submit. This means that (in the case of demos) you should come prepared to explain to the TA how any piece of code you submitted works, even if you copied it from the book or read about it on the internet.
3. Please read the assignment in its entirety before asking questions.
4. Please start assignments early, and ask for help early. Do not email us the night the assignment is due with questions.
5. If you nd any problems with the assignment it would be greatly appreciated if you reported them to the author (which can be found at the top of the assignment). Announcements will be posted if the assignment changes.
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3.2 Submission Conventions
1. All les you submit for assignments in this course should have your name at the top of the le as a comment for any source code le, and somewhere in the le, near the top, for other les unless otherwise noted.
2. When preparing your submission you may either submit the les individually to Canvas/Gradescope or you may submit an archive (zip or tar.gz only please) of the les. You can create an archive by right clicking on les and selecting the appropriate compress option on your system. Both ways (uploading raw les or an archive) are exactly equivalent, so choose whichever is most convenient for you.
3. Do not submit compiled les, that is .class les for Java code and .o les for C code. Only submit the les we ask for in the assignment.
4. Do not submit links to les. The autograder does not understand it, and we will not manually grade assignments submitted this way as it is easy to change the les after the submission period ends.
3.3 Submission Guidelines
1. You are responsible for turning in assignments on time. This includes allowing for unforeseen circum-stances. If you have an emergency let us know IN ADVANCE of the due time supplying documenta-tion (i.e. note from the dean, doctor’s note, etc). Extensions will only be granted to those who contact us in advance of the deadline and no extensions will be made after the due date.
2. You are also responsible for ensuring that what you turned in is what you meant to turn in. After submitting you should be sure to download your submission into a brand new folder and test if it works. No excuses if you submit the wrong les, what you turn in is what we grade. In addition, your assignment must be turned in via Canvas/Gradescope. Under no circumstances whatsoever we will accept any email submission of an assignment. Note: if you were granted an extension you will still turn in the assignment over Canvas/Gradescope.
3. There is a 6-hour grace period added to all assignments. You may submit your assignment without penalty up until 11:55PM, or with 25% penalty up until 5:55AM. So what you should take from this is not to start assignments on the last day and plan to submit right at 11:54AM. You alone are responsible for submitting your homework before the grace period begins or ends; neither Canvas/Gradescope, nor your aky internet are to blame if you are unable to submit because you banked on your computer working up until 11:54PM. The penalty for submitting during the grace period (25%) or after (no credit) is non-negotiable.
3.4 Syllabus Excerpt on Academic Misconduct
Academic misconduct is taken very seriously in this class. Quizzes, timed labs and the nal examination are individual work.
Homework assignments are collaborative, In addition many if not all homework assignments will be evaluated via demo or code review. During this evaluation, you will be expected to be able to explain every aspect of your submission. Homework assignments will also be examined using computer programs to nd evidence of unauthorized collaboration.
What is unauthorized collaboration? Each individual programming assignment should be coded by you. You may work with others, but each student should be turning in their own version of the assignment. Submissions that are essentially identical will receive a zero and will be sent to the Dean of Students’ O ce of Academic Integrity. Submissions that are copies that have been super cially modi ed to conceal that they are copies are also considered unauthorized collaboration.
You are expressly forbidden to supply a copy of your homework to another student via elec-tronic means. This includes simply e-mailing it to them so they can look at it. If you supply
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an electronic copy of your homework to another student and they are charged with copying, you will also be charged. This includes storing your code on any site which would allow other parties to obtain your code such as but not limited to public repositories (Github), pastebin, etc. If you would like to use version control, use github.gatech.edu
3.5 Is collaboration allowed?
Collaboration is allowed on a high level, meaning that you may discuss design points and concepts relevant to the homework with your peers, share algorithms and pseudo-code, as well as help each other debug code. What you shouldn’t be doing, however, is pair programming where you collaborate with each other on a single instance of the code. Furthermore, sending an electronic copy of your homework to another student for them to look at and gure out what is wrong with their code is not an acceptable way to help them, because it is frequently the case that the recipient will simply modify the code and submit it as their own. Consider instead using a screen-sharing collaboration app, such as http://webex.gatech.edu/, to help someone with debugging if you’re not in the same room.
Figure 1: Collaboration rules, explained colorfully
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