Highlights fra semesterstarten på McGill

På McGill University får man (som på DTU) den første dag i hvert kursus uddelt et ark med oversigt over kursets indhold, lærere, hjælpelærere, kontortid, evalueringsform (det går de meget op i), antal hjemmeopgaver osv.

Herunder et par uddrag, som jeg på en eller anden måde finder (ufrivilligt) morsomme:

"We are interested in communicating with other humans about algorithms. Therefore we will NOT use code in this course to describe algorithms. Code was designed to be understood by machines not humans. We will describe algoritms in a natural language such as English and in the language of mathematics as has been done succesfully and elegantly for thousands of years. [...] Algoritms described in code will get a mark of ZERO. Students using mathematical notation gratuitously will be penalized. [...] Remember that storage space is no longer af problem and we need not save precious space at the cost of making things difficult to read. In this course we will learn to use English (the international scientific language) in a precise way."

"I am unforgivingly strict with late assignments. [...] Every day that the assignment is late, starting with the day due and including weekend days, will result in a penalty of 10% of the original worth of the assignment."

"Assignments are IMPORTANT, and you most certainly will not pass if you do not do them. To encourage this, I have a very flexible late policy: you lose 1 point out of 40 for each day late (weekends are one day) up until the assignments are returned to the class, after which you lose all points."

"NO LATE HOMEWORK"

"Assignments may be submitted on used paper, if the side you are writing on is otherwise unmarked. Or you should write on two sides."

"A means excellent, hire this person, consistently outstanding, B means very good, competent, explains ideas well on paper, [...] C means ok, knows basic material well but would need supervision at work [...] D and F means unsatisfactory, don't hire this person [...]"