Checkin Program Instructions

Checking In Assignments

"cd" to the subdirectory containing the file(s) to check in.

type ~cs161/bin/checkin PAx filenames
"PAx" should be whichever homework you are submitting (such as PA1 or PA1-R) "filenames" should be replaced with whatever filenames you want so submit (You don't need to submit all of the files at the same time if you don't want to. One at a time is fine as well, they will only overwrite the older files if they Have the SAME name.

The checkin program will give you some messages. Hopefully, they will say encouraging things like "Checkin successful", and the current date/time, and other useful information. It will also tell you if it has made any backups of older files.

Making Sure Things Were Checked In Right

Login to a Linux machine (if you aren't on one already).
Decide how paranoid you want to be:
- Type ~cs161/bin/peek and you will be presented with a list of every file you have ever submitted to the checkin program in this class. As well as dates, times, sizes, and the assignment it was submitted for.
- Type ~cs161/bin/peek PAx (where PAx is the assignment you are checking on) and you will be presented with a list of every file you have ever submitted for that assignment.
- Type ~cs161/bin/peek PAx filename (where PAx is the assignment you are checking on, and filename is the file you want to look at) and it will dump the contents of the file to your screen. If the file is long, you may want to consider "piping it thru more" (meaning, type ~cs161/bin/peek PAx filename | more. You could also redirect the output to a file, if you wanted to compare it (using diff, perhaps) with a file in your home dir.
Once you feel secure enough that it worked, you can relax.

Checking Grades

Login to a Linux machine (if you aren't on one already). (Try davis)
Type ~cs161/bin/grade and you will be presented with grades for each of your graded assignments.
Type ~cs161/bin/grade PAx (where PAx is the assignment you are checking on) and you will be presented with with the grade and comments for that assignment.

Making it easier

You may not like typing in such long commands. in that case, you can add an alias to your .cshrc for example, you may want to add the lines
alias ci161 '~cs161/bin/checkin'
alias pk161 '~cs161/bin/peek'
to your .cshrc and the effect would be that you would only need to type:
ci161 PA2 myfile.txt instead of ~cs161/bin/checkin PA2 myfile.txt... and
pk155 instead of ~cs161/bin/peek.

An Example

Lets say you wanted to turn in a file Results.txt for PA2:

% cd cs161/Assign2
% ls
Assign2.java myTestInp
% ~cs161/bin/checkin PA2 Assign2.java
Checking in files for assignment 'PA2'
Current time is: Mon Aug  8 12:16:03 2005
Assignment is ON TIME!
  If you wish, you may turn in another (presumably better)
  version up until Fri Dec  9 23:59:59 2005
  and it will replace this version.

File Results.txt was checked in.
%

Now, suppose you made a mistake and wish to fix it and submit a new copy..

% emacs Assign2.java
% ~cs161/bin/checkin PA2 Assign2.java
Checking in files for assignment 'PA2'
Current time is: Mon Aug  8 13:45:35 2005
Assignment is ON TIME!
  If you wish, you may turn in another (presumably better)
  version up until Fri Dec  9 23:59:59 2005
  and it will replace this version.

Renaming old Assign2.java to Assign2.java.old
File Results.txt was checked in.
% ~cs161/bin/peek
Size        Date             Time      Assignment  File
----------  ---------------  --------  ----------  ----
     13703  Mon Aug  8 2005  13:45:35  PA2         Assign2.java
     13814  Mon Aug  8 2005  12:16:03  PA2         Assign2.java.old

  2 Files listed
%

Some things to keep in mind

In order to use the checkin script, your login must be in the users file.
All assignments are to be submitted electronically and are automatically time stamped, so we know when files were submitted. PLEASE SUBMIT ASSIGNMENTS ON TIME!
Logs are kept of everything, so if you try to submit files and it does not work correctly, we can look at the logs to help identify the problems.
It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you have submitted all the files that are required for each assignment. All files you submit should be named appropriately. If you fail to submit a homework, we cannot grade it! And if we can't grade it.. we have to assume a ZERO! So please be sure to submit things properly.
You can run the checkin program on the same file as many times as you like. The checkin program will keep every copy, but only the MOST RECENT will be graded. If for some reason you want an older version to be graded, please let us know!
The checkin program only runs on Linux machines. Almost all of the machines in the labs run linux. But if for some reason you log in on a machine that runs another OS, you can log in to a linux machine (like armstrong, basie, brubeck, davis, ellington, etc..) and run the checkin program from there.
The checkin program will let you check in any file at all, whether it is a text file, or an executable, or a jpeg, or a video game, or a... you get the idea... So please be careful what you submit!
The checkin program will NOT alter your copy of the file being submitted. It will just send a duplicate of it for grading. Don't worry about it harming your files. It will not.
Every assignment has three dates associated with it:
1. Assigned date: If you try to submit a file BEFORE it is assigned, the checkin program will not let you.
2. Due Date: The checkin program will remind you of the due date of an assignment when you submit it. If you are before the due date, it will let you know how much longer you have to re-submit a newer version before the due date. If you are after the due date, it will let you know that the assignment is late. Hopefully you will still get some partial credit.
3. Drop Dead Date: The date after which the homework will not be accepted. The checkin program will simply not let you submit after this date. After this date, there is no partial credit. Sorry!