The purpose of laboratory work…
… is to deepen knowledge and understand elements covered in current Step, but above all, to gain programming experience. Primarily, you “learn by doing” and in practice is shown if you can apply the theoretical knowledge.
The laboratory course includes…
… 6 steps of practical applications, whose tasks are varied and scored 1-3 p. Normally you must collect 6 lab-points to pass the step. The laboratory work will be conducted by self-study and reported in accordance with instructions in the right menu and deadlines specified in the Study plan. If needed, you may get Online tutoring in the virtual labroom – see information on the page Contact us. The Laboratory course provides 4 (out of 7.5) credits after successful completion.
How do the practical applications work?
In each step, tasks of varying difficulty or scope may be chosen. Hopefully there are areas of interest for everyone – see detailed description of objectives and content in each lab instruction. Anyone looking for bigger challenges may solve fewer ”advanced” tasks, while beginners instead may choose several “easier” to get a broad and solid foundation for further steps. “Highpointers” have strong demands for high-quality solutions, but are weighted higher than “lowpointers” and therefore provide opportunity for higher grading.
In the minimum requirement of 6 p, any mandatory tasks may be included, or else 6p + compulsory points can be reported. I always send feedback on your solutions, but only to the extent needed for a passed step (my time do not allow for more). Solving all labs for each step is of course excellent, but in order to get best assessment you should only report the labs you consider to be of best quality or highest weighted.
Prepare yourself by being well-informed on current elements in textbook. Get help from the Suggested Workflow, study material and exercises (with complete solutions as well as tips and comments). Before starting to write code, you should preferably process the “0-pointers”, to prepare for programming syntax and C++ concepts in current step. And if getting problems – please note the opportunity given for personal tutoring!
You work in Visual Studio 2017 or any alternative development tool that you administer yourself – see Demands on software tools below. Make sure that all requirements are met prior reporting. PLEASE NOTE! Before a task is accepted for correction, the instructions to the right must be satisfied! The tasks must be reported no later than the deadline specified in Study plan, unless specific reasons have been notified to the course management. Any residual task may be reported during the last course week. Tasks that have been submitted thereafter, will be corrected at the next course instance, or according to individual agreement.
For your service is the possibility to work (via remote desktop) in our virtual classroom, if having occasional problems with your development tools. Visual Studio is available on computer 1-10 in the the virtual classroom, where you also do the course’s step-tests. Please carefully read the instructions on page Step test – instructions, before logging in to any of the remote desktops!
Demands on software tools
You must have access to a C++ compiler (see recommendation in welcome letter). The course uses Microsoft Visual Studio and submitted tasks must compile with this tool, but otherwise no special demands are placed on the development environment. (Please check page Software for the opportunity to download free development tools!) NOTE – the requirement of reporting ”full projects” only applies if Visual Studio is used. If using some other development environment you may send just the .cpp files.
