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From: Stephen Edwards (edwards_at_cs.vt.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 04 2005 - 11:20:54 EST 

From: edwards at cs.vt.edu (Stephen Edwards)
Date: Fri Nov  4 11:20:54 2005
Subject: [Web-CAT-announce] New timing guidelines for Web-CAT assignments
Message-ID: <436B8A61.2000109@cs.vt.edu>


As some of you might have noticed, setting timeout values for grading actions on programming assignments has been a bit difficult. That is because the time you set was the full 

"end to end" time required to grade that assignment, which
includes the time to compile, perform static checks, run student
tests, run reference tests, generate HTML printouts, generate
other feedback, etc.

I have just uploaded a change to Web-CAT so that now the time you enter in the "timeout" box for a grading step is actually the time devoted to running tests: it is the time limit on executing the student's tests on the student's code. The same time limit will also be imposed on executing the instructor's reference tests (if any) against the student's code. The script will take care of monitoring its own end-to-end time. As a result, if you want a student's program to complete in 30 seconds or less, you should now enter 30 in the time limit box.

The grading script will then enforce a maximum limit of 30 seconds on execution of the student's tests, a separate 30 second limit on execution of the reference tests (they are not additive), and any pre- or post-processing is accounted for separately.

This applies for both Java and C++ (and other languages, too).

That means for any current Web-CAT assignments you have running, you may want to check your timeouts and make sure they are set to reasonable numbers. 

--
Stephen Edwards            604 McBryde Hall          Dept. of Computer Science
e-mail      : edwards_at_cs.vt.edu           U.S. mail: Virginia Tech (VPI&SU)
office phone: (540)-231-5723                         Blacksburg, VA  24061
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