students editing output

[M.RINDSBERG]

>   We have two VAXen here running 4.2, and besides faculty and graduate student
> research, we have some classes on the machines.  Although interactive use with
> full-screen editors is a giant leap forward from the not-so-distant past of
> batch submission using cards, the latter did have the advantage of some security
> that the students hadn't tailored their output with an editor to be more
> correct.  I do not mean to sound like I am assuming that all students would
> take advantage of this feature, but I have heard rumors from some of the
> students in classes I have taught in the past that a little of this did go on.
> I can see the temptation arising the night before an assignment is due and the
> program doesn't work.  There the (incorrect) output sits in a file, and all the
> professor wants is the output file printed on a terminal along with a listing.
> Who's to know if it is edited a little to change those incorrect numbers ....

Sort of a flame.
If the assignment is simple enough to be calculated by hand, then it
is nonsensical to assign a person to perform this on a computer. One of
the duties of a professor of computer science is also to teach when,
and when not to use a computer for a given task.
end of flame.

>   I am wondering if there are batch submission systems out there running under
> 4.2 BSD that are integrated with the line-printer spooling system.  A student
> would gather up program source and input data along with a shell script on
> how to compile, load, and go, and submit it to the batch server.  The output
> would automatically go to a printer, offering some assurance that it hadn't
> been tweaked.

Lets go backwards instead of forwards.

>   The only way I know of to check a student's work is go through a demo.  But
> this is terribly time consuming, and it is hard to set a precise due date
> (unless you check file modification times).

File modification times can be changed easily with a standard unix
utility.

>   What do other people do?  Thanks.

They don't worry about this.

					Mark