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Computer-Aided Teaching of All Mathematics (CATAM)

Part IB Electronic Submission of Additional Project Program and Data Files

Part IB electronic submission is available until 4pm on Tuesday 29th April 2014



Introduction

You are required to submit copies of your programs and any associated data files to the Project Assessors for checking. Files need to be submitted to a particular folder on the University's DS-Filestore. There are various ways that this can be done, e.g.

You only need to make one of these work, but whichever option you choose you will need to know your CRSid, i.e. the login name used to identify you on many University computing systems, including Desktop Services (DS), Hermes and Raven. For all three of the above options you will also need to know your DS/MCS password.

If you cannot remember your DS/MCS password, but do know your Raven password, then you can quickly reset your own DS/Hermes/Raven password at https://password.csx.cam.ac.uk. If you have forgotten your Raven password as well, then you will need to ask for your DS/Hermes/Raven password to be reset by the University Information Service.

Beware: resetting passwords can take time.

Deadline

The deadline for submission of programs is the same as the deadline for the handing in of project folders, i.e. 4pm on Tuesday 29th April 2014. Note that programs can be submitted at any time up to the deadline, but project folders cannot be submitted in advance.

If you are having difficulties making this deadline, you need to send an email to catam@maths.cam.ac.uk well before the deadline. See also the 'Difficulties' section at the end of this page.

Please do not email asking for confirmation that your electronic submission has been successful; we do not have the resources to provide confirmation. However, if your files are not there we will notice and be in touch.

Naming your files and what to submit

As explained in the Part IB manual, in order to make submission and marking easier, please put all files related to different projects in separate directories/folders. Further, please name each directory/folder using a convention whereby the first few characters of the directory/folder name give the project number, with the dot replaced by either a minus sign (-) or underscore (_). For example, all the programs written for project 2.1 should be placed in a directory/folder beginning with 2-1 or 2_1.

Students who have used MATLAB only need to submit their *.m files, plus any data files. If you have used another programming language such as C, Python or Java you should submit program source files and data files; in this case you should also

  • submit a file called README (or README.TXT) which contains a brief description of the files you have submitted and which software you have used;
  • include either a "makefile" or instructions on how to build each executable program, especially if you have used multiple object files or your own libraries (you should not submit any executable or object files).

Whatever programming language you have used, you should also submit any special data files needed by your programs. For example, if any of your programs read large amounts of data from data files, then you should submit those data files in case we need to verify that your program works correctly. The data files and program files should be placed in the same directory/folder (named according to the above convention). Do not submit copies of standard data files supplied by the Faculty of Mathematics unless, of course, you have made modifications to the data.

If you are unable to submit your files as indicated above, e.g. using the requested naming convention, please state clearly in a README (or README.TXT) file which files are associated with each project.


How to submit your files using a file transfer utility

A file transfer utility allows you to transfer files directly from your machine to your CATAM submission folder on the DS-Filestore via the network. There are different utilities for different operating systems. If such a utility is not already on your machine you will have to download and install one.

  • For Windows we suggest WinSCP or FileZilla. Both are straightforward to use and allow 'drag-and-drop' transfer. Note that the 'portable' version of WinSCP can be used without having 'Administrator Permission'.
  • For MacOS we suggest Fetch, Cyberduck or FileZilla. All three are straightforward to use and allow 'drag-and-drop' transfer. Note that it is best not to download Cyberduck from the Mac App Store unless you have money to burn.
  • For Linux there is the sftp command, FileZilla, etc..

Once you have a file transfer utility, you submit your files by using it to access sftp.ds.cam.ac.uk. You login using your CRSid (i.e. your MCS/Raven/Hermes logon identifier) and your DS/MCS password.

Note that the first time you do this from any computer you may obtain a warning message similar to the following:

1

Reply 'Yes'.

Once logged on, you will probably (depending on settings) be shown your home directory/folder initially. Your home directory/folder is not your submission folder. You need to navigate to your CATAM submission folder: namely /ux/CATAM/submit/IB/CRSid. How you do this depends on your utility. There are too many utilities to document the procedure comprehensively, so some common sense is required. However, we make two comments.

  • If using WinSCP then from a drop-down-menu towards the top of the page you first need to select the parent folder /root or /<root>. Then, from the list shown, navigate to /ux/CATAM/submit/IB/CRSid. Once in the correct folder your can transfer your files using 'drag-and-drop'. Similarly for FileZilla, Fetch or Cyberduck.

  • If using sftp on Linux the steps are:


             sftp sftp.ds.cam.ac.uk         Name:...         Password:...          cd /ux/CATAM/submit/IB/CRSid          bin                             (essential if sending an archive)         put file         put file         ....                            (or mput *.*)         quit 



How to submit your files using the CATAM MCS, another MCS, or from College

This section assumes that your files are already on a University MCS or College computer (e.g. because you did all your work on a MCS, or because you have transferred your files/folders using, say, a USB stick).

Submission of files from the CATAM MCS or another University MCS
Once logged on to a computer on the CATAM MCS or another University MCS use Windows Explorer (or the COPY command if you prefer) to put copies of your files in

          X:\CATAM\SUBMIT\IB\CRSid 

where CRSid is your MCS/Raven/Hermes logon identifier. If the network drive X is not visible on the desktop you should be able to find it by selecting "My Computer" in the "Start" menu.

Submission of files from College
  • If your College runs an Integrated Managed Cluster Service (MCS) you should be able to submit your programs as described above.
  • On non-MCS College networks it may be easiest to use a file transfer utility if one is installed, or the DS-Files web interface. Alternatively you should be able to access the DS filespace with the DS-Filestore CIFS service (click on the link for details). For this option, in addition to your DS/MCS password, you will need the following:
    • the CIFS share path
      • Windows: \\filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk\ux, or \\filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk\ux\CATAM\submit\IB\CRSid;
      • MacOS: smb://filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk/ux, or smb://filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk/ux/CATAM/submit/IB/CRSid;
      • Linux: //filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk/ux, or //filestore.ds.cam.ac.uk/ux/CATAM/submit/IB/CRSid.
    • your Username
      • Windows: PWFAD\CRSid;
      • MacOS and Linux: CRSid.
  • If none of the above work, then you are advised to transfer your files using a USB stick or equivalent to a University MCS computer, and then proceed as described above.


How to submit your files using the the DS-Files web interface

At first sight the DS-Files web interface looks the easiest to use, but the interface provides somewhat restricted facilities (that depend on the capabilities and configuration of your web browser) and can, in the writer's opinion, sometimes be rather clunky (e.g. in some instances files can only be uploaded one at a time). However this may be the solution for you if

  • you are unfamiliar with file transfer utilities,
  • you have not used the CATAM MCS or another MCS, and
  • you have used the Chrome or Firefox browser.

To use this method proceed as follows.

  • Access the https://dsfiles.ds.cam.ac.uk web interface, and login with your DS/MCS password.
  • To the right on the top menu bar you'll see a Workspaces menu. Click to open and select UX Shared filespace. This will open a list of folders on the left, from which you should click to select CATAM, then submit, then IB and then CRSid.
  • Right-click in the central workspace, select New folder and create a subfolder for one of your projects, e.g. 2-1. Repeat for other projects.
  • Click on one of your project subfolders. You now have a choice of what to do.
    • One option is to click on the Upload button at the top, and select a file to upload. Note that you can select multiple files, but not complete folders.
    • A second option, if you are using certain browsers (e.g. Chrome or Firefox), is to 'drag-and-drop' multiple files into your project folder. In the case of Chrome it appears that you can also 'drag-and-drop' complete folders in one go (except on MacOS). If this works, then it is probably the easiest option of all of the above.

Please note that you may get a series of annoying warning messages if you use this interface; however, the files still seem to get uploaded. Use of Internet Explorer with this interface is not currently recommended.


Difficulties

If you have problems submitting copies of files please send an email to catam@maths.cam.ac.uk, or drop into the CATAM MCS room at one of the times when an advisor is available.

If you find it impossible to submit your files electronically you may ask the CATAM helpline for permission to submit your files by email or, if there is absolutely no alternative, on a DVD/CD disk or a USB stick.

Programs submitted by email, DVD/CD disk or USB stick will not be accepted unless prior permission has been granted. A DVD/CD disk or a USB stick can only be physically submitted with your write-up on submission day. It should be securely attached inside your project folder and be labelled with the anonymous number allocated to you. Labels printed with an anonymous number for identifying projects will be available on submission day.

Note that DVDs, CDs and USB sticks cannot be returned after the examination.