Comment Re:Wow. (Score 1) 693
I "cheated" in a programming class. It was system software, and we were supposed to write an assembler for an assembly language given by the professor. I had 2 other major projects due around the same time and was coming down to the wire. So I did a search for the assignment online and came across a person who had the same class the year before and had posted his code online. The problem? His code didn't work. The structure was there, but there were so many errors that the output wasn't right. It wouldn't even compile. So I fixed it and made it work in an evening, changed some variable names and code style to match my own, and turned it in.
The professor asked to speak to me the next week and said my code and another person's code were almost identically structured, except mine worked and the other's didn't. He wanted to know if we worked together on the assignment. I didn't even know who the other person was. I copped to what I did and how I found the code online, and emailed the professor the link to the webpage it was on. I also explained what the bugs were that needed to be fixed to demonstrate an understanding of the assignment and converting assembly code to binary machine code. The other person didn't even change the pilfered code to make it work.
I ended up getting full credit, so it all worked out in the end. I took a shortcut to save some time due to poor planning on my part. I thought I would have more time to work on the assembler after completing my other projects. I was upset with myself for not being caught, but for having to be in that situation in the first place.