Webinar: Getting Started for the new Academic Year

Autograding best practices & Cheat sheet

Generally speaking, it is best to try complex AutoTest configurations out locally before. AutoTest simply runs a regular Ubuntu operating system in the background and all input fields are regular Bash commands. All software that is run under the hood (e.g. Python, Java, JUnit, Bash, ...) are all regular, meaning that all error messages are universal and can be very easily resolved with our biggest friends Google and Stack Overflow. You can always find more info under the `stdout` and `stderr` tabs in CodeGrade if something goes wrong:

There are two different places in which you can do configuration in AutoTest: Global Setup Script and Per-Student Setup Script. Both have different use cases for you:

Finally, we share an AutoTest Cheat Sheet with all useful folders and built in scripts in AutoTest:

• `$FIXTURES`: Folder with your uploaded fixtures, read more here;
• `$STUDENT`: Folder with the code submission of the current student, also the current directory;
• `$AT_OUTPUT`: Folder to write generated output too that you want to show up in the Code Viewer as feedback for students or for your further visual grading, learn more here;
• `from cg_at_utils import CG_INFO`: Python package (automatically installed in AutoTest environment) to access submission metadata, learn more about using this here;
• `become_nobody`: Built in command to limit student access to $FIXTURES folder, use before your command. More info on limiting visibility to students can be found here;
• `normalize_floats`: Built in command to normalize floating point output to a number of decimals, read usage info here.

CodeGrade Resources

Reading this blog means you have probably already found your way around CodeGrade's resources, which you can find:

• CodeGrade Help Center: https://help.codegrade.com/
• CodeGrade Webinars & Guides: https://www.codegrade.com/blog-categories/guides
• Email Support via: support@codegrade.com
• Reach out to us to join our Discord Community!

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Finally, with this webinar we hope to have given you a great way to kickstart your CodeGrade course in the new academic year. We are here to make your course with CodeGrade a success, so please do not hesitate to reach out to us on Discord or via support@codegrade.com with any question, request or if you would like some technical or educational consultancy. We are always more than happy to help you out!