Welcome to GradeBoy!

This is GradeBoy. If you’re reading this file, that means that I didn’t design my UI well enough. Oh well.

Here are some topics that you might find helpful:

Using Semesters

Using Classes

Using Groups

Viewing Your GPA

Grading Methods

Desired GPA, Classes Left, Go!, and GradeBoy’s Grade Prediction

GradeBoy’s Options

File Operations

Credits / Miscellaneous

If you have any suggestions, or want to tell me how much GradeBoy sucks, email me at shankar2@fas.harvard.edu.

For new releases, additional information, and other stuff, visit the GradeBoy web page at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~shankar2/gradeboy/


Using Semesters

Every decent, self-respecting GradeBoy file has semesters. Each semester can contain any number of classes – and in fact, each class must belong to a semester. You can’t just add a class by itself; it must be added to a semester.

If you’re on some kind of weirdo trimester system or something, then replace the “se” with “tri” and it’ll all make sense :).

* To add a semester, click on the Add Semester… button underneath the semesters list (or hit Alt-s). You cannot have two semesters with the same name.

* To select a semester (for instance, if you want to add classes to it), click on it in the Semesters list box. All of the classes in the semester will be displayed.

* To rename a semester, double click on it in the list.

* To remove a semester, select it in the list and hit the Delete key.

* To change the order of the semesters, select the semester you wish to move and hit the ‘-’ and ‘+’ keys to move it up or down.

Note: When saving in password-protected mode, semester names cannot exceed 64 characters in length. Well, actually, they can, but they’ll be truncated when the file is saved.


Using Classes

Without classes, you wouldn’t have a GPA. You’d also have a lot more free time to hang out and stuff, but that’s another story.

Anyway, you must have created a semester to add classes, since each class must belong to a semester.

* To add a class, click on the Add Class… button underneath the classes list (or hit Alt-c). Make sure you have already created a semester and that the semester in which you’d like this class to be stored is currently selected. You can’t have two classes in the same semester with the same name. Make sure to set the class’s grade and credits since they will be set to the defaults automatically.

* To select a class, click on it in the Classes list box. Its name, grade, etc. will be displayed.

* To rename a class, double click on it in the list.

* To remove a class, select it in the list and hit the Delete key.

* To change a class’s details, first select it, and then change its grade, credits, and groups. To change the default values for a new class’s grade or credits, click on Options (Alt-O).

Note: When saving in password-protected mode, class names cannot exceed 64 characters in length.


Using Groups

One of the most powerful features of GradeBoy is its ability to categorize classes into groups. (Of course, I’m speaking relatively when I talk about “powerful features”.) For instance, you can create groups for your major, your electives, etc. and assign classes to them – and then let GradeBoy figure out your GPA for any one or a combination of them.

* To add a group, click on the Add Group… button or hit Alt-g. You cannot have two groups with the same name.

Each class keeps track of what groups it is in. So when adding new classes, make sure to set what groups they fall under. When a class is selected, the groups it is currently in are highlighted in the Member of Groups list box.

* To modify the groups a class is in, click on the each groups in the list box to select or deselect it.

Once you have set the groups for all of your classes, GradeBoy can now get to work for you.

* To see the GPA for any group, click on it in the Consider Groups list box. To select more than one group, hold down Ctrl and click on the groups you’d like to select. The number of classes in these groups (and therefore under consideration for the displayed GPA) is displayed to the right of the box title.

* To delete a group, select it in either group list box and hit the Delete key

* To rename a group, double-click on it.

Groups are saved with each file (as opposed to being saved globally) so that different files can have different groups.

A note about the “Everything” group: The “Everything” group is magical. It is there by default for new files, and all new classes are automatically set as members of the Everything group. This provides an easy way to view your overall GPA: click on it in the “Consider Groups” box. If you don’t like the “Everything” group, you can always delete it. If you accidentally (or maliciously) deleted it and want it back, just create a new group named (exactly) “Everything”.


Viewing Your GPA

This is a tough one.

The Overall GPA text area always displays the total GPA of all the classes in all your semesters that are in the currently selected groups.

The Semester GPA area computes the GPA for all the classes in the currently selected semesters that are in the currently selected groups.

Both GPAs are always computed using the currently selected Grading Method.


Grading Methods

A grading method determines how your GPA is computed – it tells GradeBoy how much each grade (A, A-, B+, etc.) is worth. For instance, the common 4.0 grading method tells GradeBoy that an A is a 4.0, a B is a 3.0, etc.

* To change grading methods, click on the drop-down grading methods list and select the method you’d like to change.

GradeBoy supports any number of user-defined grading methods.

* To add, edit, or delete grading methods, click on the Add/Edit Methods button (Alt-m).

While in the Add/Edit Methods window, you can

* Delete a method by selecting it and hitting the Delete key

* Edit a pre-existing method by clicking on it and then changing the values for each grade. Make sure you click on Save Changes to Current Method when done.

* Add a new method by (duh) clicking on Add New Method. You should then edit the new method by clicking on it and changing its grade values, and then saving the changes

* Hit OK when done.

Methods are saved with each file (as opposed to being saved globally) so that different files can have different grading methods.


Desired GPA, Classes Left, Go!, and GradeBoy's Grade Prediction
Desired GPA, Classes Left, Go!, and GradeBoy’s Grade Prediction

GradeBoy can help you set your goals (grade-wise, of course) for future classes.

Of course, all GPA computations are made with respect to the currently selected groups. This way you can predict separately for your major GPA, your overall GPA, and so on.

To use GradeBoy’s predictive powers,

* Enter the GPA you want to have in the Desired GPA box

* Enter the number of classes you are planning to take in that area in the Classes Left box. (By “that area”, I mean the area relating to the groups that are currently selected.)

* Hit Go!

* After some mind-boggling calculus, discrete math, and a patented randomized algorithm, GradeBoy will display the GPA you need to average for each of your remaining classes in the Status Bar.

Note: In computing, GradeBoy averages the number of credits for the classes you’ve already taken, and assumes that the classes you will take will on average have the same number of credits.


GradeBoy's Options
GradeBoy’s Options

* To view the options for running GradeBoy, click on the Options button (either one) or hit Alt-o.

In the options screen, you can

* Set the default grade and number of credits for new classes. These values are stored in the registry, so they apply to all GradeBoy files.

* Tell GradeBoy to password-protect the current file next time it is saved. (To find out more about that, see File Operations)

* Tell GradeBoy to open up a file on startup. If you don’t want it to open a file (i.e. start with a new file), uncheck this option. If you want to set the startup file to the currently open one, click on “Set to current file”.


File Operations

Of course, you can Save (Ctrl-s, Alt-a) or Load (Ctrl-l, Alt-l) your GradeBoy files. If you want to save your file under a different name, try File-->Save As… Pretty standard, really.

If you really don’t like you grades, you can also open a New GradeBoy file through the file menu.

You can also, of course, Quit (Ctrl-Q). But why would you want to do that? GradeBoy loves you.

Password-protected files

Normal GradeBoy files are stored as text, and anyone can open them up. This might be a problem for some people who want to keep their grades private. (Of course, one might argue that if someone is tinkering around on your computer anyway, he or she has access to a lot more personal stuff, like email. But whatever.)

So GradeBoy lets you password-protect files. To enable this for the file you’re currently working with, go to the Options menu (Alt-o) and check the appropriate box, and then save the file.  GradeBoy only uses the first six characters of your password, but feel free to pick something longer if it’s easier to remember.

If you’ve opened a password-protected file and save it again, GradeBoy will assume that you want to use the same password, and use it automatically, so you don’t have to retype it every time you want to save. If do File-->Save As, GradeBoy will prompt you for a new password to save under.

Naturally, if you’ve opened a password-protected file, GradeBoy assumes that you want to save it as password protected; similarly, if you’ve opened a normal (text) file, it assumes you want to save it as text.

There are people who could probably crack GradeBoy’s password-protection scheme in not much time. So I’m not making any guarantees about it. It’s not that trivial, though.

Note: When saving in password-protected mode, names cannot exceed 64 characters in length.


Credits / Miscellaneous

Writing a help file is a pain in the butt. After you’ve spent hours coding something, the last thing you want to do is write out in painful detail how to use it. So hopefully you’ll forgive me for any egregious errors I’ve made in this file.

Thanks to James Coleman, William Kitchens, and Grant Wang for suggestions.

Thanks to the above guys, Kerry Jordan, Jeff Lu, and Wing Yung for beta-testing.

Why “GradeBoy”?

GradeBoy is named after David Malan’s incredibly useful ShuttleBoy shell program, which in turn was named after the Menu Man of HDS fame.