Otdfbt

It seems that you are being treated unfairly, but it is a situation that can only be judged and handled locally. Your university probably has appeal processes and you can always go to the department head.

In programming as in mathematics there is often only one clear way to do something and if different students do "the expected" thing, then their programs come out similar - occasionally very similar.

"Suspicion" of cheating should never be the final determinant.

But no one here can help you. Seek a solution locally.

You say you've already talked to your professor 1-on-1 and showed that you indeed coded the assignment yourself. If so, I suggest getting your professor to also talk to your friend 1-on-1. If your friend can also show that he coded the assignment himself, it would be sensible to give both of you the points. If your friend can't, then you have a good case for why he should be getting the zeros, and not you.

If you did the assignment by yourself, then try asking your teacher to take the total points from the assignment/s he suspects you cheated on and add those points to your next quiz/test that covers those assignments. This way you have a honest opportunity to earn those points back and prove that you know the material covered in those assignments.

I know some teachers will do this if a student simply didn't turn in an assignment because they were sick, perhaps this same solution can be used for your situation.

I have had a similar issue before, where I coded something that was extremely similar to something somebody else made. When confronted by the teacher, we went back and forth for a bit until I turned the project over to him and told him to ask me anything about the code and why I made the decisions that I did.

If you wrote the code yourself, you will be able to explain in detail your thought process and what your code is about. This should be enough proof that even if you didn't write the code yourself, you still have enough knowledge about the problem/solution for the teacher to accept it.

Our policy is that there cannot be a penalty for academic misconduct without handing in a report of the incident. Instructors can do an "Instructor Resolution Form", meaning the instructor and student agree on the penalty and nature of the incident, or an "Instructor Warning", which means just about the same thing, with less penalty. Both are reportable events, and enter into discussions of penalty for future findings of academic dishonesty.

Other than this, if the students don't agree, then they are free to request a hearing.

I guess my point is that raising a stink about this brings on the possibility that the incident is handled through more official channels, where you may be exonerated or not. I suspect if you're in the US that your school policies are similar to mine (because of all the liability concerns), and your instructor may be misusing the policy in your favor, as the suspected incident is not being reported.

FWIW, if the situation is as I suspect it is, I would discourage your professors decision, and would recommend handling the incident officially.

It could be as simple as checking the creation dates of the files in question. While these can be spoofed, it's likely that someone who was so lazy as to copy the files in the first place would also be too lazy to think of and then change the dates.

This is a lower division computer science class, and the professor thinks that grading policy is acceptable? Seriously? Lower division computer science homework is convergent, almost the same way as a sheet of math problems is convergent. Expect multiple people to turn in very similar work. There are documented cases of identical work turned in by different students.

This grading policy is simply wrong, and I recall having to argue a few of these myself. Fortunately, my reputation preceded me and there was no doubt I was perfectly capable of the work and had no reason to cheat. I would argue the policy the first day of every class that had it in the syllabus on purpose, because I was a target and the electronic turn-in mechanisms were vulnerable. My professors continued to hold the policy, but not for my homework.

And oh yes, I reported a definite case of another student helping himself to my homework off the network servers. Unfortunately I couldn't tell whom it was.

Thankfully I never had to go to the dean about it.

Only later did I learn about the convergence of lower division computer science homework. Well, I should have known in the first class I took. All perfect grades should look the same except for comments. I only escape because my word choices are really unique. If I didn't bother to comment ...

Talk to your student union representative

A Professor is in a position of power; an individual student, to the university system as a whole, is a passing concern, and will often be ignored, even if s/he has been mistreated. However, the student body is large and stable; and if it is organized, is often able to exert counter-pressure if necessary.

Your student union representative should have some experience with similar situations, or at least easy access to people who have it; and they should have both the ability and the venue to bring up such issues - or at the very least the option of public protest.

Also, they will know your university or department's rules, guidelines and procedures, and will thus be able to give you better advice than us even for acting individually.