IntroductionCSCI-141

Fall 20151

Professor Scott C. Johnson

Outline

What is CSCI-141 Computer Science I

Syllabus

Groups

myCourses

Course Website

Who Am I?

What is CS1?

Course Description

“This course serves as an introduction to computational thinking using a problem-centered approach. Specific topics covered include the following: expression of algorithms in pseudo code and a programming language; functional and imperative programming techniques; control structures; problem solving using recursion; basic searching and sorting; elementary data structures such as lists, trees, and graphs; and correctness, testing and debugging. Assignments (both in class and for homework), requiring a pseudo code solution and an implementation, are an integral part of the course. A course project is also required.”

What is CS1?

Course Outcomes

Students will apply the theory and principles of computer science. Evaluation: group problem-solving reports, laboratory assignments, projects, and exams.

Students will demonstrate fluency in high-level programming languages, environments, and tools for computing. Evaluation: laboratory assignments and projects.

Students will prepare technical documents and make effective oral presentations. Evaluation: team problem-solving reports.

What is CS1?

Course Policies

The only part of team-developed work is the joint problem-solving hard-copy;

All other Lab and Homework assignments must be the result of individual effort, not teamwork.

Development of code for Labs, Homeworks, or other graded work is an individual responsibility.

Submitting individual work written by others or as an unsanctioned team is considered an act of academic dishonesty.

Although students may discuss assignments with others, all individually submitted writings and code must be created independently by the student and not copied from others or other sources (e.g. web pages).

Team-developed work also must be created solely by the team members and not copied from others or other sources unless with prior instructor approval.

In cases where a student is suspected of cheating or copying material, the instructor shall notify the students involved and act in accordance with http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/policiesmanual/d080.

What is CS1?

Cheating!

It is bad!

You will get caught!

It will go in your record!

You risk and F for the entire class!

You will certainly fail the assignment!

DON’T DO IT! NOT WORTH IT!

What is CS1?

Grading

Grade Limit Rule:

Your whole course grade may only be at most 10 points more than the average grade of the elements of your worse component.

What is CS1?

Grade Limit Rule

Your whole course grade may only be at most 10 points more than the average grade of the elements of your worse component.

As a matter of practice, this limit comes into play when the difference between your Assignments and Tests averages is more than about 20%.

It has been the experience of the department that a student whose grade difference is this great is having more difficulty than meets the eye with regard to understanding and mastering the material.

Here is an example. Let's say you got a 71% average on the Tests Component elements and a 91% average on the Assignments Component elements. In this case, your course grade would be limited to 81% (a B-), which is 10% above your Tests component grade. (Without the course rule, your final weighted grade would be 71 * .45 + 91 * .55 = 82%, which is a B.)

What is CS1?

Grade Appeals

A grade becomes permanent one week after you receive the grade. 

Grade appeals and questions must be raised in writing(email) within one week after the day on which the grade was received.

What is CS1?

Course Format

This course meets for five hours each week:

two hours of lecture

two hours of lab

one hour of recitation

What is CS1?

Lecture

The first class of the week is usually the lecture with your lecture instructor.

It is held in a classroom with all students in the class.

During the first class your lecture instructor splits the class into two groups (A and B).

Group A continues the week with the lab session on the second day of class, followed on the final day of the week by the recitation.

Group B continues the week with the recitation on the second day of class, followed on the final day of the week by the lab session.

After week 8 (the middle of the term) groups A and B switch their meeting days for lab and recitation. (See the course page logistics.html page or a graphical schedule pattern.)

What is CS1?

Labs

Labs meet for two hours each week.

The first hour meets in a classroom where students participate in a team problem solving session (PSS) using pen and paper, developing algorithms and pseudo code for a particular problem.

The lecture instructor leads the team problem-solving segment with the assistance of Student Lab Instructors (SLIs). Failure to attend a PSS will result in a 20% grade reduction for the lab.

The second hour takes place in two or more computer lab rooms where students individually implement the algorithms from the pen and paper exercise.

An SLI leads the in-lab segment in each lab room and grades those students' lab assignments. The lecture instructor grades the lab's problem-solving segment and returns the PSS work to each student.

What is CS1?

Labs Please note that lab material is not posted online.

It is your responsibility to attend every lab on time to obtain the assignment and participate in team problem-solving.

Instructors collect pen-and-paper team work at the end of the problem-solving session.

The programming implementation portion of the Lab must be submitted electronically online. It is your responsibility to submit all work on time.

Lab assignments are due on Tuesday 11:59 PM of the following week. Your lab grade is computed using the scaled sum of all the individual lab assignments.

There are no makeups on Labs that you do not submit.

However, you can do a "late box submission" up to eight hours after the deadline for a 20% grade penalty.

The 20% penalty applies only to the implementation portion of the lab; your score for the problem-solving is unaffected.

What is CS1?

Recitation

Recitation meets in a classroom during the second scheduled hour.

There is normally no meeting during the first hour.

The recitation, run by a graduate Teaching Assistant (TA), is designed to reinforce the student's understanding of the material covered in lecture.

Usually the TA reviews previous assignments, provides exercises for practice, and answers questions related to the course.

Recitation is required for all students. The TA takes attendance at recitation and provides it to the lecture instructor.

What is CS1?

Homeworks

Homework for the week is posted through a link on the course website.

Homework questions are completed individually and may include a combination of programming problems and written questions.

Each homework is due Saturday at 11:59 PM of the week in which the homework was assigned.

Your homework grade for the course is computed using the scaled sum of all homework assignments.

There are no makeups on homeworks that you do not submit, but you can do a "late box submission" up to two hours after the deadline for a 20% penalty.

An unsubmitted homework receives a 0 grade.

The homework must be submitted electronically online. It is your responsibility to make sure that you submit all your work on time within the deadline.

What is CS1?

Project

The project is posted through a link on the course website.

The project is designed to be longer than lab assignments and may require multiple weeks to complete properly.

The project is to be completed individually, outside of class time.

What is CS1?

Exams

The course has these exams: two midterms and one final.

The midterm exams include two written exams, and one individually-completed, in-lab problem-solving exam known as a practical exam.

The final exam has only a written component.

What is CS1?

Exams

During exam weeks there may be a lecture on a topic not on the exam.

Instead of lab sessions, there is a 2 hour, written test period and either a 1 hour, practical examination period or a recitation review period.

The practical examination is a 50 minute, timed test of design, implementation and testing skills.

The practical examination takes place in a computing lab.

The first group takes the practical during the first half of the class time period, and the second group takes it for the second half of the class time period.

See your instructor for the details of the exam week schedule.

Because of room conflicts, different sections are scheduled differently during exam weeks.

What is CS1?

Final Exam

A comprehensive and common final exam is given to all sections at the same time during the regularly scheduled final exam period.

The date of the final is typically announced early in the term.

You must take the final exam at the time scheduled for your section.

Finals are not given early, and there is no makeup exam.

The final is comprehensive and covers material from the entire course, including lecture, lab, homework and assigned readings in the textbooks.

What is CS1?

Exam Rescheduling Instructors will reschedule exams only in difficult situations for which there is formal documentation

for the situation (e.g. a hospital record) and when the instructor is notified in advance.

Sleeping through the exam, cars problems, and similar excuses are not valid reasons for missing an examination and requesting a make-up exam.

Final Exam Conflicts RIT has several policies on rescheduling to handle final exam conflicts.

A student must submit a written request for final rescheduling to the head of their home department, with a copy of the request given to the instructor(s) affected by the request to provide a rescheduled final exam. We strongly recommend that students first discuss their finals situation with all instructors involved.

Of special relevance are these cases of exam conflicts:

A student is scheduled for two final exams at the same day and time.The rules that determine which final exam takes precedence involve the conflicting exam subject and the student's home department. The student must work with both instructors and work with them to resolve the conflict.

A student is scheduled for three or more final exams on the same day.In this case, a student may choose not to take three or more final exams in one day.

What is CS1?

Getting Help

Students may obtain help from the following sources:

Your lecture instructor during posted office hours or by appointment;

Student Lab Instructors (SLI) who assist with formulating solutions and implementation/language issues in-lab;

Teaching Assistants, who answer questions about the lecture material and provide exercises for practice in the weekly recitation session;

Supplemental Instructors (SI) who sit in on classes and assist students and run outside study sessions.

The Computer Science Student Center has student lab assistants available to provide help with programming language issues (Note: SLIs will help only with technical questions about the programming language and programming environment; they will not help you design or write your program).

What is CS1?

Course Withdrawal

RIT policy allows you to withdraw from a course with a grade of W on or before the Friday of the 12th week of the term.

After this date, your instructor cannot give you a W; they must assign a grade based on your work.

Incomplete grades are given only in exceptional circumstances, and only when arrangements have been made with the lecture instructor before the end of the term.

What is CS1?

Academic Integrity and Academic Dishonesty RIT's Academic Honesty Policy (section 18 of the RIT Students Rights and Responsibilities

 handbook) defines the basic forms of academic dishonesty (cheating, duplicate submission, and plagiarism) and explains the official RIT policy regarding academic dishonesty.

The only part of team-developed work is the joint problem-solving hard-copy; All other Lab and Homework assignments must be the result of individual effort, not teamwork. Development of code for Labs, Homeworks, Projects, or other graded work is an individual responsibility. Submitting individual work written by others or as an unsanctioned team is considered an act of academic dishonesty.

Although students may discuss assignments with others, all individually submitted writings and code must be created independently by the student and not copied from others or other sources (e.g. web pages).

Team-developed work also must be created solely by the team members and not copied from others or other sources unless with prior instructor approval.

In cases where a student is suspected of cheating or copying material, the instructor shall notify the students involved and act in accordance with http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/policiesmanual/d080.

What is CS1?

Other Policies

Other RIT policies may be found at the provost's governance library, http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/policiesmanual/policies/governance.

For example, harassment is covered in http://www.rit.edu/academicaffairs/policiesmanual/c060.

Groups

You have been divided into 4 groups Group A

ICL X

ICL Y

Group B

ICL X

ICL Y

Groups will not be changed!

Based on the group you need to enroll in the proper lab section on myCourses Look for <section>-ICL<ICL#>-<SLI_name>

Please ask me if you need help on this

myCourses

http://myCourses.rit.edu

All assignments will be hand in via here.

Except for first hour Problem solving answers

Who Am I?

Scott C. Johnson

Lecturer, first year at RIT

Office: GOL-3647

Email: scj@cs.rit.edu

Website: http://cs.rit.edu/~scj

Education:

RIT Alumni, 2014

BS/MS in Computer Science

Professional Experience

Software Engineer-Research at GrammaTech

Interests

Static Analysis of Source Code

Formal V&V of programs

Eclipse Plugin Development

Who Am I?

Office Hours

Monday 1-3pm

Tuesday 2-4pm

Thursday 4-6pm

Or by appointment

Or just stop by!

Who Am I?

Fun Facts:

Served in the US Army

I raise ducks, chickens, and turkeys as a hobby

Hold the rank of Master Carpenter and Master Cabinet Maker