CSCI 1300 - Spring 2007
Introduction to Computer Science
Syllabus and Information

Instructors

• Michael Main (main@colorado.edu)
• Daniel Crumly
• Suzanne Gallagher
• Mike MacFerrin

Textbook and Links

• Text: Problem Solving with C++: The Object of Programming (5th or 6th Ed.) by Walter Savitch
• Assignment Submission, Gradebook, Forum: culearn.colorado.edu
• Office Hours and Contact Info: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/hours.html
• Academic Honesty and Policies: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/policies.html
• Homework Directory: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/homework
• Examples Directory: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/examples
• Lab Exercises: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/lab
• Answers to Quizzes and Exams: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/quizzes-and-exams

• Class Software for PC or MAC: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/software.html
• WinBGI Graphics Documentation: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/cs1300/doc/bgi
• Other Free Software: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/freeware.html
• Alternative Courses: www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/alternates.html

Prerequisites and Objectives

CSCI 1300 is the introductory course for computer science majors. Incoming students must be comfortable with high school algebra and should have little or no previous programming experience.

The course is based on the IEEE/ACM Computing Curriculum course CS 111i from http://www.acm.org/sigcse/cc2001/111I.html. The description for that course states:

Introduces the fundamental techniques of programming as a foundation for more advanced study of computer science. Considerable attention is devoted to developing effective software engineering practice, emphasizing such principles as design, decomposition, encapsulation, procedural abstraction, testing, and software reuse. Topics include standard programming constructs, problem-solving strategies, the concept of an algorithm, and fundamental data structures (strings, arrays, and records) along with an introduction to machine representation, and graphics.

By the end of the semester, you will be able to design, implement and test programs that solve problems involving small collections of data, simulations of real-world objects, or the manipulation of pictures and other graphical objects. Some of the problems that you actually work on will be constructed specifically to teach concepts, but as much as possible, the problems will be taken from real-world applications.

Expectations and Work Load

During the course, you are required to attend two lectures (Tuesday and Thursday at 8am) and one recitation (Wednesday) each week.

The instructors will hold weekly evening help sessions at a time and place to be announced.

I expect and encourage discussion among students, particularly discussion about the design and testing stages of solving problems. I also encourage you to visit me or the TAs to discuss your work each week.

Students average about 8 hours per week of work outside the class to prepare for quizzes/exams and to do the homework; however, there is a lot of variation. Some students may spend as much as 16 hours per week outside of class. If you find yourself spending too much time, then you are expected to immediately come see Michael. In general: Don't spend more than about 30 minutes working on something without making progress. Once you get to that point, there is often some small technical detail that you've misunderstood, so it is best to come see one of the instructors.

Homework, Quizzes and Exams

• Homework: There are six homeworks worth 40 points each. Homework is due every other Thursday at 11:55pm (starting Jan 25). Late work will be accepted through the following Monday with a penalty of 2 points per day. No work will be accepted after Monday unless arrangements are made at least one week in advance.
• The Last Homework: There is one last 60-point homework that is due on the final Thursday of classes. In order to receive an A in the class, you must successfully complete certain ungraded extra requirements as part of this final homework.
• Submission and Feedback: Homework is submitted through culearn.colorado.edu. Feedback and grades for homework are also available through culearn. Links to the homework are given in the calendar below.
• Quizzes: Most lectures will have an 8-point quiz. The subject for the quizzes will be announced at the previous lecture. The three lowest quiz scores will not count toward your final grade.
• Programming Quizzes: There will be three programming quizzes (30 to 40 points each) in the recitations on the second Wednesday of February, March and April.
• Exams: There will be three 100-point exams to be held on February 20, April 3 and April 26. There will be a comprehensive 150-point final exam at 7:30am on Thursday, May 10.

A midterm grade and final course grade will be assigned on an absolute scale:

• 90% to 93% is A- and above 93% is A
• 80% to 83% is B-; 83% to 87% is B; 87% to 90% is B+
• 80% to 73% is C-; 73% to 77% is C; 77% to 80% is C+
• 80% to 63% is D-; 63% to 67% is D; 67% to 70% is D+
• Below 60% is F
  Missed Work

  If you need to miss a lecture or recitation or you need a homework extension because of other committments, you must contact Michael at least one week ahead of time. If you miss a lecture quiz, then that will count as one of your three lowest scores (which are not part of your grade). Other missed work will receive a zero unless you have made arrangements aheead of time.

Schedule

Date	Topic	Assignments and Links
1. Week of Jan 15
Tuesday Lecture	A First Sample Program	Bookmark our class website www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro Read Chapters 1 and 2 Homework 1: Temperature Conversion (due Jan 25)
Wednesday Recitation	Lab 1: Compiling and Running Programs
Thursday	Variables and Assignments Input and Output Data Types Arithmetic Expressions
2. Week of Jan 22
Tuesday Lecture	Short Daily Quiz: Arithmetic Expressions Review Assignment Statements Boolean Expressions Warning: == vs = If-Statements If-Else-Statements	Read Chapters 3 Homework 1: Temperature Conversion (due Jan 25)
Wednesday Recitation	Lab 2: Using the Debugger
Thursday	A Hand Quiz Review Simple Branching Sample Program: Quadratics Discussion: Bits and Bytes Last Minute Homework Questions
3. Week of Jan 29
Tuesday Lecture	Short Daily Quiz: Boolean Expressions While Loops Increment and Decrement Operations Sample Programs: Loops	No new reading, yay! Homework 2: Foxes and Geese (due Feb 8) Programming Style Requirements Legislating Pi And the Real Bill That Nearly Passed!
Wednesday Recitation	Lab 3: Loops and BGI Graphics
Thursday	More While-Loop Examples Review of the Recitation A Graphics Program to Calculate Pi A Program to Find the Moose Quiz Coming on Tuesday: While Loops, Invariants Stump the Prof!
4. Week of Feb 5
Tuesday Lecture	Principles of Loop Design Short Daily Quiz: While Loops Priming the Loop Loop Invariants A number guessing program The foxes and geese outline with invariants and assertions Homework Notes: How to use setw from <iomanip> Using a static cast to convert double to int One submission, must compile Don't cut and paste your work into the text box! Submit only your .cxx file, please. Do check your feedback from the TA, even if your score is perfect Did you get a zero? If you get stuck: Design the loop with a loop invariant Functions are not yet required (except for main) Checking for bad input not yet required Extra Office Hour Today!	No new reading this week, although if you are bored, you may start reading Chapter 4. Homework 2: Foxes and Geese (due Feb 8) Programming Style Requirements Geek Limericks
Wednesday Recitation	Practice for Next Week's Programming Quiz on Chapter 3
Thursday	Widening Our Input and Loop Experience Catching Bad Input and Giving the User Another Chance Do-While Loops For Loops Nested Loops Example: Coloring the graphics screen What Kind of Loop to Use Loops That Read Input
5. Week of Feb 12
Tuesday Lecture	Short Daily Quiz: For Loops A Little More Practice for the Lab Quiz Discussion of Next Homework: The Mandelbrot Fractal Introduction to Programmer-Defined Functions	Please read Sections 4.1 to 4.5 (Sixth Edition) or all of Chapter 4 (Fifth Edition) Homework 3: The Mandelbrot Fractal (due Feb 22 and 29) Programming Style Requirements
Wednesday Recitation	Programming Quiz on Loops and Nested Loops
Thursday	Detailed Look at Programmer-Defined Functions Color Program
6. Week of Feb 19
Tuesday Lecture	First Exam
Wednesday Recitation	Lab 4: More on Functions
Thursday	Void Functions and Reference Parameters More Practice at Writing Functions
7. Week of Feb 26
Tuesday Lecture	Quiz on Writing Functions at the Class Start This quiz also counts toward grade improvement in Exam 1
Wednesday Recitation	Code Review for the Fractal Homework
Thursday	Quiz on Writing Functions at the Class Start This quiz also counts toward grade improvement in Exam 1 Program Design Example: The Lander Program
8. Week of Mar 5
Tuesday Lecture	Introduction to Arrays Continuation of the Lander Example	Read about arrays (Sections 7.1 to 7.3 in the 6th Edition or Sections 10.1 to 10.3 in the 5th Edition) Start Homework 4: Birds in Flight More Practice on Writing Functions for Array Manipulation (now includes answers!)
Wednesday Recitation	Practice for next week's lab quiz
Thursday	More Practice Writing Array Functions Continuation of the Lander Example
9. Week of Mar 12
Tuesday Lecture	Quiz on Writing Functions at the Class Start This quiz also counts toward grade improvement in Exam 1 Introduction to Structs Discussion of the Bird Homework Start Another Programming Example (Snake Game)	Fellows Review Session at 6pm on Monday, Mar 12, in ECCR 1B55. Read about structs (Section 10.1 in the 6th Edition or Section 6.1 in the 5th Edition) Continue Homework 4: Birds in Flight Early Starter Homework Help from Michael: Thursday, Mar 15, 5pm in ECCR 831/832.
Wednesday Recitation	Lab Quiz: Functions to manipulate arrays
Thursday	Quiz on Writing Functions at the Class Start This quiz also counts toward grade improvement in Exam 1 Continuation of Snake Game
10. Week of Mar 19
Tuesday Lecture		Submit Homework 4: Birds in Flight by Thursday, March 22
Wednesday Recitation	More Practice on Writing Functions for Struct Manipulations
Thursday	Review for the Exam Stump the Prof
11. Week of Apr 2
Tuesday Lecture	Second Exam	Start Homework 5/6: CD Player
Wednesday Recitation	Practice for Third Lab Quiz
Thursday	Controlling a CD Player Sample Audio Program
12. Week of Apr 9
Tuesday Lecture	Reading and Writing Files File Dialogs Example File Programs Maps Phonebook Program Answers to Last Week's Practice	Optional Reading on Maps: Swction 18.2
Wednesday Recitation	Third Lab Quiz
Thursday
13. Week of Apr 16
Tuesday Lecture	Operation Overloading, Matrixes and 2D Graphics	Optional Reading on File I/O: Sections 6.1 to 6.3
Wednesday Recitation	File I/O Exercise
Thursday	3D Graphics
14. Week of Apr 23
Tuesday Lecture	Exception Handling	Wednesday Exam Review: 5-6pm in ECCR TBA Optinal Reading on Exceptions: Chapter 16 Final Version of CD Program Due on Thursday, Apr 26
Wednesday Recitation	Part I: Vectors
Thursday	Third Exam
15. Week of Apr 30
Tuesday Lecture	Suzanne's Lecture	Optional Reading on Vectors: Section 8.3
Wednesday Recitation	Part II: Vectors
Thursday	Programming with the .NET Framework Semester Review
Finals' Week
Comprehensive Final Exam at 7:30am on Thursday, May 10

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Michael Main (main@colorado.edu)