CS 111 – FOUNDATIONS OF PROGRAMMING
SYLLABUS – SPRING 2009

Lecture: TR 10:30 – 11:45 am, MLH 310
Lab: T 12:00 – 2:00 pm, MLH 310
Professor: Dr. Holly Patterson-McNeill
Office: TH 224
Phone: 792-2342
E-mail: hapatterson-mcneill@lcsc.edu
Web Page: http://www.lcsc.edu/hapmcneill
Office Hours: M-Th 9:00 – 10:00 am.
  Also By Appointment

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND PREREQUISITES

CS 111 is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of computer science and programming, using a modern language and building toward an object-oriented perspective. Python is the language used in this course because it is easy to learn, has graphics capabilities, and is used in industry (as a scripting language, as a gaming language, as a multi-purpose language). You must have earned a grade of C or better in your core math course before beginning this course or obtain the permission of instructor. Yes, I am going to be checking. You must talk with me if you do not have the prerequisite math class.

Credit Hours: 4

II. MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES

Textbook, Software, and Supplies: Resources:

III. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Goals of the Instructor:
Your constructive feedback is always welcome to help me achieve the following goals: Course Learning Objectives:
By the end of the course, the student should be able to:

IV. IMPORTANT NOTES

Access & Accommodation Statement:
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements, please contact me immediately. I ask that you put any request in this regard in writing.

Academic Dishonesty:
In the event of academic dishonesty, those involved will receive an "F" grade for the course and the violation of the Student Code of Conduct will be referred to the Director of Student Life for judicial action.

As defined in the LCSC Student Handbook, Academic Dishonesty is:

  1. Cheating - intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. The term "academic exercise" includes all forms of work submitted for credit hours.
  2. Fabrication - intentional and/or unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or the source of any information in an academic exercise.
  3. Collusion facilitating academic dishonesty - intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of Academic Dishonesty.
  4. Plagiarism - the deliberate adoption or reproduction of ideas or words or statement of another person as one's own without acknowledgment.

According to the Student Code of Conduct,

The sanctions imposed for a violation of this section of the Code are independent of, and in addition to, any adverse academic evaluation which results from the student's conduct. The course instructor is responsible for academic evaluation of a student's work and shall make that evaluation without regard to any disciplinary action which may or mat not be taken against a student under the Student Code of Conduct.

 

Third Party Source Code Licenses and Copyrights:
Used with permission from Daniel Conte de Leon

In some cases, it is necessary to build upon other's work. For example, we might analyze, modify and improve upon a third-party's work. Third-party includes the instructor, classmates, colleagues, and the Internet. In such cases there are several conditions necessary for the work to be acceptable: Cases when using third-party source code is permissible under the conditions stated above will be Explicitly stated in class. If not explicitly stated, the student MUST assume that for that given task, the use and modification of third-party source code is NOT allowed.
Simply because a piece of work has been made accessible through the Internet or any other media does not imply anything about its license nor rights to copy and use. In case of doubt about the license of a third-party piece of source code, do NOT copy it, use it, or modify it.

FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS POLICY FOR THE FIRST TIME WILL RESULT IN A ZERO FOR THE GIVEN ASSIGNMENT. REPEATED CASES ON NON-COMPLIANCE WILL RESULT IN THE STUDENT FAILING THE COURSE.
Incompletes:
A grade of Incomplete can be granted only if 80% of the course work has been satisfactorily completed (passing) and if there is a documented family or medical emergency. In addition, you must communicate with me your desire for an incomplete and you must sign the Incomplete Grade request form that includes a mutually agreed upon date of completion and a list of work to be completed. An incomplete is NOT automatically granted. I do not grant a grade of incomplete if you fail to meet any of the above criteria.

Office Hours:
Office hours are done on a first-come first-served basis. BY APPOINTMENT is just that. You must make prior arrangements to meet with me. I read my lcsc.edu e-mail several times daily; this is a very reliable means to contact me. My homepage contains a link to this class and its schedule of assignments. If you miss a class session, look at the class pages on the Web and BBCE to see what assignments were made.

Respect for Others:
Please demonstrate respect for the other students in this class:

There is a pencil sharpener around the corner to the right of the stairwell. There is a uni-sex bathroom around the corner to the right of the stairwell. There is a ladies’ bathroom to the right just before you enter this room.

Computer Lab:
The computer lab (MLH310) is open two nights a week starting after the first week of class.

Important dates:
Jan 16 Last Day to Register/Add/Drop Classes Online
Jan 19 Martin Luther King Day/Idaho Human Rights Day – no classes
Jan 20 Instructor's Written Approval Required to Add Class
Jan 26 Last Day to Add Class(es) or to Drop without 'W' Grade
Feb 16 President's Day - no classes
Mar 2 Last Day to Apply for Graduation Fall 2009
Mar 13 Midterm Grades Posted
Mar 16-20 Spring Break - no classes
Mar 23 Last Day to Withdraw from Class(es) or College for the Semester
Apr 6-9 Advance Registration for Summer/Fall 2009
May 12 Final Exam

The last date to drop this class without a permanent entry on your transcript is Jan. 26. The last date to withdraw from this course with a W on your transcript is Mar. 23. After that date, withdrawal is permitted only by petition and approval of the division chair, Dr. Matt Johnston. The division chair requires documentation of extraordinary circumstances that prevented you from withdrawing by the deadline.

V. METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

I utilize a lecture and lab format. Programming and other work are assigned each week and sometimes each meeting. The lab meeting affords us the opportunity for hands-on work to test and apply material from lecture. You will also be required to demonstrate mastery of the basic concepts in this class; that is, you must pass all skill quizzes.

You will not be ‘lectured’ about material that can easily be read from the book. The content provided in lecture will supplement the text material. You will have activities which require you to work through the material, learning to understand it in your own way.

Tentative Weekly Schedule
Week Topics
1 Introduction to Course, Python and Number Systems
2 Writing Simple Programs
3 Computing with Numbers and Expressions
4 Skill building with Numbers and Expressions
5 Computing with Strings
6 EXAM ONE
7 Using Objects and Graphics
8 Functions
9 Decision Structures
10 SPRING BREAK
11 Loop Structures
12 EXAM TWO
13 Simulation and Design
14 Defining Classes
15 Data Collections
16 Object-Oriented Design and Programming
17 Object-Oriented Design and Programming
18 FINAL EXAM

A detailed schedule is available to you on BBCE.

VI. PERFORMANCE CRITERIA FOR STUDENTS

Grading Breakdown for Activities Designed to Meet the Above Performance Criteria:
Evaluation Methods:
Programming 15%
Chapter Quizzes 15%
Skill Quizzes 10%
Two Exams (20% each) 40%
Final Exam 20%
TOTAL 100%

Grading Scale (expressed as percentages):
A >= 94
A- >= 90 to < 94
B+ >= 87 to < 90
B >= 83 to < 87
B- >= 80 to < 83
C+ >= 77 to < 80
C >= 73 to < 77
C- >= 70 to < 73
D+ >= 67 to < 70
D >= 60 to < 67
F <  60

Description of Methods for Evaluation

Programming (15%): You will be assigned programs throughout the semester. Use the Program Formatting Information for each program as required before submission. The short, introductory programs will not require extensive documentation. I will clearly distinguish between the two types of programs. Even after successfully completing this course, you should not call yourself an expert programmer. That takes years of experience. You will be evaluated on 1) Completion, 2) Neatness and Organization, 3) Use of style, and 4) Correctness of your programs.. That means your evaluation is based on the number of programs you attempt, the level of completeness of each program submission, the neatness and organization of your work, the use of style in your programs, and how correct the programs are. Many of our programs will be graded during lab. Regular attendance is important. Under normal circumstances, if you have not completed your assignment by the due date, you should submit the work you have done for partial credit. For the sake of your grade, you should ALWAYS turn in SOMETHING. Be sure to keep ALL graded material.

Be sure to backup your work. USB devices fail; hard drives fail. Keep copies of your work on different devices. Failure to have your program ready because your drive crashed is not an acceptable excuse.

Chapter Quizzes (15%): This is a Web-enhanced course. After each chapter, you will have a quiz online using the BBCE system. These quizzes serve to guide your study for major exams. You will be given several opportunities (depending on the difficulty of the material) for you to improve your grade on these quizzes.

Mastery Skill Quizzes (10%):
There will be periodic, short skill quizzes during the semester to evaluate whether you have mastered the basic concepts of this class. During the last ten minutes of class, you will take a short skill quiz over a topic of the previous classes. To pass a skill quiz, your work must be perfect. If you make a mistake, you will retake the quiz at the end of a later class. Typically retakes are not given on the same day that you get the quiz back. Retakes may be completed at the end of class or during office hours or by special appointment, if necessary. If you are absent and miss a skill quiz, just complete the retake during regular class time. All skill quizzes must be completed by 5pm on MAY  8, 2009. Failure to complete all skill quizzes will result in your not passing this course; that is, the highest grade you can earn will be a D.

Semester Exams (20% each) and Final Exam (20%):
We will have two semester (midterm) exams and the final exam. Because of the nature of programming, all exams are comprehensive. Each exam will emphasize certain chapters of our text for vocabulary and computer science concepts. But the programming portion is cumulative. What you have learned for programming in the earlier chapters of our text must be used in succeeding programs. Each semester exam will have an open book, lab exam in which you will have to write a program similar to what we will have practiced during the preceding weeks. This lab exam is not a separate exam, but is part of semester exam. The final exam is similar to the midterm exams. The final exam will be given during the scheduled final exam time. Do not make travel plans which require you to take the final exam early. No make-up exams will be given. If you have a serious conflict with an exam time, you must discuss it with me and take the exam early. Exams missed due to a serious illness or a family emergency (must be documented) will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

VII. PROGRAM SUBMISSION GUIDELINE

A project report is a computer scientist’s way of communicating the design and implementation of a problem solution to other computer scientists. For each major program done in the CS 111 course you will produce a program report. For the smaller programs, this will be part of the program documentation. All reports should include the following sections:

Cover Page with Problem Statement (10%)
This consists of:

The problem statement can be from one sentence to a single paragraph which describes the essence of the program. It should be written in your own words so that a fellow student, upon reading it, would understand the intent of the program. The problem statement must be clear and concise in describing what the program is about. There will be sample problem statements throughout the course.

Design Documentation (30%)
This consists of:

The design documentation will be very simple for the first few programs you write. As the programs get more complex, the design documentation will become more robust. The design documentation should be hard copy and not hand written, except for any diagrams.

Program Source (30%)
This consists of:

The source code is expected to follow professional coding standards, be self-documenting, use an appropriate number of comments, and use whitespace to aid in readability.

Execution Results (30%)
This consists of:

Should your program produce merely error messages, you are expected to include only the first page of those error messages. If the output file is extensive, only the first page of that file should be included in this section.

Note: When requesting debug help from me, you must supply your design documentation and your algorithm walkthrough for or hand trace of the program. Examples of hand tracing will be included throughout the semester.

VIII. APPENDIX

Profile of Good Problem Solvers:
Computer scientists must be good problem solvers. Problem solvers:
7 January 2009