CSE 111: SYLLABUS

1. Required:
   Biermann, Alan W. (1997), Great Ideas in Computer Science, Second Edition (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

   • Great Ideas in Computer Science (the text) homepage

2. Recommended:
   Pattis, Richard E.; Roberts, Jim; & Stehlik, Mark (1995), Karel the Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Programming, Second Edition (New York: John Wiley & Sons).

In addition, you may need one or two 3.5-inch, double-density, double-sided disks, which you can purchase in the labs (probably), at the UB Micro store in the Commons, or at the bookstore (or elsewhere). You should probably get disks that are pre-formatted for IBM PCs or Windows.

IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

1. I strongly urge you to read all of Biermann, including those sections that we do not cover in the course. At the very least, you should read the introductory and summary sections of all chapters that we don't cover.

   Although we will cover Karel the Robot in lecture and labs, the book is just for fun reading or further exploration of Karel's capabilities.

2. Not all assigned readings will be covered in lecture (in lecture, we shall only cover interesting or hard material, plus occasionally material that is not in Biermann), but you are responsible for all assigned material in the text and lectures.

3. See "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".

• You will be expected to attend all lectures and labs, and to complete all readings and assignments on time. There will be regular homework assignments, a mid-term exam, and a final exam (during exam week). Taking both the exams is a necessary condition for passing the course.

• All homeworks will be announced in lecture. Therefore, be sure to get a classmate's phone number (for instance, 1 or 2 people sitting next to you in class, whoever they are!) so that you will not miss assignments in the unlikely event that you miss a class.

• There may be occasional extra assignments and quizzes in labs.

• You should subscribe to, and regularly monitor, the newsgroup sunyab.cse.111. You may post questions and comments there that are of general interest to the entire class. From time to time, information about homeworks, etc., will be posted to the newsgroups. This newsgroup will be archived in /projects/rapaport/111F00/news.txt.

• Just as you cannot expect to learn how to drive a car by reading about it or by watching other people do it, the same holds true for doing computer science. Do your work on time--this is one course you simply cannot cram for at the last minute, so don't even try! I cannot stress this strongly enough. Homeworks and lab exercises may be fairly time-consuming, so please consider your other commitments, and plan your time accordingly.

• Students should notify Prof. Rapaport within the first two weeks of class if they have a disability which would make it difficult to carry out course work as outlined (requiring note-takers, readers, extended test time).

1. HW assignments will be of two types:

   • Some will be of the "paper-and-pencil" variety, to be done at home.

   • Others will be lab exercises that will involve you in designing algorithms, coding them in a programming language, and running, testing, and debugging the programs on the PCs. Lab exercises will normally be done in the labs or public sites on your own time, though some of them may be done in your lab section, and you will have to do the preliminary design of them at home. The programs you will be asked to write will be relatively short and will be chosen to illustrate particular techniques or issues.

   • Besides Park 143, PCs are available in Baldy 210, UGL, SEL, Lockwood, and perhaps elsewhere. (For many applications, you can also use UBUnix machines directly, if you know how.) For a complete listing of public sites, see the "CIT Public Computing" or "Computing Sites, Labs & Classrooms" webpages.

2. The purposes of homeworks are:

   • to give you hands-on experience with relatively small problems and to give you hands-on experience in designing, coding, testing, debugging, and documenting programs
   • to give you practice in applying the concepts covered in the course
   • to give you a chance to assess the level of your understanding

3. There will be approximately 1 HW each week. Some of them may be time-consuming (but fun, I hope!). You should plan to spend at least an hour or two each week at the computer.

4. Due dates will be announced in lecture when the homework is assigned. HWs will be collected at the start of lecture on the due date. This is so that the homework can be discussed in the class period when it is due.

   If they are turned in after the start of lecture, your grade will be discounted by one full letter grade (e.g., A becomes B, A- becomes B-, etc.).

   If they are turned in after the start of the next lecture, your grade will be discounted by two full letter grades (e.g., A becomes C, A- becomes C-, etc.).

   If you turn in a HW after the start of the class after that, your grade will be discounted by three full letter grades (e.g., A becomes D, etc.).

   No HWs will be accepted after that.

5. Put your full name, date, and your lab (L1, L2, etc.) at the top right-hand side of each page, and secure all pages with a staple in the top left-hand corner.

6. Note: The lowest homework grade will be dropped; you should assume that you will fail to turn in one homework (oversleep, get stuck in traffic, etc.)--that's the one that will be dropped. If you know now that you will regularly be late, see me to make alternative arrangements for turning in your work. Your graded HW will be returned in lab. Occasional extra assignments or quizzes from lab can be used to replace low HW grades, at your TA's discretion.

For further information, see my web document on "Grading Principles"

Incompletes: