Contact Information
Thomas E. Blum
Office: O-336
Office Hours: Mon 2, Wed 11, Thu 10:30, Fri 11 or by appointment
Phone: 215-951-1139
e-mail: blum@lasalle.edu
Web: http://www.lasalle.edu/~blum

The Visual Basic language is introduced with a focus on developing a good event-driven programming style. Students develop stand-alone Visual Basic projects as well as projects which automate procedures in the Word and Excel applications.

This is not a first course in programming. It is assumed that you have had some programming fundamentals (ifs, loop, arrays, etc.). These may have been in some other programming languauge.

Text: Microsoft Visual Basic .NET: Step by Step, Michael Halvorson, Microsoft Press.

Labs
There will be weekly hands-on, team lab assignments. A team consists of two and only two members. Lab assignments are to be completed and submitted at the beginning of the next scheduled meeting (unless explicitly stated otherwise). Teams will submit a print out of the code as well as a floppy disk with the code. These will be graded not only on programming logic (80%) but also on programming style (20%). Style includes sufficient commenting, appropriate variable names, indenting, etc. There will be an accruing penalty for lateness. No material will be accepted after the last scheduled class meeting (April 24). Each member of the team is responsible for learning all of the material involved in the labs; similar material may appear on the exams.

Project
As with labs, the project will be done by teams of two. The team will design and implement the project. Project ideas must be approved by the professor. Minimally a project should involve as much coding as two lab assignments combined. In addition to submitting a print out of and a floppy disk with the project code, the team will give a short presentation of the project to the class. Both members of the team must be involved in the presentation and be ready to answer questions regarding the project.

Class
This portion of the grade is based on student's attendance, preparedness, participation, etc.

Tests and Final.
There will be two in-class, on-line exams during the semester and a third exam during Final's week, all equally weighted. The dates for the in-class exams will be announced at least one week in advance. These exams will be open book and open notes. They will be cumulative. The exams will be to write a program or programs in a fixed amount of time. While the test are open-book, it is crucial that you can code the standard programming structures efficiently. You should practice for time.

Materials
You should bring a few floppy disks to each meeting. You might want to use a zip disk but only if the computer you intend to use to finish the program has a zip drive. Once a disk is submitted to be graded, it may be out of your possession for a week or two. Never submit your only copy of any assignment. It is also recommended that the team keep more than one copy of the lab. That one member of the team had the only copy of the program and could not be contacted is not an acceptable reason for turning in a late lab. Labs can be used during the exams, but each partner must have his or her own copy. There can be no copying or exchanging of materials during an exam. This will be considered cheating and will result in a grade of zero for all involved.

Teams
It may be possible to change lab partners, see the professor to discuss doing so. Furthermore, the professor reserves the right to reform groups at any time.