Course Expectations and Tentative Syllabus

 

CSC:157                                             Computing and Problem Solving                                    Spring 2003

 

Section 01                Meets:                  MWF  11:00-11:50am   Room: 225 Olney Hall

Lab Thur 2:00-3:50pm   Room 201 Olney Hall

 

Professor:                Dr Redmond                                                               Office Hours:                 MWThF 10:00-10:50am

                                       330 Olney Hall   (215) 951-1096                                                                 Th  11:00-11:50am             

                                       redmond@lasalle.edu                                                                                         W  2:00-2:50pm                                                                    http://www.lasalle.edu/~redmond                                                                  And at other times by appointment

 

 

Text:

Lewis J, and Loftus, W., Java Software Solutions, Foundations of Program Design, Second Edition Update, Prentice-Hall, 2001 ISBN: 0-13-0316970

 

Course Description:

This course is the introductory computer science course, primarily for computer science, information technology, mathematics, and science majors, also taken by education majors. Not to be confused with an introduction to using computers (136/151/152), this course places a heavy emphasis on learning to write computer programs. It introduces the major types of programming constructs that are common to most languages. It emphasizes proper programming techniques, to give a firm foundation for future courses and for the workplace. This course also provides exposure to the Java programming language, which is popular in the marketplace due to its flexibility and compatibility with the WWW.

An important part of the class is the two-hour lab each Friday. Your regular attendance is expected, as with other class meetings.

 

Co-requisite: You must have taken, or currently be taking, a one semester course of college mathematics.

Prerequisite: You must be competent in basic operation of a computer, (which can be demonstrated by successful completion of CSC 136, 151 or 152 OR by passing the competency test administered by the department during DAY ONE).

 

Grading:                                            Final Grades:

   Quizzes                               10%                                                                        B+     88-89            C+     78-79            D+     68-69           

   Assignments                                     25%                                        A     92-100          B       82-87            C       72-77            D       60-67

   Exam 1                                 20%                                        A-    90-91            B-      80-81            C-      70-71

   Exam 2                                 20%                                                                                                                                        F        < 60

   Final                                    30%       

   Class Participation                5%

 

                Quizzes will be short, 10 minutes or less, with one or a few questions, given at the beginning of class, typically on Fridays. Lowest quiz score (or one missed quiz) will be dropped.

                   Assignments will typically be assigned on a Wed., possibly with “pre-lab” preparation work to do, hands on time in the lab on Thur, and “post-lab” work to do, due the following Wed.

   Do your own assignments !!!!  Work that is copied or done with somebody (when not assigned to a group) will be punished. If programs are copied, both students will receive a zero for the assignment. Changing small aspects of a copied program does not make it not a copy. Asking another for help on a step or two in a many-step assignment is acceptable; looking at another person’s program is temptation for cheating; handing in a near duplicate program is cheating

 

   Late Assignments  -25% per weekday (NOTE - NOT per CLASS)

      UNLESS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS

      -10% if handed in after start of class and before I leave for the day.

 

   Makeup exams only by advance arrangements or for documented real emergencies, such as medical problems. Makeup may involve double-counting your final exam.

 

   The Final Exam is cumulative, though it will focus more on the (previously untested) final third of the course.

 

   Class participation grade will be assigned based on 1) attendance, 2) in class contribution, and 3) “minute papers” turned in at the end of each class. These minute papers may vary in content, including reflection, questions, etc from class. More details will be given in class. The formula for calculating class participation is available upon request.

 

Materials:  You will need at least 3 diskettes. Generally assignments will be handed in on diskettes and a new assignment will be started on the next day - before the previous assignment is graded. You will also want to keep a disk with backup copies. You will need access to Java and Sun’s ONE Studio (formerly Forte) development environment outside of class. This is installed on PCs in labs in Wister building and in Olney 200/200A/201. The software can be downloaded for free from Sun. It may be possible to check out CDs for installation on your own PC as well. (The book may include a CD with alternative development environments, such as Jbuilder. This is not recommended unless you are VERY COMFORTABLE with learning software ON YOUR OWN).

 

Open Lab Location:                   Wister Building basement lab is available (hours to be determined – in a previous semester  8:30am-11pm)

 

E-mail: You will need to check e-mail regularly. If you send me e-mail from a non-La Salle account (e.g. Yahoo, hotmail, etc), be sure you put either your name or CSC 157 in the subject to ensure that I read it, and make sure that your name is somewhere (subject or body). Assignments and information may also be posted on my WWW page.

 

 

 

 

 

Course Objectives

 

0. Introduce basic computer concepts and terminology.

 

1. Teach systematic program development and debugging techniques.

 

2. Demonstrate basic programming statements including IF-THEN-ELSE, Loops, Subroutines.

 

3. Demonstrate use of built-in data types.

 

4. Demonstrate use of classes, an implementation of the concept of abstract data types.

 

5. Demonstrate use of character and string handling, input and output formatting, and file processing.

 

6. Demonstrate use of Arrays, including arrays of objects.

 

7. Emphasize the importance of DOCUMENTED code.

 

8. Demonstrate the creation of simple applets that can be viewed from www pages (time permitting).

 

9. Provide experience writing, testing and debugging programs.

 

                                 

 

 

 

Tentative Course Plan:

 

The course is extremely unlikely to follow this exactly. Attending class is the best way to know adjustments (especially with regard to exams)

 

Estimated

Date

Section

Topic

Days

1/13

 

Intro to Class

1

1/15

1.1-1.3

Computer Basics

1

1/17

1.4

A Taste of Java

1

1/22

1.5

Programming Languages

1

1/24, 1/27

2.1-2.4

Variable types, objects, strings, assignments, expressions

2

1/29

2.5-2.6

Objects, Libraries

1

1/31

2.7-2.8

Class Methods, Output

1

2/3

2.9

Intro to Applets

1

2/5

3.1-3.2

If, IF/Else

1

2/7

3.3

Switch

1

2/10

3.4-3.5

Boolean expressions, Operators

1

2/12, 2/14

3.6

While

2

2/17

3.7

Do While

˝

2/17, 2/24

3.8

For

1

2/24, 2/26

3.9

Developing Loop Programs

1

2/26, 2/28

4.1

Objects Revisited

1

2/28, 3/10

4.2

Classes

1

3/12, 3/14

4.3

Methods

2

3/17

4.4

Overloading

1

3/19

4.5

Method Decomposition

1

3/21, 3/24

4.6

Object Relationships

2

3/26, 3/31

5.1

References

2

4/2

5.2

Static

1

4/4

5.2

Wrapper classes

1

4/7

 

Dialog Boxes

1

4/9

5.5

Events and Listeners

1

4/11, 4/14

6.1

Array Basics

2

4/16, 4/23

6.2

Arrays of Objects

2

4/25

 

Searching

1

2/19,3/28

 

Tests, tentative

2

TBD – between 4/28 and 5/2

 

Final Exam

 

 

MLK Jr HOLIDAY – Jan 20

SPRING BREAK – March 3-7

EASTER  BREAK – April 18-21