CS 1410

Introduction to Computer Science: CS 2 (C++)

Fall 2009

Professor: Dr. Nick Flann

Office: Old Main 402D

Office Hours: You are encouraged to come to office hours whenever you have difficulties with the class. Whatever the problem, students should bring their class notes, program and attempts at solving the problem with them.

Office Hour Times:

Mon Wed Fri: 9:30pm - 10:30am, Main 402D
Tue, Thu: 10:30am - 11:30am, Main 402D
Other times by appointment through email, see below.

Other help: If you cannot come to office hours or want help outside office hours I recommend emailing me a clear and concise description of your problem or question. Often I will be able to get back to them immediately.

Email: nick.flann@usu.edu

Course website: Mostly blackboard (syllabus at http://www.cs.usu.edu/~flann/cs1410/)

Class Time: 9:00am --- 10:20am Tuesday, Thursday

Class Location: Main 117

Course Goal:  Become familiar with advanced C++ programming 

Course Objectives:

• Ability to write C++ structs
• Ability to write C++ file operations
• Understanding of an availability to write C++ classes, including
• Operator overloading
• Inheritance
• Polymorphism
• Virtual functions
• Abstract classes
• Understanding of an ability to write C++ exception handling and templates
• Introduction to standard template library (STL)
• Understanding of and the ability to write
• Linked lists
• Stacks
• Queues
• Recursion
• Binary search trees
  

Holidays and special days:

• Sept 7th (Labor day)
• Oct 15th (Thursday that we will treat as a Friday, so we have class then!)
• Oct 16th (Fall break, no class)
• Nov 25th-Nov27 (Thanksgiving holiday)
• Dec 4th (Last day of classes)

Prerequisites: CS 1400 and CS 1405 or permission. 

Text: Starting Out With C++, 6th Edition by Tony Gaddis.See web site for the book for some more information.

Last day to add/drop: see www.usu.edu/registrar/dates

Assignments: All assignments are due by 11:59 p.m. of the due date and must be submitted using Blackboard Vista system (online.usu.edu).  Late assignments will lose 25% for each day they are late (arithmetically).  NO assignment will be accepted that is more than 3 days late.  Do not email it to me!

There will be approximately 11 assignments; nearly 1 per week.  This is an aggressive schedule, be sure to stay current with this homework.  It is the responsibility of the student to convince the grader the assignment is complete and correct; don’t make the grader guess if your assignment is complete.

Exams: There are two midterm exams and a final exam.  The exams will cover the reading, lectures and programming assignments.  The final exam is Wednesday, December 10th at 9:30 a.m, in the same room as the regularly scheduled lecture.  The final is not given at any other time, do not ask to take it early, the answer is "No".

Grading:

Programming Assignments     40%

Mid term Exams  40% (20% each)

Final Exam  20%

Following each graded assignment, quiz or exam, a report detailing your scores, standing in the class and percentage available through blackboard. Please read this report carefully. Once you have received your grade for an assignment or test, you have one week to challenge the grade.  If I've made a mistake in grading your work, please come to my office and we will fix it; don't be afraid to bring a grading issue up with me.

Final course grades will be curved based upon the overall class performance; however, you must receive at least 60% on the programming assignments and exams (60% on each of these two groups) in order to pass the class.

Grading Standards:

• Grading of assignments is based upon, at least, the following criteria:
• Completion of program features as outlined in the assignment description
  Format of output is pleasing and easy to understand.  One should be able to understand the results by looking at them, in simple terms, this means that output should be labeled.
• Ability to handle error conditions (i.e. the program doesn't crash)
• Code elegance and efficiency.  Looking for things like good variable naming, use of functions, classes and other programming techniques.
• Commenting of code

Take care to ensure your assignment not only handles the assignment features, but that the program can gracefully handle error conditions.  There is more to a well written program than producing correct output; you will be instructed regarding this as part of the course and expected to utilize these techniques in your work.
Work in this class is graded based upon providing the best solution rather than merely solving the problem.  Sometimes students feel it is unfair for a teacher to expect the best when they are first learning; I believe it is important for a student to strive for the ultimate goal.  In a professional environment, a program that "just works" is almost never adequate and must be revised.  In order to be prepared for the professional environment, you must practice those skills in advance.

Grading Exception:

Each student is allowed one late submission without penalty.  The purpose is to deal with any problems that arise from errors in submission, missing files, etc.  However, any reason is acceptable, in fact, I don't even need or necessarily want to know the reason.

The assignment must still be submitted within the late time frame for the assignment, which is 3 days for this class.  You must notify me via email within one week of the assignment submission that you wish to use the “gift” on that assignment, no need to explain the reason.  Once used, it is gone, any further late submissions are counted as late, regardless of the reason.  You may not “post date” the use of this penalty at the end of the semester when you decide you need 5 extra points to get a different letter grade.

Do not burn this offer up early in the semester just because you feel a little lazy and want to turn one in late without penalty.  Later in the semester, if you have a legitimate submission problem or anything else, you will have wasted this opportunity to recover from a mistake without consequence.
The grading gift may not be used on the final assignment.

How to get help

Using email as a means of communication for course help is effective.  Email forces you to think through the problem as you explain to me what you've done and why you need help.  Some things to think about when sending me an email asking for help...

• Consider visiting the tutor labs first, there is no substitute for in-person help.
• Consider visiting me during my office hours.
• Place the course name as the first part of the subject line, e.g. "CS 1400 - Formatting Output Problem"
• Explain what the problem is and what solutions you have tried and what it is that you don't understand.  If you haven't tried to solve the problem, or can't explain to me how you have tried to solve the problem, it's not good.
• Don't send me an email telling me your program doesn't work and then ask me to find the problem.

The basic format of an email should be...

• Subject line with the course name
• Explanation of the problem
• Explanation of what things you have tried
• Most of the time it is best to send me the whole project.  You might think the error is in one bit of code, but the error might be somewhere else, sending me the whole project let's me see your code.  Create a .zip file of the project directory and send that to me: Remove all /debug and /release directories and the .ncb file in the root project directory.

Email: All students in the class will need an email account in order to receive grade information. Your account on the usu system will be used unless you email a different address.

Protecting Your Work

All of the homework for this class will be done on a computer.  The computer labs on campus are available for your use and you are encouraged to use them.  There may be times when you want to temporarily save your work on a lab computer.  If you save any work on a public access computer you need to delete it.  If left on a system, others can retrieve your files from the computer.  When you are finished working on a public computer, save all the files you want to keep by copying them to a removable disk or emailing them to yourself.  Then, before you leave the computer, delete all your files.  If you send them to the recycle bin, they are still available so empty the recycle bin.  If you highlight the file from a menu and use the shift key and the delete key together, it will delete it without putting it into the recycle bin.  You are responsible and required to see that no one has access to your work.

Tutors
There are free CS tutors available for your use.  They are located in two different tutor labs, Main 425 and SER 005.  I recommend that you use them.

Learning Style

I think learning is a lot more than remembering the contents of power point slides! I will mostly teach using the board, where we will dynamically develop problems and solutions. I welcome your participation! When I ask questions during class time, these are not intended to be rhetorical questions (i.e., I expect an answer). I will encourage you to develop problem-solving skills, which will be utilized during class, test taking and completing assignments. 

Incomplete:

The University policy will be adhered to for incomplete. This means that an incomplete cannot be given to prevent receipt of a bad grade. Under no circumstances can an incomplete be given for which a re-take of the class is required to make up the work. In such situations, a withdrawal or late withdrawal is required. If a student feels that an incomplete is appropriate, it is their responsibility to immediately discuss the matter with their instructor.

• Computer Science Code of Conduct :
  • Students are encouraged to discuss and exchange ideas on homework assignments, but must write up the solutions independently; tests and exams will be "closed book."
  • As a computer scientist, or someone taking a computer science class, you are expected to perform your work at all times in an ethical manner. This means that in addition to doing your own work and giving appropriate credit when the work of others is used, you are required to protect your work.
  • A student that protects their work will not allow another student access to that work whether it be allowing it to be copied, or treating its security in such a way as to give unintentional access, such as "accidental" loss. It is the policy of the department that when duplicate (essentially the same) work is turned in by two or more students, without acknowledgment of allowed cooperation, all involved students will be considered in violation of this department policy. Under such circumstances, each student will receive minus the points possible for the work.
  • Thus, for a 15 point assignment, all would receive -15 points. If the infraction is deemed more egregious, then further action may be taken.

MSDNAA software downloads :

The Computer Science Department is a member of the Microsoft Academic Alliance (MSDNAA), and specifically what is now called the Developer Academic Alliance. Through this program, students in CS courses can obtain and use a large number of Microsoft's operating systems and software packages. If you are interesting in downloading any of this software for your use, please follow the directions found at http://www.cs.usu.edu/elms.html

ADA Compliance:

If a student has a disability that will likely require some accommodation by the instructor, the student must contact   the instructor and document the disability through the Disability Resource Center, preferably during the first week of the course. Any requests for special considerations   relating to attendance, pedagogy, taking of examinations, etc. must be discussed with and approved by the instructor. In cooperation with the Disability Resource   Center, course materials can be provided in alternative formats, e.g. large   print, audio, diskette, or Braille.

Fee:

Associated with this class is a class fee of $25. Monies from this fee are used to maintain lab facilities for the class, purchase software and licenses, and supervise the lab. In some cases, students may have their own computing equipment, and thus feel that they do not need to use the lab. However, the lab must be maintained regardless of and individuals use of it, and thus the fee is charged to all registered for the class. If you have questions or concerns about the fee, please see the department head.