CS16: Problem Solving With Computers I
Syllabus, Fall 2009

Dept. of Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara

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Instructor:   Dr. Phill Conrad, Lecturer (PSOE), Dept. of Computer Science (Joint Appointment, College of Creative Studies).

Website: http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~pconrad/cs16

Lecture: 1-1:50pm MWF, Chem 1171.  

Discussion sections:
All held in ESB 1003 (Cooper Lab)

Time Main TA
Thu 8am-8:50am (rotates each week among the three TAs)
Fri 10am-10:50am Gorkem Yakin <gyakin@umail.ucsb.edu>
Fri 11am-11:50am Shatru Sadhu <ssadhu@umail.ucsb.edu>
Fri noon-12:50pm Harry Presman <hpresman@umail.ucsb.edu>

Textbook: Engineering Problem Solving with C, 3rd Edition (by Delores M. Etter)

Contact Email: pconrad@cs.ucsb.edu

Course Office Hours are shown in the table below.

These office hours are in effect every day of the Fall Quarter at UCSB that classes meet (i.e. between 9/24 and 12/04, except University Holidays), unless otherwise announced on the course email list (and the Gauchospace main course forum.)

Mon 11:00 -12:50pm Shatru Sadhu Phelps 1413
2:15pm-4:15pm Phill Conrad HFH 1113
Tue 3:15-5:15 Gorkem Yakin Phelps 1413
Wed 4:15-5:15 Phill Conrad HFH1113
Thu 1pm-2pm Harry Presman Phelps 1413
Fri 2pm-3pm Harry Presman Phelps 1413

Prof. Conrad is also available by appointment—email him to request an appointment. Include CS16 in your subject line, and indicate your available times.

 

What this course is about

CS16 is an intermediate course in programming, focusing on problem solving, and fundamentals of software development.

What this course provides is a solid grouding in problem solving, and basic concepts of programming in C, so that you are well prepared to take CS24 and CS40 (which are the next CS courses in the curriculum.)

I say that the course "provides an opportunity", because you will get a solid grouding in problem solving and C programming only if you put a lot of time and effort into this course—that is true no matter how much thought and attention I put in my lectures, assignments, and exams.

Are you ready for CS16?

CS16 should not be your first programming course!

This course assumes you have already done some programming.

No prior knowledge of any particular programming language is required. We will use the C programming language in this course to teach problem solving—however, we do not require any prior knowledge of C.

However, we do assume you are already a beginning programmer in some language such as Python, Java, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript or ActionScript. You should have already taken a course in programming prior to enrolling in CS16—either in high school, and a previous college or university, or perhaps ENGR3, CMPSC5 or CMPSC8 here at UCSB.

You should already be comfortble with concepts such as:

If you are not comfortable with all those things, you should drop CS16 from your schedule and try to enroll in CS8 instead.

Note: prior experience with web pages and HTML is NOT enough background to be successful in this course.

If you don't have the proper background for CS16, please don't enroll just because:

If you really should be in CS8 but are having scheduling issues, please see Benji Dunson, the undergraduate advisor for CS, who is available during normal business hours in the CS office, on the 2nd floor of Harold Frank Hall. He can help with authorization to enroll ("add codes"), and other similar problems.

Learning to program: the swimming/guitar/painting analogy

You cannot learn to swim, play guitar, or paint from a textbook or a lecture. You can only

The same is true of the type of problem solving involved in programming. Programming is not a serious of facts to be memorized—you cannot "cram" for a computer science exam. You must practice, practice, practice.

This course may have a heavy workload

As a result, the workload in this course may feel heavy. It may even feel unreasonable compared to your other courses. However, I assure you that it is not unreasonable, given the goal of making you an solid problem solver, and preparing you for CS24.

What you need to learn

So, what is it that you need to know to be ready for CS24?

At the very least, mastery of basic computer organization and programming constructs:

Finally, here is a list of some things you need to begin to appreciate that are more subtle, but perhaps even more important in the long run:

Here's a bit more detail about these aspects of the course:

Problem Solving

Problem solving is something that is difficult to "pin down". We can't give you a step-by-step process for doing it—if we could, it wouldn't be problem solving! It is that part of developing software that involves seeing how to combine all the pieces you've learned about in a new way in order to make a piece of software work.

It is something that can't be learned from a lecture or a book—though it can be learned! The only way for you to learn it is for us—your instructors and TAs—to offer you many opportunities to try doing it. You'll make mistakes, and then have flashes of insight, and learn from those. Eventually, both your skill and self-confidence will increase.

Team and Communication Skills

In terms of "the real world"----i.e. what employers want us here at UCSB to "do better at"---these are the things they almost always bring up. Companies that hire programmers don't complain that UCSB grads lack technical skills, but they do wish they were better at these things:

These last four points are often difficult to convey in a 10 week class at the introductory/intermediate level, but we are going to do our best to try!

A special note about collaboration

As mentioned above, one of the things we really want to convey in this course is that real-world software development is very seldom an 'individual sport'—is it much more often a 'team sport'. Companies want to hire CS and CE graduates that know how to collaborate with others on producing software.

In the CS Department at UCSB, we understand the value of this. However, it puts us in a tricky position.

On the one hand, we want to encourage working together in ways that help you develop your skills and teamwork, and help you understand that programming can be a social, collaborative, creative activity—not something done only by loner nerds in cubicles. The sooner you start with activities such as pair programming, code reviews, and other collaborative software development activities, the more skill you'll develop, and the sooner you'll be ready for the real world. Plus, for many people, working together with others is a lot more enjoyable and fun than being a loner.

On the other hand, we need to avoid any situations where freeloaders are "coasting" through courses by leaning too much on others—never developing independent skills as programmers. This situation creates huge problems. Mostly it is damaging to the freeloaders themselves, who eventually crash and burn, perhaps far too late to choose another career path without significant difficulty. However, it also creates problems for everyone else—some hardworking students become demoralized by the unfairness of it all, and the value of a UCSB education is diminished by the freeloaders' lack of accomplishment.

Thus, we must strike a balance.

Our emphasis on collaboration means:

It doesn't not mean, however:

The bottom line:

A final note: the emphasis on collaboration in this course does not necessarily extend to other CS courses you make take in the future.

Catalog Description

Fundamental building blocks for solving problems using computers. Topics include
basic computer organization and programming constructs: memory, CPU, binary
arithmetic, variables, expressions, statements, conditionals, iteration, functions,
parameters, recursion, primitive and composite data types, and basic operating system
and debugging tools.

Official Prerequisites/Restrictions (from Catalog)

Grading

To determine your final letter grade, I will calculate two numbers:

Weighted course average
50% Assignments/Quizzes/Homework
+ 30% Midterm Exams (2 at 15% each)
+ 20% Final Examination
Weighted exam average 30% Midterm Exams (2 at 15% each)
+ 20% Final Examination

I will then use the following table. This is a conventional 10 point scale with +, - with the lower three and upper three points of each range representing plus/minus. It also enforces a policy that your final course grade can be no more than one letter grade higher than your exam average.

to earn this letter grade your weighted course average
must be at least
AND, your weighted exam average
must be at least
A 93 83
A- 90 80
B+ 87 77
B 83 73
B- 80 70
C+ 77 67
C 73 63
C- 70 60
D+ 67 57
D 63 53
D- 60 50
F weighted course average below 60 OR weighted exam average below 50

Curving: The grade scale above represents the minimum letter grade you will be assigned—at the instructor's discretion, the grading scale may be altered in the students' favor if this will be better reflect the students' mastery of the material. Thus, if there is a "curve", it will be applied at the end, not to individual assignments.

A+ grades: These may be awarded to the very best performing students in the class—but the cutoff for A+ grades will be determined at the end of the course at the discretion of the instructor (there is no pre-determined cutoff---an average of 97 or more doesn't guarantee you an A+ grade.)

Policies

Attendance

This course moves quickly. So attendance is very important.

We'll be trying to master the material from about 14 chapters in the book, at about 2 chapters per week. We need to go at that pace, because we'll lose a couple of weeks to exams, and the last few lectures the quarter, you can't really start anything new, because there isn't time to put it into practice with programming assignments. If you don't put it into practice, you aren't very likely to learn it in any way that is going to stick with you, so there isn't much point in just "going through the motions".

As a result, there will be something you have to turn in at almost every class. In this way, attendance is taken, and required.

These things you have to turn in will be a combination of in-class activities, and homework completed outside of class, but handed in on paper during class.

Quizzes may occur at anytime, announced or unannounced. Missed quizzes may not be made up, except per the "personal day/sick day" below—if you miss a quiz for any reason, and have already used your personal day/sick day, you will have to make up the points with extra credit.

Thus attendance is required, and reading the assigned readings is required.

Missing in-class activites.

If you miss a class, you miss the opportunity for the points on that in-class assignment, or homework that was due. Period.

There is no makeup, except for

Sick day/personal day

To make up an assignment from a "sick-day/personal-day", you must email me within 48 hours of the absence, to make an appointment to make up the assignment during the next scheduled office hours following your absence (or at an appointment time to be negotiated, if you have a conflict with those hours.) This make up must happen within one week of the absence, or 24 hours before the final exam, which ever is earlier.

In rare cases, if there is a documented family emergency, documented extended illness, documented required court appearance, or other situation beyond the students' control (with documentation) the instructor may grant additional make up days entirely at the instructor's discretion—but this is not a guarantee or a right.

Academic Honesty

You should read and understand the UCSB policy on academic honesty listed below. You should also understand that I take academic honesty and personal integrity very seriously, and will do my best to uphold and enforce this UCSB policy. (Also see the section on collaboration, earlier in this syllabus.)

It is expected that students attending the University of California understand and subscribe to the ideal of academic integrity, and are willing to bear individual responsibility for their work. Any work (written or otherwise) submitted to fulfill an academic requirement must represent a student’s original work. Any act of academic dishonesty, such as cheating or plagiarism, will subject a person to University disciplinary action. Using or attempting to use materials, information, study aids, or commercial “research” services not authorized by the instructor of the course constitutes cheating. Representing the words, ideas, or concepts of another person without appropriate attribution is plagiarism. Whenever another person’s written work is utilized, whether it be a single phrase or longer, quotation marks must be used and sources cited. Paraphrasing another’s work, i.e., borrowing the ideas or concepts and putting them into one’s “own” words, must also be acknowledged. Although a person’s state of mind and intention will be considered in determining the University response to an act of academic dishonesty, this in no way lessens the responsibility of the student.

(Section A.2 from: http://www.sa.ucsb.edu/regulations, Student Conduct, General Standards of Conduct)

Accomodations for disabilities

Information about how UCSB supports students with disabilities is available at the campus ADA website: http://www.ada.ucsb.edu. If you require any special accomodations due to disabilities, please let me know as soon as possible. You may contact me by email to request an appointment: .

Disclaimer

This syllabus is as accurate as possible, but is subject to change as the instructors discretion, within the bounds of UC policy.