This course introduces the perspectives and methods of computer science. Symbolic information is represented as data, whether it be numbers, text, or images. Automated processes for operating on the data are represented by general procedures, known as algorithms. Those algorithms are written in a particular notation (a programming language) as programs. Students will learn how to carry out these tasks and how to think about computation in terms of general patterns, such as hierarchical composition or the use of interchangeable components with consistent interfaces.
Professor Louis Yu will be the instructor for lecture sections of the class. Professor Aaron Nienow and Jeff Ford will be the instructors for the lab sections. For information on our availability, please see our contact information.
All course materials will be available on the course website and on Moodle (http://moodle.gac.edu/). The URL for the course is http://homepages.gac.edu/~lyu/teaching/mcs177-f18/.
Our textbook is Python Programming in Context by Bradley N. Miller and David L. Ranum. I recommend for you to order a copy in advance, either through the Book Mark or through another seller of your choice. the Book Mark cannot be counted on to have a copy on the shelf if you don't pre-order.
There are two editions of this book, the first and second edition. The second edition has had errors fixed and a few technical items updated. As such, it will provide the smoothest experience. However, the differences between the first edition and the second edition are minor and we can definitely help you working through its little glitches. You are likely to be able to get a better price on a used copy of the first edition. For this reason, we suggested for the Book Mark to stock the first edition. For a list of corrections to the first edition of the textbook, please see http://pycontext.blogspot.com/.
You are expected to read the relevant Sections specified in the schedule before each lecture, as the lectures are meant to supplement your reading (note that the lectures are NOT substitutes for reading). During some lectures I will also give you practice problems from the corresponding Sections in the textbook. You are to work on these problems during lectures or at home. Finishing these problems will reinforce your understanding of the material. They are very helpful in preparing for the tests and the final.
Attendance, both physical and mental, is required. In fact, this semester the class instructors and lab instructors will note your attendance (or whether you arrived late or on time) at the start of each lecture or lab. At the end of the semester your class attendance grade is calculated from the lectures you attended on time (please note that if you arrive to a class or a lab more than 10 minutes later than the scheduled starting time, you are counted as late). I reserve the right to lower your grade even further if I feel that you are missing or showing up late to consecutive lectures.
Should you need to miss a class or lab for any reason, you are still responsible for
the material covered in there. This means you will need to make sure
that you understand the reading from that day; you should ask another student
for the notes from that day, and you should make sure that you understand what was covered.
If there is a project due that day, you should be sure to submit it (electronically) on time (thus, do not leave your projects to the last minute).
If you have influenza-like symptoms (temperature over 100 with headaches, sore throat,
or cough), please call Health Service. If they say that you stay home, you should do so,
and I request (but do not require) that you email me.
You may use your laptop in class. However, the use of the computer is restricted to activities deemed appropriate by the instructor. Playing games, watching YouTube, reading e-mail, checking Facebook, and working on assignments for other courses are a few examples of inappropriate activities that can be distracting to the instructor and other students in the course. Any repeat instances from an individual of such will result in grade deduction.
For this course, ideally your grade should be a reflection of the effort you had spent. At the end of the semester, if you tell me that you have put in a lot of efort but you recieved a bad grade, I will ask you the following: "did you attend all the lectures?", "did you attend all the labs?", "did you pay attention in classes?", and finally, "did you take advantage of the overabundance of help offered to you?". If your answer to any of those questions is "no", then you did not put enough efforts into the course.
One thing I have noticed during my past 4 years of teaching at Gustavus is that a student's grade is directly related to how deligent he/she is. That is, if a student attends classes regularly, puts efforts into homework and projects, pays attention during classes (as opposed to doing other activities), participates in discussions, and goes to my office hours whenever he/she needs help, it is guranteed that he/she will recieve a good grade. It seems like an obvious concept, but I am constantly surprised by how some students do not seem to connect efforts with results, and that some still insist on taking short cuts.
Please keep in mind that there is no such course which allows you to miss lectures, labs, projects or homework, but somehow miraculously implant the necessary knowledge in your head; no matter how "good" or "bad" the course is. Academia demands decipline.
For this course, I encourage questions, discussions, peer-helping, and explorations. So, there is a pretty generous bonus point system. During the semester, you are strongly encouraged to ask questions (during or after lectures) and to take part in discussions. If I feel that you had made a good contribution, you will recieve one bonus point.
Another way of earning bonus points is for you to take a leadership position during group work or classroom coding exercises.
Finally, you will earn bonus points if you have ideas about extra work (such as open questions) you can do and have done them outside of class. You can talk to me about what you had done and show me your work. I will give you bonus points accordingly.
The maximum amount of bonus points per student is 5.
For this course, I encourage questions and discussions with a game I like to called "stump the professor". Here are the rules:
It should be very clear to you that there is help available every day of the week (from either me or the tutors). What's more, you are just an email away from arranging a tutoring session with me or the tutors at a time which works for you. In other words, I had made it such that at any time, if you spent the effort into seeking, help should come to you; so the deciding factor here is clearly the effort you spent.
To help keeping track of the effort you had put into the course, other than the participation and attendance grade sheet, you can earn 3% bonus points on tests and the final by doing the following:
For this course, you will need to complete 9 projects. In each case, I will indicate what I expect of you.
A project report that meets those expectations is due before the start of class on the date specified. If you submit
the report late, your grade will drop one point per day late or fraction thereof.
If you are too sick to complete a report on time, you will not be penalized. However, you need to talk to me or email me as soon as possible, and provide the necessary doctor's note. Other circumstances will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In general, you should talk to me or email me (asap) around the time of the incident.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we will meet in the OHS 326 computer lab. One or more of those lab days will be
provided for you to work on each project. However, you will often need to spend additional time on the project
outside of class.
In general, the projects will be posted 4 - 5 days before we start working on it and
I expect you to read and understand the project prior. Please do not wait until the lab starts to read the project description (thus wasting precious lab time).
For some labs, if you finish the current project, it would be ideal for you to use the time to start on the next project. In our schedule
I have made notes of that. Thus, time management is very important. Do not leave your projects until the last minute. Some projects are longer,
some are shorter. If you finish a project, move onto the next one. Please note that there is a jump in difficulties between projects 1 - 5 and projects 6 - 10 (think of the first 5 projects as a warmup for later ones). Thus time management is especially important for later projects.
Some lab days are not for project work. Instead, the syllabus lists a topic from the textbook with the prefix
"in lab:". On these days, I will be covering material from the book, somewhat like on a class day, but in an
environment where I can ask each of you to try things out on your individual computers. For each of these days where a textbook topic
is covered in the lab, the same topic is listed on the following class day. We will have this extra class time to go over
the topic some more if you need it. Any remaining time will be available for us to talk about topics that are not in
the textbook.
In class, you will be given exercises to work on. You will work in a group of 5 - 6 (assigned by me) and practice writing programs by hand (without the help of a computer). This will also help you preparing for the tests and the final. These exercises will be given at random times.In black-board exercises, each group will write the solution to the assigned problem on the blackboard. Each member must take turns writing an equal portion of the solution. If you are having trouble understanding the class material, this is the time to seek help from your classmates and from me. The black-board exercises are not graded.
In written exercises, each member of the group will be given time during lecture to write the solution to an assigned problem on a piece of paper.
While working on your written exercises, you may seek help from other members of your group.
However, while collaborating, you must follow the honor guideline (see below). You may only discuss the general ideas and approaches to the written exercises. However,
you may not read or copy another student's code or solution, and no fragments of code or solution can be written down or shared. I reserve the right to lower your
grade if I feel that you are looking at or directly copying another student's solution. All collaborations must done verbally .
If students have trouble finishing an exercise within the given time, I will instruct them to work on it at home and hand it in before the start of the next lecture (all students must do so in that case).
If you miss a written exercise given in class (unless you email me prior and received my approval for otherwise), it is your responsibility to finish the exercise at home and hand it in before the start of the next lecture. If you still fail to do so, you will not receive a score for the exercise.
There will not be any make-up for written exercises; thus class attendance is important.
There will be roughly 10 written exercises given during the semester. At the end of the semester, 6 random submissions from each student will be selected and graded for written exercises score that will count towards your final grade. Thus (again),
class attendance is important (since you want to have at least 6 scores).
There will be two in-class tests during the semester and a final exam as scheduled by the registrar. If you have a
conflict with a testing time, please contact me as soon as possible to make an alternative arrangement.
Tests will be closed-book and mostly closed-notes. You may, however, use a single 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper with
hand-written notes for reference (written on both sides of the sheet are OK).
You will earn up to 420 grade points for your work on projects, in-class written exercises, homework exercises and tests, divided as follows. Each of the 9 projects will be graded on a scale of 20 points, totaling 180 points. Each written exercise is worth 5 points, and 6 of them will be graded, totaling 30 points. Class and lab attendance is worth 10 points. Each of the two tests that happens during the semester, in class, will be graded on a scale of 50 points, for 100 more points. The remaining 100 points will come from the comprehensive final exam.
Any substantive contribution to your project report by another person or taken from a website or publication should be properly acknowledged in writing (by citing the source). Failure to do so is plagiarism and will necessitate disciplinary action.
The same standards regarding plagiarism apply to team projects as to the work of individuals,
except that the author is now the entire team rather than an individual.
Anything taken from a source outside the team should be properly cited.
As a guideline for collaboration, it is ok for students to get together in small groups to
go over material from the lectures and text, solve problems from the text, study for exams,
and discuss the general ideas and approaches to projects. However, work to be turned in, including projects
and homework exercises, must be done independently. This means that the work you or your team turns in must represent
only your own work. It must not be based on help from others or information obtained from sources other than those
approved by the instructors (e.g., the text, the course webpage, and materials provided in the lectures).
Effective learning is compromised when this is not the case.
Accordingly, you should never read or copy (any part of) another student's code or solutions, exchange computer files (or pieces of papers with solutions written on them), or share your code/solutions with anyone else in the class until after both parties have submitted the assignment. Under no circumstances may you or your team hand in (any part of) work done by someone else under your own name.
One additional issue that arises from the team authorship of project reports is that all team
members must stand behind all reports bearing their names. All team members have quality assurance
responsibility for the projects. If there is irreconcilable disagreement within the team it is necessary to indicate as such in the report.
At its November 2006 Faculty Meeting, the faculty approved changes to
Faculty Handbook Section 2.2.6: "Through information provided in syllabi
and/or other means, faculty members will explain to students how the Honor
Code will operate in their respective courses." The following statement is
suggested as a pledge for students to sign on all graded assignments and
projects. A similar statement may be signed by students at the beginning of
a course, indicating that their work for that course will comply with the
academic honesty policy and the Honor Code.
"On my honor, I pledge that I have not given, received, or tolerated others'
use of unauthorized aid in completing this work."
Full descriptions of the Academic Honesty Policy and the Honor Code can be
found in the Academic Catalog (online at
https://gustavus.edu/general_catalog/current/acainfo). For more information
about the Honor Code, contact Dean Micah Maatman (mmaatman@gustavus.edu