BASIC COURSE INFORMATION:

CS2024 meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in 101 Phillips Hall from 12:20PM to 1:10PM. The course is being taught by Ron DiNapoli who can be reached at rd29@cornell.edu, AIM is "IthacaRonD". Details on Ron's office hours are listed further down on this page. There is no administrative assistant for the course this semester. Our student consultant this year will be Christine Sandacz(cms376@cornell.edu).

BOOKS USED THIS SEMESTER:

This semester we will be using Deitel and Deitel's "C++: How To Program." (Eighth Edition). I must emphasize that CS2024 covers "vanilla" C++ and does not attempt to cover material on specific compilers. Why this book? I had the opportunity to review a specialized verison of this text (Visual C++ 2008: How To Program) text and was very impressed with how thoroughly the C++ language was covered and how well written the text is. You will be required to complete certain assignments from the book, so at a minimum you will need to have access to a copy of it (Eighth Edition).

A second book you might want to pick up is Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language." This is considered the "standard text" for C++ written by the author of the language himself. It is not, in my opinion, a great book to learn C++ from, but it is a fairly definitive reference. Once you've spent some time working with C++ you will appreciate the Stroustrup book more. When you are just starting out, it can be a bit overwhelming. If you plan to do much work with C++ after this course, you might appreciate having a copy of Stroustrup's book on your shelf.

ASSIGNMENTS, PRELIMS, and GRADING:

There will be 12 assignments, 2 prelims and a final project. Assignments are given every Thursday (with a few exceptions) and will be due at 11:59PM the following Wednesday night. The lowest two assignments are dropped, and the average of the remaining 10 are worth 40% of your final grade. The prelims and the final project are each individually worth 20% of your grade. Those who, at the end of the semester, have a final grade of 70 or higher earn an "S" in the course. If your final grade is below 70, you will be given a "U". Grades are calculated with this formula:

FINAL GRADE = (ASSIGNMENT AVE * 0.4) + (Prelim1 * 0.2) + (Prelim2 * 0.2) + (FinalProject * 0.2)

As you will see, it is possible to earn a grade above 70 without doing the final project. In fact, most students who do well on both prelims and have a decent assignment average will not have to do the final project at all. More details will be given in class.

OFFICE HOURS:

My office hours are tentative right now, but for now I have reserved the following time slot:

Wednesdays, 4:00PM - 5:00PM (Location TBD)(tentative and subject to change)