A6, final exam, and course grades available within the next two hours

Posted Mon May 23, 7:15pm

  1. Here are the A6 and final-exam centers; the format is [A_center, B_center, C_center, definitely_below_C_minus]:
    "A6": [63, 54, 48, 33] out of 67 points.
    "F": [102, 81, 51, 33] out of 109 points.
    This info has been included in the updated script weighted_scores_vs_centers.py. The output of the script will now look like this:
    Reporting for the following weighting scheme: 2022SP official weighting scheme
    Format:
    center of As, center of Bs, center of Cs, line for definitely below C-
    [94.906, 79.323, 60.009, 40.173]
    
  2. The solutions and solutions/testing code are posted to the Exams page.
  3. A6 grades and feedback are on CMS, and regrade requests may be made on CMS until Wed 11:59pm. Graded final exams are on Gradescope, and regrade requests may be made on Gradescope until Wed 11:59pm. Because many course-staff members are off for the summer, we will prioritize handling requests that could affect semester grades.
  4. Your semester grade (letter or S/U as applicable) is also on CMS. To see it, go to the CMS landing page for CS1110. Near the top, you'll see text "Show Final Grade". Click on the red word "Show". We do not release grade cutoffs.
  5. We'd like to take this opportunity to crow about the CS1110 course staff. This semester, we had an UNBELIEVABLY great team! And the following staff members won teaching awards from the Computer Science Department!
    Graduate students:  Luke Bernick, Gary Ho, Kevin Huang, Jude Javillo, Shawn Ong, Alanna Zhou.
    Undergraduate students:  Cornelius Boateng, Julie Helenek, Jasmine Herrera, Natalie Isak, Riya Jaggi, Kerry Johnson, Bahaa Kotb, Linda Nduhiu, Al Palanuwech, Tiffany Sarver, Derek Sanchez, Lenhard Thomas, Zidus Zegeye.
    Remember back to the first day of class when we said you were in good hands? We weren't kidding!
  6. Control of the cs1110-prof@cornell.edu account and the URL https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/ will switch over to the summer instructor/version; but the Spring 2022 materials (except for the labs) will be retained at https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/2022sp. The lab server will be reset by the Summer instructor soon, which will erase the Spring 2022 materials.
  7. It was a pleasure to share a small part of your academic journey with you. Even if you never program again, we hope you found this new way of thinking that we've introduced you to illuminating; and we also hope you'll feel empowered to do more programming to solve some problems or even just reduce some tedium you encounter in your real life. Drop us a line at BRACY@cs.cornell.edu and/or LLEE@cs.cornell.edu to let us know how it goes!

Final Exam tonight

Posted Sun May 15, 12:45pm

Hello everyone!

The final exam for CS 1110 is tonight, Sunday, May 15 at 7:00 PM in Barton Hall. 

Barton Hall can get very hot. Please dress accordingly.

Remember to bring:

Good luck, everyone, and see you tonight.

~Professor Bracy and the CS 1110 Course Staff

p.s. Please direct all Final Exam related correspondence to cs1110-prof@cornell.edu and Amy Elser ahf42@cornell.edu.

Last review sessions material posted

Posted Sat May 14, 3pm

Materials from the staff-led classes review session and final review session are now available on the course Review Session Materials page, Exams page, and Schedule page, as well as Ed Discussions.

(Two) A6 solutions posted

Posted Fri May May 13, 4:45pm

A zip file of two different solutions to A6 have been posted to the course Schedule and Assignment Archives pages. Other solutions are possible.

A6 grade release will definitely not happen before Wed May 18, and almost surely not before Sat May 21.

Final Review/Q and A (May 13 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM) in Upson 206!

Posted Fri May 13, 10am

Hello students!

This announcement is just to let you all know that we have confirmed our room for the Final Review session today! We will be in Upson 206! Our hope is to Zoom and record the session like we did with the Classes Review yesterday. We will make announcements on ED (in this thread: https://edstem.org/us/courses/19140/discussion/1499343) as the situation develops.

The Review Session today will cover a review of Recursion, For Loops, While Loops, Testing, Debugging, and Searching/Sorting with practice questions for each topic. We will not be covering Classes/Subclasses/Inheritance or Call Frames because those were covered extensively yesterday (see the recording here: https://edstem.org/us/courses/19140/discussion/1497914). After we finish our review and practice questions, we will open the floor to questions. Skeleton code of the functions we will be working through will be posted before the session.

We hope to see you there!

--Ian, Lenhard, Riya, Cornelius, Derek, and Tiffany

Zoom link:

https://cornell.zoom.us/j/8902763576?pwd=SGZ4VzhCenVVUW9QWHEzNkhHZ2p5QT09

Also, here is the code for the session: [review_for_students.zip

Final Review/Q and A (May 13 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM in a Location TBA)

Posted Tue May 10, :30am


This Friday (May 13th) an amazing group of Consultants will be hosting a Final Exam Q and A session! The session will take place from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM in a location to be announced soon (we requested Upson 206, but we have not heard if we have gotten this definitively yet; we’ll let you know soon!). We are currently looking into a Zoom option and will let you know about this soon! Come to the review session to get your questions answered before the Final! We will have a few past prelim questions prepared (one for each major topic) that we can work through. Then, we will open the floor to general questions where you can ask anything you want (that is Final related, of course). Have questions but don’t want to ask them in person? No problem! See ED post “Final Review/Q and A 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM on May 13 in TBA” (found here: https://edstem.org/us/courses/19140/discussion/1499343)and ask your questions anonymously. Also see this post to vote on how you would like the session to be run! Here, you can also mention past prelim questions that you would like us to go over in the Final Review. Give a “Heart” to the questions you want to see answered, and we will discuss them at the review! Whether you come with questions prepared or just to listen, you can use the review as a way to help prepare for the final! We hope to see you all there!


– Ian, Riya, Lenhard, and Tiffany

Final-Exam Study Guide posted

Posted Tue May 10, 3:30am

The final-exam study guide (which is also our final exam-study-guide) has been posted to the course Exams page and Schedule page.

Classes/Subclasses Review Session (Thu 5/12 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Gates 114)

Posted Mon May 9, 9:45pm

Hello students of CS 1110,

You asked; we’re going to answer! This Thursday (May 12th) an awesome group of Consultants will be hosting a Classes/Subclass/Inheritance Review Session. The session will take place from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Gates 114. We are currently looking into a Zoom option, and we will let you know about this soon! During the session, we will review topics such as drawing classes, making classes, making methods for classes and subclasses, super(), and more! Come to get all of your questions answered or just to listen! If you have any questions that you would like to have answered, you can post them to the ED Post titled “Classes/Subclasses Review Session (5/12 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM in Gates 114)” (found here https://edstem.org/us/courses/19140/discussion/1497914)! Make sure to give a “heart” to the questions you want to see answered! We will also send out the skeleton code for the session before Thursday. We hope to see you there!

–Riya, Ian, Cornelius, and Tiffany

Lab sections cancelled; A5 CMS grades finalized; Prelim 2 grades transferred to CMS

Posted Sun May 8, 1:45pm

  1. No labs this week (no staff will even be in the rooms).
  2. We've finished the additional A5 grading pass mentioned in item 2 of the May 6 announcement. Reminder: please re-read Item 2 of that announcement before requesting a regrade.
  3. Prelim 2 grades have been transferred to CMS, so that CMS is the authoritative record of all your assignment/exam scores so far.

A5 centers, tentative grades; approximate-grade-so-far script

Posted May 6, 5:30pm

  1. A5 grade centers: Out of 100 points,
    the rough center of the A grades is 95 out of 100;
    the rough center of the Bs is 86 out of 100;
    the rough center of the Cs is 75 out of 100;
    a 60 or below out of 100 should be considered definitely below a C-.
  2. We're releasing not-quite-final grades on CMS within the hour.
    • Why not-quite-final? Some grades may drop by 1 point afterwards for failing to include a docstring for __add__(); the staff is making an additional pass to ensure the deduction is applied.
      Incidentally, a proper docstring for a function/method describes what the function does in terms of its parameters, and also specifies any preconditions on its arguments.
    • We added a test case for the Mix songs() method: Triply-nested Mix with duplicate songs with keep_dups==True. Deductions of -2 for failing this test case are documented by an extra comment in CMS, outside of the feedback files. So if there's a discrepancy of two points between what your grading feedback file says and your CMS score, check for that extra comment.
    Here is the grading guide. Solutions were posted previously. Any regrade requests are due on CMS by Tue May 10th, 11:59pm.
  3. Given the A5 centers, we've updated the script weighted_scores_vs_centers.py for estimating your rough current letter grade so far in the course. Instructions were given in a Mar 30 announcement. The output will now look like this:

            Reporting for the following weighting scheme: 2022SP official weighting scheme
            Format: 
            center of As, center of Bs, center of Cs, line for definitely below C-
            [59.311, 50.582, 40.241, 27.15]
            My weighted score: some-number-here.

    For example, if some-number-here is between 59.311 and 50.582, then your approximate letter grade in the course is between an A and a B. We will not compute more fine-grained grade-border information at this time, especially since given the weighting scheme announced on the Course Policies page, the maximum possible weighted score so far is 62, and there is A6 and the final, altogether making up the remaining 30+8 of the course grade, still to go.

OPTIONAL: A6 partner service (CLOSES TOMORROW)

Posted May 3, 11:30am

(Same as A5 partner service).

Hello CS1110 Students.

A6 partner service is released (called SPECIAL: A6 Partner Service (OPTIONAL)). Only fill it out if you do not have a partner for A6 and want one. Note that it will be open for only 36 hours this time. It will be open until Wednesday, May 4th, 11:59pm. (Right before May 5th). You will be assigned a partner on Thursday morning.

Also, if you fill out the form, then happen to find a partner via other means, please email me (ap689@cornell.edu) saying that you participated in the service but no longer want a partner. This is so I don't match someone with a student that already has a partner. 

Thanks

-Al Palanuwech

Planning for the CS 1110 Final Exam

Posted Mon May 2, 8pm

Hello everyone,

In preparation for your Final Exam, which is Sunday, May 15 @ 7:00 PM, please do the following:

The last day of class is Tuesday, May 10. This will be a final exam review session in which we will go over key concepts introduced throughout the semester. Slides for this lecture will be posted on Monday, May 9.

See you tomorrow!

Professor Bracy

Prelim 2 (Post-exam) Review Session

Posted Mon May 2, 1:15pm by Head Consultant Natalie Isak

Hi everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekends. We will be hosting a Prelim 2 review session tomorrow (May 3rd) from 6-8PM in Thurston 205. This will be a great opportunity to answer questions you may have about the exam, and to prepare for the final! 

 

Hope to see you all there! 

This week's lab sessions = drop-in office hours; optional while-loop practice

Posted Sun May 1, 10:15pm

No more new lab exercises! This week's sections are drop-in office hours open to all. Come for:

A6 released, wherein we throw Ads into the Mix

Posted Sat Apr 30, 1am

The last CS1110 assignment, A6, has now been posted to the course Schedule page, due Mon May 9, 11:59pm Ithaca time. It refers back to A1! What a journey it has been!

Prelim 2 review one-on-ones (OPTIONAL)

Posted Wed Apr 27, 7:15pm

Hi everyone,

We are going to open up one-on-ones for prelim 2 review, for you to go over your prelim 2 with a consultant. The assignment on CMS is called 'SPECIAL: Prelim 2 review One-on-Ones (optional)'. Right now there are not many time slots because we just created the assignment, but by tomorrow we hope to have more. If you don't see a time that fits you, please keep checking back as the consultants add more time slots. We plan to have slots open until May 10, the last day of classes.

As a reminder, regrade requests can only be handled on gradescope, as per the previous announcement. 

Thanks

-Al Palanuwech

Prelim 2 grades/centers/solutions release; updated your-approximate-grade-so-far script available

Posted Wed Apr 27, 7am

Prelim 2 grades will be released on Gradescope within the hour. (There's a slight delay as we check various Gradescope settings.) On the course Exams page, we have posted the prelim, solutions, and some testing code.

For Prelim 2, out of 80 points,
the rough center of the A grades is 76 out of 80;
the rough center of the Bs is 60 out of 80;
the rough center of the Cs is 45 out of 80;
a 26 or below out of 80 should be considered definitely below a C- (recall that for S/U grading, U = below a C-)

Given the P2 centers, we've updated the script weighted_scores_vs_centers.py for estimating your rough current letter grade so far in the course. Instructions were given in a Mar 30 announcement. The output will now look like this:

        Reporting for the following weighting scheme: 2022SP official weighting scheme
        Format: 
        center of As, center of Bs, center of Cs, line for definitely below C-
        [52.661, 44.562, 34.991, 22.95]
        My weighted score: some-number-here.
For example, if some-number-here is between 52.661 and 44.562, then your approximate letter grade in the course is between an A and a B. We will not compute more fine-grained grade-border information at this time, especially since given the weighting scheme announced on the Course Policies page, the maximum possible weighted score so far is 55%, and there is A5, A6, and the final, altogether making up 45% of the course grade, still to go.

Prelim 2 regrade requests are due on Gradescope by 11:59pm Ithaca time Wed May 4. We plan to handle all the regrade requests in one pass, after the regrade-request window has closed.
Before submitting a regrade request, please consult the solutions and try out the available testing code.
After all regrade requests are processed, we will transfer all scores to CMS, so that all grade information is in one place.

Labs 17 and 18 posted; prelim 2 grade release pushed earlier so A6 release date may be later

Posted Mon Apr 25, 1:30am

  1. The next lab pair, on subclasses, is posted on the course Schedule page and lab server's home page.
  2. Just announced: Engineering students' last day to drop with a W is Fri Apr 29th; here are more details from Engineering, including how to pre-arrange extensions to the deadline. (Arts and Sciences/CALS: deadline is May 10th; other colleges: we don't currently know.)
    • While we hope everyone did well on the prelim, we do understand that some may be considering dropping. We are therefore trying to release prelim 2 grades/centers earlier than previously promised, aiming for Wednesday or before.
    • Similarly, we are trying to accelerate A5 grades/centers release, although we cannot guarantee this, given the staff's work on the prelim.
    • Consequently, A6's release date may be delayed to as late as Friday, though we are aiming for earlier.

A4 grades; your-approximate-grade-so-far script; A5 solutions; reminder of all the pre-prelim office hours

Posted Mon Apr 18, 3:15am

  1. A4 grades are now on CMS. Solutions were posted previously. Out of 100 points for A4,
    the rough center of the A grades is 96 out of 100;
    the rough center of the Bs is 82 out of 100;
    the rough center of the Cs is 62 out of 100;
    a 30 or below out of 100 should be considered definitely below a C-.
    Here is the grading guide. Any regrade requests are due on CMS by Tue Apr 26th, 11:59pm.

  2. Given the A4 centers, we've updated the script weighted_scores_vs_centers.py for estimating your rough current letter grade so far in the course. Instructions were given in a Mar 30 announcement. The output will now look like this:

            Reporting for the following weighting scheme: 2022SP official weighting scheme
            Format: 
            center of As, center of Bs, center of Cs, line for definitely below C-
            [38.411, 33.312, 26.554, 18.075]
            My weighted score: some-number-here.

    We will not compute more fine-grained grade-border information at this time, especially since given the weighting scheme announced on the Course Policies page, the maximum possible weighted score so far is 40%, and there is prelim 2, the final, and A5-A6, altogether making up 60% of the course grade, still to go.

  3. A5 solutions are posted to the course Schedule page and Assignments Archive page.

  4. Reminder: there are many office/consulting hours happening before the prelim, including ~11 hours on Monday (today) and an extra ~6 hours on Tuesday created by converting lecture and lab sessions to drop-in office hours open to all. See the calendar. (Or post to Ed Discussions, where questions and answers can benefit many students at once!)

A4 solutions posted; added "students should be able to..." list to the Prelim 2 study guide

Posted Thu Apr 14, 8am

  1. The A4 solutions have been posted to the course Schedule page and Assignments archive. (A4 grading is still in progress.)
  2. We've added a "students should be able to..." list to the Prelim 2 Study Guide.

Prelim 2 study guide posted; reminder of upcoming schedule

Posted Mon Apr 11, 1pm

The prelim 2 study guide has been posted to the course Exams page and the Schedule page.

Some scheduling notes/reminders:

OPTIONAL A5 Partner Service

Posted Fri Apr 1, 12:15pm

(Same as A4 partner service).

Hello CS1110 Students.

A5 partner service is released (called SPECIAL: A5 Partner Service (OPTIONAL)). Only fill it out if you do not have a partner for A5 and want one. It will be open until Monday April 11 noon. 

Also, if you fill out the form, then happen to find a partner via other means, please email me (ap689@cornell.edu) saying that you participated in the service but no longer want a partner. This is so I don't match someone with a student that already has a partner. 

Thanks, and enjoy the break

-Al Palanuwech

A5 released: "A4 ReMixed"; labs right after Spring Break converted to office hours.

Posted Fri Apr 1, 3:45am

A5 has now been posted to the course Schedule page, due Sun Apr 17, 11:59pm Ithaca time. Note that solutions must be released the next day, given the date of Prelim 2.

The lab discussion sections of Tu Apr 12-Wed Apr 13 (right after Spring Break) will be open drop-in office hours. There will be no new lab exercises due before Prelim 2 happens. (Remember that Lab 16 was extended to Wed Apr 13.)

Have a great Spring Break!

A3 grades/centers/solutions; A1 centers; script for computing rough standings

Posted Wed Mar 30, 3am

A3 grades are now available on CMS, and the solutions have been posted to the course Schedule page and Assignments Archive page. Take a look at our graphs of our various functions of text simplicity applied to State of the Union data! (Spoiler alert: they don't agree.)

Out of 100 points for A3,
the rough center of the A grades is 95 out of 100;
the rough center of the Bs is 86 out of 100;
the rough center of the Cs is 75 out of 100;
a 50 or below out of 100 should be considered definitely below a C-.

Any regrade requests are due on CMS by Wed Apr 13th, 11:59pm.

A1 centers: out of 10 points for A1,
the rough center of the A grades is 10 out of 10;
the rough center of the Bs is 8 out of 100;
the rough center of the Cs is 6 out of 10;
a 3 or below out of 10 should be considered definitely below a C-.

Estimating your rough current letter grade. We have transferred scores from Gradescope to CMS, so CMS is the authoritative record of all your assignment and exam scores so far. Recall that the course Policies page describes the weights on assignments and exams.

We've incorporated these weights plus the announced grade centers for all graded coursework so far into a Python program, weighted_scores_vs_centers.py . You can use it to get a rough idea of your current standing in the course, not counting lab credit.
Download that script, and fill in lines 11-14 with your official scores on the corresponding coursework. That is, replace the values that are currently 1110 with your numerical scores, such as 10 on A1, 70 on A2, and so on.  Run Python on the script; you'll get output like this:

        Reporting for the following weighting scheme: 2022SP official weighting scheme
        Format: 
        center of As, center of Bs, center of Cs, line for definitely below C-
        [30.731, 26.752, 21.594, 15.675]
        My weighted score: some-number-here.

 

"Some-number-here" is your weighted score.  Compare it to someone who hit all the A centers on the nose (the 30.731), all the B centers on the nose (26.752), all the C centers on the nose (21.594), and someone who hit all the "definitely below C-" lines. 

We will not compute more fine-grained grade-border information at this time: given the weighting scheme announced on the Course Policies page, the maximum possible weighted score so far is 32%, and there is prelim 2, the final, and A4-A6 = 68% of the course grade still to go.

Academic Integrity violations need to stop

Posted Mon Mar 28, 10am

Software analysis of submitted A3s reveals some cases of highly similar code submitted by different people/groups (the analyzer is not fooled by changing variable names, spacing, etc.). Based on my subsequent manual analysis, on Friday I initiated the scheduling of primary hearings for suspected academic integrity violations.

Recursion Review (posted by Head Consultant Natalie Isak)

Posted Mon Mar 28, 9:00am

Hi everyone! There will be a recursion review session from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM on Tuesday March 29 (tomorrow). It will be held on Zoom at https://cornell.zoom.us/j/91346692062?pwd=TUROdTc3YUNBb1RWTmV1WFFGcHdzQT09. The review materials have been attached to this announcement. If you cannot make it, the session will be recorded and posted on Canvas. 

See you all there!

recursion_practice.zip

Labs 15 and 16 released

Posted Sun Mar 27, 8pm

Posted on the course Schedule page and the CS1110 lab server's home page. Due to Spring Break, the due date for Lab 16 has been extended to Wednesday April 13, 11:59pm Ithaca time.

OPTIONAL A4 Partner Service

Posted Fri Mar 25, 5pm

(Same as A3 partner service).

Hello CS1110 Students.

I forgot about the A4 partner service, so I will release it now, but be wary that it will close tomorrow at 6pm, so you only have about 24 hours to fill it out. This is so I can release partners on Saturday night.

A4 partner service is released (called SPECIAL: A4 Partner Service (OPTIONAL)). Only fill it out if you do not have a partner for A4 and want one. It will be open until Saturday 6pm (March 26). 

Also, if you fill out the form, then happen to find a partner via other means, please email me (ap689@cornell.edu) saying that you participated in the service but no longer want a partner. This is so I don't match someone with a student that already has a partner. 

Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience. 

-Al Palanuwech

Additional 1:1s (emailed by Head Consultant Natalie Isak)

Posted Wed Mar 23, 12pm

Hi Everyone!

Additional 1:1s are being held this Thursday - Sunday. We want to give everyone an opportunity to catch up on lecture material and labs (for A4 help, please go to consulting hours). Please use this as an opportunity to iron out any details you may have been struggling with [by scheduling a session on CMS]!

A4 released: Nick and Norah's Recursive Playlist

Posted Tue Mar 22, 11:55pm

A4 has now been posted to the course Schedule page, due Fri Apr 1, 11:59pm Ithaca time.

Reviewing For Loops: Watching the Course Staff Teach For Loops and Lists

Posted Sun Mar 20, 9:45pm Updated Mon Mar 21, 2pm

Hello CS 1110 students! Are you having trouble with for loops? Then, we have the opportunity for you! Consultants Julie, Cornelius, Jasmine, and I are running a “Catch-Up Session for For Loops” on Monday, March 21st at 6:006:30 PM in a location that will be announced soon Gates 114 and on Zoom (still on at 6pm, see meeting details below). We will lecture a little bit on what for loops are and how to write them. Then, we will work through 4 examples (in small groups and as a large group)! Come if you are stuck, have questions, or just want to hear for loops from another point of view!

During the session, we will be going through 4 functions. Attached to this announcement (at the bottom), there is a Zip file that contains the functions along with a testing file. You don't need to look at these functions beforehand, but we thought the files would be nice to have!

Can’t come in person? No worries! Julie and I will be in-person, but Cornelius and Jasmine will be running a Zoom session at roughly the same time! They will be presenting the same material, so you should have a similar experience at each.

Also, have questions beforehand? No worries again! See the MegaThread on ED Discussions entitled “For Loop Questions – To be Answered in the For Loop Catch-Up Session on Monday, March 21st at 6:00 PM.” Here, you can ask questions anonymously and we will answer them during the session. Make sure to “heart” questions that you like and we will prioritize those!

Hope to see you there!

–Tiffany Sarver

 

Time: 6:00 PM for zoom; in person starts later at 6:30PM

In-Person Location: Will be announced soon! Gates 114, 6:30PM

Zoom location: https://cornell.zoom.us/j/4601701928?pwd=dFlVbEFxZndmOE15amhSdXg1bjJpdz09

Meeting ID: 460 170 1928

Passcode: cRJAi8

Files: loops_practice-1.zip

Lucky labs 13 and 14 released

Posted Sun Mar 20, 11:59pm

Posted on the course Schedule page and the CS1110 lab server's home page.

A2 Grades Posted on CMS

Posted Sun Mar 20, 9:30pm

Hi all,

A2 grades are now uploaded to CMS. These should match with the grades that are listed on Gradescope. We will be using CMS for all final records of grades.

Regards,

Jude Javillo, Head TA

A3 real state-of-the-union (SOTU) data and code released

Posted Fri Mar 18, 11:30pm

We've posted preprocessed real U.S. state-of-the-union addresses going back to 1791, plus code that calls your A3 functions to analyze whether it's true that recent addresses have more simple language. See the writeup for more, including an intriguing teaser data visualization. (Try to guess ahead of time which recent U.S. president tended to have the shortest SOTUs.)

There's nothing to submit and this is a completely optional activity. We just thought you might enjoy seeing your CS1110 programs do real work on real potentially-politically-significant data to check claims being made in the national news!

Reviewing Prelim 1: Watching the Course Staff Work Through the Prelim Slowly and Friendly-like

Posted Fri Mar 18, 6:15pm

Hello, CS-1110 Students! You asked and we answered! On Professor Lee's ED Post you indicated that it would be beneficial to see a course staff member work through Prelim 1 slowly and friendly-like, explaining our thought processes as we go. Course staffers Bahaa, Derek, and I will go over Prelim 1 this way in Gates 114 on Sunday, March 20th at 6:00 PM (EDT). Come join us to get another perspective to taking CS 1110 Prelims!

Have questions beforehand? No worries! There is a MegaThread on ED Discussions entitled "Questions About Prelim 1 (to be answered in the review session on Sunday, March 20th at 6:00 PM)." Here, you can ask your questions anonymously, and we'll address them during the review! Just note, we are looking for more conceptual questions here (not, "Why did I lose points on this question?"). Make sure to "heart" questions that you think are good (we'll prioritize those).

Hope to see you there!

--Tiffany Sarver

A4 release changed, hence A3 1-day grace period applied

Posted Fri Mar 18, 10:30am

A4 will be released the night of Tu Mar 22, one day later than previously announced, so that students will have seen both recursion lectures before beginning it. Rest assured that A4 will be designed to be doable by the original due date, Fri Apr 1, which remains unchanged. (Spring break starts the day after!)

Since the due date of A3 had been chosen so as to not overlap with A4's release, we have added a grace period of 24 hours for A3 submission on CMS. That is, submissions made on Monday will be treated as if submitted on Sunday.

These updates have been made on the course Schedule page.

Prelim 1 grade release

Posted Wed Mar 16, 1:30am

Prelim 1 grades will be released on Gradescope within the hour. (There's a slight delay as we check various Gradescope settings.) On the course Exams page, we have posted the prelim, solutions, and testing code for the first two problems; see the "Exam Archive" section.

What the Prelim 1 scores mean: Because you are not in competition with each other, we do not release means or score histograms. (Reporting the median just tends to make half the class feel bad, often for no good reason!) Rather, here is how you can determine our letter-grade assessment of your Prelim 1 score.

For Prelim 1, out of 79 points,
the rough center of the A grades is 75 out of 79;
the rough center of the Bs is 66 out of 79;
the rough center of the Cs is 51 out of 79;
a 36 or below out of 79 should be considered definitely below a C- (recall that for S/U grading, U = below a C-)

Beyond this "centers" information, we don't determine grade boundaries for individual assignments, since that precision isn't attainable/worthwhile at the level of an exam/homework. So, for example, scores of 64 or 68 are definitely some flavor of B (B+/B/B-); but we are not determining whether a score like 70 is a B-like grade or an A-like grade, or if a grade like 38 is above or below C-.

Regrade requests: When you review your prelim, if you believe a grading error was made, you may request a regrade on Gradescope until 11:59pm Ithaca time Wed Mar 23. We plan to handle all the regrade requests in one pass, after the regrade-request window has closed.
Before submitting a regrade request, please consult the solutions and, if your regrade request involves the first two problems, try your solution out on the aforementioned testing code.

As stated on the course Policies page, section "Regrade requests",

Communication regarding regrade requests will be done only in writing...: given the number of staff members involved in handling regrade requests, we need records of all discussions. 
We want to give grades that accurately represent our assessment of your understanding of CS 1110 material. Hence, if you are given a lower score than you should have been, you should absolutely bring it to our attention via the mechanisms just described. However, we must explicitly mention an additional consequence of the importance of grade accuracy: if we notice that you have been assigned more points than you should have been, we are duty-bound to correct such scores downward to the correct value.

Grade record-keeping: After all regrade requests are processed, we will transfer all scores to CMS, so that all grade information is in one place.

Masks at office/consulting hours; A2 regrade requests due today

Posted Mon Mar 14, 9:15am

  1. Especially given the size of this class, we consider office/consulting hours to be "instructional settings", so masks are required at them.
  2. Reminder that any A2 regrade requests are due by 11:59pm tonight on Gradescope.

Labs 11 and 12 released

Posted Mon Mar 14, 8am

Labs 11 and 12 are posted to the course Schedule page.

OPTIONAL: A3 partner service

Posted Wed Mar 10, 10pm

(Same as A2 partner service).

Hello CS1110 Students.

With A3 now open, A3 partner service is also released (called SPECIAL: A3 Partner Service (OPTIONAL)). Only fill it out if you do not have a partner for A3 and want one. It will be open until Saturday 11:59pm (March 12). 

Regarding partners for A3, it does not have to be the same partner for A1/A2, so if you want to change partners feel free to. But this service is only for those who want a partner for A3.

Also, if you fill out the form, then happen to find a partner via other means, please email me (ap689@cornell.edu) saying that you participated in the service but no longer want a partner. This is so I don't match someone with a student that already has a partner. 

Thanks!

-Al Palanuwech

A3 released

Posted Wed Mar 10, 8:45pm

A3 has now been posted to the course Schedule page, due Sun Mar 20, 11:59pm Ithaca time.

We had originally planned to have A3 be in two parts, with the first, early part being a mechanism to ensure students read/understand the assignment early on.

You'll see on the course Schedule page that we've (literally) scratched that, to reduce the number of deadlines students have to deal with.  But please repay us by reading the assignment handout as soon as you possibly can!  (If you're someone who likes to use office/consulting hours, think of this as an effective way to beat the rush!)

A2 grade release

Posted Mon Mar 7, 4:45pm

A2 grades will be released on Gradescope by 5:45pm, but we want you to read this announcement first!

What the A2 scores mean: Because you are not in competition with each other, we do not release means or class histograms. (Releasing the median just tends to make half the class feel bad, often for no good reason!)

Rather, here is how you can determine an approximate letter-grade assessment of your work on A2.

For A2, out of 75 points,
the rough center of the A grades is 73;
the rough center of the Bs is 66;
the rough center of the Cs is 55;
a 43 or below should be considered definitely below a C- (recall that for S/U grading, U = below a C-).

Beyond this "centers" information, we don't determine grade boundaries for individual assignments, since that precision isn't attainable/worthwhile at the level of an assignment. So, for example, grades of 64 or 68 are probably some flavor of B (that is, B+/B/B-); but we are not determining whether a grade like 69 is a B-like grade or an A-like grade, nor whether a score of, say, 46 would be above the C- line or not.

Regrade requests: When you review your A2, if you believe a grading error was made, you may request a regrade on Gradescope until 11:59pm Ithaca time Monday Mar 14. We plan to handle all the regrade requests in one pass after the regrade-request window has closed.

Please consult the solutions before submitting a regrade request.

As stated on the course Policies page, section "Regrade requests",

Communication regarding regrade requests will be done only in writing...: given the number of staff members involved in handling regrade requests, we need records of all discussions. 
We want to give grades that accurately represent our assessment of your understanding of CS 1110 material. Hence, if you are given a lower score than you should have been, you should absolutely bring it to our attention via the mechanisms just described. However, we must explicitly mention an additional consequence of the importance of grade accuracy: if we notice that you have been assigned more points than you should have been, we are duty-bound to correct such scores downward to the correct value.

Grade record-keeping: After all regrade requests are processed, we will transfer all scores back to CMS, so that all grade information is in one place.

A2 solutions posted

Posted Sun Mar 6, 7:30pm

Solutions to A2 have been posted to the course Schedule webpage, next to the link for A2 itself. (Grades should be released by tomorrow night.)

Prelim 1 study guide posted

Posted Wed Mar 2, 12:15pm

The Prelim 1 study guide has been posted to the course Exams page and the course Schedule webpage.

A1 revision instructions; video of memory-diagrams worked exercise

Posted Thu Feb 24, 1:30pm

OPTIONAL: A2 partner service

Posted Tue Feb 22, 3pm

Hello CS1110 Students.

With A2 now open, A2 partner service is also released (called SPECIAL: A2 Partner Service (OPTIONAL)). It is the same as the A1 partner service, but now for A2. Again, only fill it out if you do not have a partner for A2 and want one. It will be open until Thursday Noon (Feb 24). 

Regarding partners for A2, it does not have to be the same partner for A1, so if you want to change partners feel free to. But this service is only for those who want a partner for A2.

Also, if you fill out the form, then happen to find a partner via other means, please email me (ap689@cornell.edu) saying that you participated in the service but no longer want a partner. This is so I don't match someone with a student that already has a partner. 

Thanks!

 

- Al Palanuwech 

A2 released

Posted Tue Feb 22, 2:30pm

A2 has now been posted to the course Schedule page and Gradescope will be opened for A2 submissions within the hour.

Lab 9 (requires attendance) & Lab 10 released

Posted Sun Feb 20, 11:58pm

Labs 9 and 10 are posted to the course Schedule page.

A1: altered, simplified submission procedure for a1_second.py

Posted Fri Feb 18, 12:15pm

Change in A1 submission plans to simplify some things:

1. CMS assignment "A1 part A" has now been renamed "A1" and you can submit a1_second.py there (rather than in a new assignment), and/or resubmit a1_first.py and the policy acknowledgment under the same assignment. 

That is, we have decided to allow (re-)submission of all files by everyone.

2. We've created a new "assignment" "A1A on time?", where the "grade" of either 1 of 0 there corresponds to whether or not the Thursday 2/17 deadline was made (extensions were graded as "1"s).  
"A1A on time?" does not count towards your course grade; it's for us course staff to track student progress through A1.

Prelim 1 Alternate Time Request Form is live

Posted Tue Feb 15, 8:30pm

Prelim 1 is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8 @ 7:30 PM and the Prelim 1 Alternate Time Request form is open for business! 

Please fill out this form if you:

We need your responses by next Tuesday, February 22 so that we may handle your accommodations and conflicts in a timely manner.

Thank you for your cooperation!

~Professors Bracy & Lee

A1: about the '\r' near "event" strings

Posted Tue Feb 15, 5:45pm

Labs 7 & 8 posted

Posted Mon Feb 14, 3am

Labs 7 and 8 are posted to the course Schedule page. Collectively, Labs 5-8 are a good simulation of what needs to be done with A1. (Hey, that rhymes! (Yes, it is very, very late. (Early.)))

A1 query_olympics.py fix for Windows users

Posted Sun Feb 13, 10:15pm

Windows users: If you've previously downloaded the A1 code, see this Ed Discussion post for a fix to query_olympics.py.

(Although the zip file on the website has been updated, if you already started working on A1, do not re-download it — the risk of overwriting the work you’ve already done is too big.)

In-person consulting hours ARE available, as well as zoom

Posted Sun Feb 13, 3:45pm

(We fixed a setting in QueueMeIn that was giving the wrong impression.)

OPTIONAL: A1 Partner Service

Posted Fri Feb 10, 12pm

Hello CS1110 Students!
I hope the first few weeks of the semester have been going well for you all! As you all know, A1 has now been released. For those of you who would like to be matched with a random partner, there is now an (optional) quiz up on CMS that will ask you some basic work preferences. Please fill it out by Saturday evening (Feb 12) if you are interested, so we can match everyone up as soon as possible! The quiz is called "SPECIAL: A1 Partner Service (2nd try)". Only fill it out if you do not have a partner and want one.

(For the 6 students who filled out a previous version (without 2nd try in the name), please fill it out again. Sorry for the inconveniences)

- Al Palanuwech 

A1, "Pedal to the Medal", released

Posted Thu Feb 10, ypm

Assignment A1, "Pedal to the Medal", is now posted to the course Schedule page (item 1 on the course main homepage): Look in the "Release" column of the schedule. All details are on the assignment handout (pdf) available there ... except that we will release details for an A1 Partner service soon.

Go for the gold!

One-on-ones now open

Posted Wed Feb 8, 3pm

Optional: sign up for 1-on-1 help session.

Scheduling is now open for optional 1-on-1 meetings with a staff member to help *just you* with course material. These meetings will go on from tomorrow (Feb 9) to Feb 23. Students have generally enjoyed taking advantage of this opportunity for an individual session!

Sign up for a meeting slot on CMS's "SPECIAL: one-on-ones" activity, detailed instructions here:
https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/2022sp/resources/cms.html#scheduling. If you don't have your own CS1110 agenda items, the staff member you meet with will be happy to go through any parts of the lectures, or navigating around all this command-shell and python-file stuff,  labs 1-8 (as available) — anything that you feel you'd like more reinforcement on!
If you don't see a time you can make, check back later; we anticipate adding additional appointment slots.

Do note that these meetings should not be used to discuss your A1 code; we want to reserve the time for students who want to review lecture, lab, or reading material in preparation for assignment 1.

The people staffing 1:1s need some lead time to know whether someone is going to attend their offered one-on-one times. Please sign up at least 6 hours before, or ideally the night before the appointed time, but the earlier the better. If you sign up too close to the appointed time, the staff might not be able to make it! And check the location, which may be on campus or zoom. 

Looking forward to having an individual meeting with you!

 The whole CS1110 crew

details about in-person instruction (woo-hoo!)

Posted Mon Feb 7, 1:30pm

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow is our first day of in-person instruction. We can't wait to see everyone!

If you have an iClicker, please bring it!

We'll be using them for in-class polls.

Note: you do not need to register the iClicker because we won't be recording your participation. It's just for fun.

31FDBuumH1L._SX223_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

Please do not use your phone during lecture. They are known distractors in the classroom.

Please limit your laptop use to CS 1110 related material only. 

Feel free to code along! However, if you plan to use your laptop, please do not sit in the No Laptop Zone which is marked in this figure of Bailey Hall. We want to maintain this space as a distraction-free zone for students.  

NoLaptopZone.jpg

What about illness?  We know there can be a conflict between your desire to attend class and your desire to stay home when feeling physically unwell. For this reason, we have decided to livestream the lectures in Bailey Hall over zoom. We will use the same zoom link from the first two weeks of class. Please note, however, that this is intended as a back-up. Our focus will be on the in-person experience. Specifically, there will be no chat in the zoom meeting and we will not monitor messages / answer online questions. We will continue to record the lectures and post them to the website.

We love your questions! Professor Bracy welcomes your questions during lecture! But for those of you who prefer a written/more private medium, we'll be passing out small note cards. Professor Lee and a few helpful course staff members will walk through the aisles answering any written questions you might have. 

After class, we will hold office hours until approximately 11:00am in the lower level of Bailey. After you leave the auditorium, go down one flight of stairs. There is a wide hallway with some nice benches, a table, and also some folding chairs where we will congregate. We'll use a pinned MegaThread on Ed Discussions to form a queue.

Until tomorrow!

~Professors Bracy & Lee

 

Labs 5 and 6 released

Posted Mon Feb 7, 11am

Lab 5 and Lab 6, which are crucial practice for the upcoming A1, are posted on the Schedule webpage.

You can do Lab 5's first activity already (and are encouraged to do so ahead of section, your schedule permitting). If you have time: Doing the pre-lecture-5 prep sets you up to begin the other activities of those labs before section as well, which will make the session more efficient for you.

Schedule for all assignments posted; previous assignments/solutions available

Posted Sat Feb 5, 9:45pm

The release- and due-dates for all this semester's assignments are now posted on the class Schedule page: item #1 on the main course page or click here (consult the Release and the Deadline columns).

Want a preview of A1? In style, submission mechanics, and concepts covered, it will be similar to last spring's A1, but the application domain may differ. (Stock prices? Olympics results? Stay tuned!)

In the same vein: We maintain an assignment+solutions archive of past CS1110 assignments for which solutions were distributed. See item 4.E on the main course page or click here.

Today (Thu Feb 3) 's consulting hours stop at 8pm, hope to reschedule

Posted Thu Feb 3, 7:30pm

Consulting hours will stop at 8pm today (Thu Feb 3) due to the University closing*. We may be able to reschedule the "lost" 1.5 hours for tomorrow; watch the calendar.

*: Instructions we received: "When the university closes, all in-person and online instruction and advising is cancelled as required by Policy 8.2. " We understand office/consulting hours as falling under "advising".

CS1110 Office Hours

Posted Wed Feb 2, 8pm by Head Consultant Natalie Isak

Hi All!
If any of you are struggling with any of the assignments, lab, lectures, etc., the course staff and I would highly recommend attending office hours. The schedule for extra help can be found here (includes the time and location). This calendar contains the times for consulting hours (undergraduate consultants), office hours (grad-student TA's), and professor office hours. Hope this helps!

Labs 3 & 4 released; Lab 2 deadline extension, as promised

Posted Mon Jan 31, 1am

(Extra installation) help

Posted Sat Jan 29, 4pm by Head Consultant Natalie Isak

Hi Everyone!

Hope the first week of classes went well.

If you are struggling with Python installations, I would highly recommend attending consulting hours. Undergraduate consultants are available to answer any questions. All you have to do is post a Zoom link on queueme.in (eventually, we will offer hybrid consulting hours as well). For the schedule, see https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/2022sp/staff/

Lab 1 extension, as promised

Posted Fri Jan 28, 8pm

As promised, to account for students adding late, Lab 1's due date has been extended to 11:59pm Wed Feb 2.

Cornell assignment-partner finding events (one RSVP due today)

Posted Fri Jan 28, 10:30am

Because CS1110 assignments can be done in pairs or singly (can be different pairs for each assignment), do note two assignment-partner finding opportunities, one with an RSVP deadline of today (Fri Jan 28):

  1. Partner Finding Social for CS, IS, SDS classes, RSVP deadline today, event held on Feb 2. See this Ed Discussion posting for more info.
  2. Cornell-wide study partner matching (requested by many CS1110 students last fall). See this Ed Discussion posting for more info.
(As noted in lecture and the course Schedule page (item 1 on the course homepage), the first CS1110 assignment will be released around Feb 10, with two parts, the first around a week later (a week minimum). If you'd like to see what previous assignments (and solutions) have been like, see the Assignment archive, item 4.E on the course homepage.)

Swap to less-crowded section?

Posted Wed Jan 27, 6:30pm to selected sections

Hi! Hope you all are adjusting well to the beginning of classes. We course staff are looking forward to a great semester with you.

If you're receiving this announcement as a Canvas notification, you're currently enrolled in one of the most highly enrolled discussion sections (labs) in CS1110, one with 39-44 students. If you'd like to experience a better student-to-staff ratio, we have quite low-enrollment lab sections you encourage you to swap into: 

208 (Tu 3:45PM - 4:35PM, 10 people currently, Phillips 318)
214 (Wed  2:40PM - 3:30PM, 25 people currently, Phillips 318)
215 ditto, but in Hollister 401

Instructions for swapping sections under "Enrollment/Student Center" here: https://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs1110/2022sp/instructions/

--Prof. Lee, Prof. Bracy, and Head Consultant Natalie Isak

Lecture zoom capacity expanded, lecture 1 video posted

Posted Wed Jan 26, 12pm

We're very sorry that some students couldn't get into the Zoom lecture on Tuesday Jan 25th. The Zoom-capacity issues are now fixed, and a recording of the Tu Jan 25th lecture is posted (see the course Schedule page for links to all lectures' materials as they become available).

Read the Lab 1 and 2 directions ahead of section if you have time

Posted Mon Jan 24, 7pm

We've posted the Lab 1 and 2 exercises for this week's discussion sections; see the course Schedule page.

If your schedule permits, we'd suggest reading the instructions ahead of your section, to increase efficiency. But it's OK if you don't have time, and we certainly don't expect you to be able to answer the questions before tomorrow's lecture!

Reminder: if you haven't already, see the important initial overview announcement on the main course website.

Pre-semester info

Posted Thu Jan 20, 1:30am

  1. Discussion-section selection Sections start on Tue Jan 25/Wed Jan 26. Please make sure you've seen the times/locations of all 15 discussion sections (Student Center only shows 5 by default...) and picked the best for you [instructions for swapping sections in Student Center]:

    1. If you won't have a laptop with Python installed once in-person instruction starts, you need to be in a section that meets in Phillips 318: only Phillips 318 has lab computers available.
    2. If you will bring your Python-enabled laptop to discussion section, we ask that you please enroll in a Hollister 401 section if you can, to create space in the other room for students who need a computer.

  2. (Optional) Feel like accessing or installing the CS1110-approved version of Python before class starts? Instructions here, and there may be personal help available as early as Monday Jan 24th.

  3. Zoom links for lecture and discussion sections for the first two weeks See our Times and Places page.
  4. Who is this class for? CS 1110 is designed expressly for students without programming experience to learn introductory-level programming concepts and algorithm development and analysis. So, if you don't have programming experience, not only are you welcome, but you are our primary audience! You can take the course as the beginning of a path to a CS/IS major or minor, or as your only/last course in computing.

    The course is not the right fit for the following kinds of students:

    1. If you "just" want to learn the basics of Python or "just" have specific applications in mind, and are not looking for development in fundamental programming skills: one of these alternatives might be better; Python per se is not the focus of CS 1110.
    2. If you have taken or are taking CS 2110/ENGRD 2110, CS 2112, or a course offered or cross-listed with a CS number 3000 or above, you are not permitted to take CS 1110: here are some alternatives.
    3. Affiliated CS majors: ditto.

    We recommend that students with CS AP credit or close-to-equivalent experience start in CS 2110: you can always switch to CS 1110 during add/drop.

  5. Overlapping (aka time-conflicting) enrollment not permitted even if the "other" class allows it. If you have a time conflict with CS 1110, instead, take an alternative class or enroll in CS 1110 during another semester (it is always offered in both Fall and Spring and generally in summer session).
  6. Workload and grading.
    1. Workload and primary basis for grading: twice-weekly lab exercises (even though lab meetings are scheduled only once a week); 5-8 programming assignments, which can be done in pairs or alone; 2 evening prelims (Tu Mar 8 7:30pm; Th Apr 19 7:30pm); 1 final.
    2. S/U grading allowed in Spring 2022. S/U students do all the same work and take all the same exams that letter-grade students do.
    3. No set "distribution" of percent of class getting a certain grade or pre-determined grade cut-offs — students are not in competition with each other, and cut-offs are adjusted for the difficulty of the exams and assignments each semester. We would be thrilled if everyone earned an A, and we believe you are all capable of doing so!
  7. Recommended supplemental course : ENGRG 1010, Academic Excellence Collaborative Workshop for CS 1110 — not remedial, and not just for engineers! [more information]

For questions not answered above or on the main CS1110 course webpage and that can't wait until seeing the first lecture, please either post your question to our Ed Discussions site, or, for questions related to your personal enrollment situation, email our joint mailbox cs1110-prof@cornell.edu, which reaches both Prof. Bracy and Prof. Lee.