CS 113 Course Information

Contents

• Registration information
• Staff
• Communication
• Reading & Textbooks
• Grading
• Requesting regrades
• Academic Integrity
• Obtaining a C compiler
• Special Needs and Disabilities

Registration information

A complete listing of course topics can be found at Lecture Notes.

Refer to posted advice for information about other introductory programming courses if you need help in deciding whether or not to take CS 113.

Staff

Instructor

David Crandall crandall ["at"] cs.cornell.edu 340 Upson office hours: Wednesdays 11-12, Fridays 1:30-2:30 or by appointment

Communication

The course staff will use a variety of means to communicate with students outside of lectures. To ensure that you receive these communications, you have the following responsibilities:

• Attend all classes, where we will often make announcements.
• Monitor the website every day for new announcements.
• Monitor the newsgroup. If you have trouble, refer to the USENET Information document for help on accessing the newsgroup.
• Read your e-mail regularly.

To reach a staff member, the best time is office hours. Please post general questions to the newsgroup so that others can benefit from your question. Someone will respond within one working day. Note that posts in USENET are subject to the rules of academic integrity, so you should not post solutions. Generally, rough algorithms or non-solution-specific code fragments are ok if you need them to illustrate a point.

Reading and Textbooks

Reading assignments are posted along with the lecture notes and examples on the Lecture Notes page.  The sources listed here will be on reserve in the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall.

Required Text

• Practical C Programming by Steve Oualline. This book is available electronically (and for free!) through the Cornell University Library website. You may buy a hardcopy if you wish, but this is not necessary.

Optional Reading

• The C Programming Language, Second Edition by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. This is a classic text that is found in nearly every serious programmer's library.
• C: A Reference Manual, by Samuel Harbison and Guy Steele. An excellent reference book.
• More free books via Cornell's E-books.

Grading

There will be three homework assignments worth 75% of the final course score. There will also be one in-class quiz worth 25% of the final course score.

Assignments

There will be three homework assignments for the semester. Assignments will be posted on this website. Assignments must be submitted on-line through the Course Management System (CMS). Please see the assignment submission requirements for instructions on using CMS.

Late policy

Late assignments will not be accepted. If you anticipate needing extra time to complete an assignment, contact the instructor ahead of time. We will consider extensions on a case-by-case basis. Make sure to upload submissions to CMS well before the deadline. Waiting until the last minute is risky because CMS tends to lag near the deadline (as many people try to access it at once).

Grading

Assignments receive scores out of 100 points. They are graded based on correctness and completeness, as well as programming style. Write clean, clear code. Include comments and choose meaningful variable and function names. At the very least, your code must compile without warnings or exceptions. If it does not, we will not debug your code and you may receive a grade of zero.

If you feel we have made a mistake in grading, you may request a regrade. Refer to the Regrades section for details.

Quiz

There will be one in-class quiz near the end of the semester, worth 25% of the total course score.

Regrades

For all graded work, you always have an opportunity to request a regrade if you feel we have made a mistake in the grading or simply to request a clarification. To make a regrade request, you need to explain in words what you feel is wrong or what you do not understand. For each assignment, there is a deadline for regrade requests, normally a few days after the grading guide and solutions have been posted. You may submit a regrade request on any graded assignment or exam to correct mistakes or request clarifications. We reserve the right to regrade the entire submission.

Procedure

• Use CMS.
• Under CMS, view the Help screen for information on the regrade facility.
• In the regrade box, type your request clearly and succinctly. Refer to specific portions of your code and the grading guide.
• If you need to submit a file, or if CMS's text box does not suffice, write in the text box that you need to communicate with the assignment supervisor.
• Do not contact the assignment supervisor directly unless the issue is time sensitive.
• Completed regrades can be viewed under CMS.

Academic Integrity

We take academic integrity very seriously. The utmost level of academic integrity is expected of all students. Please read carefully the following information and documents.

AI is Your Responsibility!

• The rules contained herein are based on the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity and the Department of Computer Science Code of Academic Integrity. You must read and understand those documents in their entirety, as well as the adaptations specific to CS113 that are detailed below.
• You are responsible for understanding and abiding by these policies. It is no defense to say that you did not understand them, or that it was not done this way in another course. If you are ever in doubt, ask an instructor.

Assignments

• Each assignment will specify whether you may work with a partner or partners, and if so, how many. For assignments that allow partners, only one assignment with all names is submitted.
• You may discuss homework problems with other students at a high level. That is, you may discuss general approaches to a problem, high-level algorithm design, and the general structure of code. However, you may not share written code with any other students except your own partner, nor may you possess code written by another student who is not your partner, either in whole or in part, regardless of format.
• You may not remove your partner's name from an assignment unless you do not use each other's work.
• Unless otherwise posted, you must follow the rules for partners listed on the Course Info page.
• When you are allowed to use additional resources such as textbook examples or supplied code, you must credit those sources.
• When applicable, the programs and other work that you submit must generate the indicated output and/or results.
• Your name must not appear on more than one submission.

Penalties

• Penalties for violations are assessed on a case-by-case basis. The penalty will usually be a grade penalty. It may be a point reduction, a zero on the homework or exam, a grade reduction in the course, or failure in the course, depending on severity. Repeated offenses will be referred to the Academic Integrity Hearing Board of the College of Engineering and may result in suspension or expulsion from Cornell.
• If you are suspected of a violation, we will send an email notification. If your online listing shows a local address, we will mail an additional hardcopy of the notification. Refer to CIT's website http://whoiam.cornell.edu/ for updating your local address.

Obtaining a C compiler

You will need access to a C compiler to complete the assignments for this course. It does not matter which compiler you use, as long as it is ANSI C compliant. (Virtually all modern compilers are.) Some suggestions:

• The CIT computer labs in Upson B7 and Phillips 319 have Dev-C++ installed. You can also download it for free: http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

• Eclipse is an open source development environment that supports many languages, including C. You can download it for free. You will also need to download and install a C compiler for your platform.

• gcc (the GNU C compiler) is excellent and free. However it is a console-based application, so you should have experience with using command-line programs (or be willing to learn). The best way to get it depends on your operating system:
  • If you have access to a computer running Linux, it's probably already installed.

  • If you have a Macintosh, you can download gcc for free as part of Apple's Xcode development environment. (You'll need to create an Apple Developer Connection account, but that's free too.)

  • If you have a Windows machine, you can install it as part of the free Cygwin project. Here's a brief guide to installing gcc and Cygwin from the University of Toronto.

• Microsoft Visual Studio is another good choice, and is available for purchase at the Cornell Store. It is also available in the ACCEL lab.

Special Needs and Disabilities

In compliance with the Cornell University policy and equal access laws, we are available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that may be required for students with special needs and/or disabilities. Requests for academic accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester and must be accompanied by official documentation. Please register with Student Disability Services in 420 CCC to verify your eligibility.