mdgeorge@cs.cornell.edu
351-4153
or by appointment
jhartlin@cs.cornell.edu
or by appointment
neolleon@gmail.com
or by appointment
jc483@cornell.edu
Upson 360
Sat. 5:30-7:30
Sun. 3:00-6:00
ws73@cornell.ed
Fri. 3:00-5:00
Sun. 3:00-6:00
This web site contains a wealth of useful information that we have compiled for your benefit. Please take some time to review it and familiarize yourself with its contents so that you know where to find the information you need quickly when you need it. You are responsible for following all the policies and procedures stated on this website.
| Name | COM S 211/ENGRD 211: Computers and Programming |
|---|---|
| Semesters Offered | fall, spring, summer |
| Credit Hours | 3 |
| Prerequisites | COM S 100 or an equivalent course in Java or C++ |
| Grade Option | Letter or S/U |
| Course Description | Intermediate programming in a high-level language and introduction to computer science. Topics include program structure and organization, modules (classes), program development, proofs of program correctness, recursion, data structures and types (lists, stacks, queues, trees), object-oriented programming, and analysis of algorithms. Java is the principal programming language. |
| Course Website | http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs211/2006sp |
| Course Newsgroup | cornell.class.cs211 |
In CS211, you are expected to learn:
A complete listing of course topics can be found at Lecture Notes.
Refer to http://www.cs.cornell.edu/ugrad/FirstCourse.html for information about other introductory programming courses if you need help in deciding whether or not to take CS211.
Please email course questions to cs211-l@lists.cs.cornell.edu
| Staff | Name | Office | Office Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instructor | |
Michael George mdgeorge@cs.cornell.edu |
322 Upson 351-4153 |
Tue. 11:30-12:30 or by appointment |
| TAs | |
Jeff Hartline jhartlin@cs.cornell.edu |
Upson 5154 | Wednesday 2:00-3:00 or by appointment |
|
Liang Chen neolleon@gmail.com |
Rhodes 657 | Fri. 11:30-12:30 or by appointment | |
| Consultants | |
Jiun Wei Chia jc483@cornell.edu |
Consulting in Upson 360 |
Thu. 5:30-7:30 Sat. 5:30-7:30 Sun. 3:00-6:00 |
|
Weiwei (Wendy) Shi ws73@cornell.ed |
Wed. 3:00-5:00 Fri. 3:00-5:00 Sun. 3:00-6:00 | ||
The teaching assistants (TAs) mainly teach recitation sections and assist with homework and exams. We encourage you to attend their office hours if you have difficulties in the course. You can make an appointment with any TA by e-mail.
In addition to TAs, there are a number of consultants. These are are undergraduates who have excelled in their coursework and are employed as graders and tutors for CS211. They are available in 360 Upson Hall most afternoons and evenings. We might also have hours in RPCC. See the section on Consulting for locations and hours.
CS211 and many other CS courses are always looking for great consultants. In general, CS211 is the launch pad for many courses. In addition, our best consultants can become undergraduate TAs. If you get at least an A- in CS211, check out this website: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/ugrad/Consulting.html.
Reading assignments are posted along with the lecture notes and examples in Lecture Notes. The sources listed here will be on reserve in the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall.
This semester we will move to the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) version, which consists of the Java Development Kit (JDK) and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). To refer to the current release of J2SE, we will usually say Java 1.5, Java 5, or jdk1.5. If you used an older version of Java (1.4 or earlier), you must upgrade your software. The new features of Java 5 are described in the following websites:
For students with limited Java experience, we will hold a Java Bootcamp, which involves about three hours of self-guided training in Java. The Bootcamp is a self-paced tutorial that summarizes key issues of Java's syntax that are usually covered in CS100. Students can download the material and solutions. Or, you can attend two identical sessions with course staff that will answer questions. If you have never programmed in Java, have not programmed in a long time, or feel that your skills are a bit weak, we strongly suggest that you attend the Bootcamp.
| Place | Upson B7 |
|---|---|
| Date | Tuesday, June 27 |
| Time | 7:00-10:00PM |
| Materials | Tutorial
Companion Document (also called "Applications") Solutions |
The JDK 5.0 is already installed in CIT and ACCEL labs. To install it on your own machine:
As of Fall 2005, the standard Java site does not have links for Macs. However, the following information should help, assuming you are not running an "archaic" version of Mac OS. Unfortunately, you will need to upgrade your operating system to 10.4 or later.
Steps:
The best way to develop Java programs is with an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). We recommend DrJava, available free of charge from Rice University. DrJava is installed in the CIT labs. However, you may use any IDE that you like, or just a text editor if you prefer. Here are some links:
You are expected to attend all lectures.
There are two ways to register:
Note that ENGRD 211 and COM S 211 are the same course (which we usually call just CS211), so do not sign up for both! The difference is purely administrative so that the College of Engineering can keep track of how many of its students use this course to fulfill a distribution requirement.
| ENGRD Course ID | |
|---|---|
| COM S Course ID | |
| Days | MTWRF |
| Time | 10:00–11:15am |
| Location | Upson B17 |
We expect the following conduct of all students:
We prefer class participation, so please feel free to raise your hand to contribute to the class discussion.
We put most of our files for lecture notes, corresponding readings, and examples at the Lecture Notes link, usually just before or after lecture. Not all material covered in lecture will necessarily be online, so please do not email us about it. On the other hand, sometimes the lecture notes will contain extra material for you to review outside of class, and you are responsible for this material.
Each friday we will have a "Section" style class. We will give a quiz and cover some material not covered in lecture and provide an opportunity for questions on recent material, assignments, and exams. Generally, expectations of lecture are the same for section.
You will have six mandatory homework assignments to complete for the semester. These will involve writing Java programs and possibly other tasks. All assignments are posted at the Assignments link.
You must follow the rules of Academic Integrity (AI). In addition, you must follow these rules concerning partners, unless we post otherwise:
There will be weekly projects consisting of some programming and some written questions. They will be graded on the following scale:
| 5 | Wow! Above and beyond |
|---|---|
| 4 | 100% Correct and well-documented |
| 3 | Good, but with some problems |
| 2 | Sorta-kinda-right, but major problems |
| 1 | Way off base |
| 0 | Nothing, or close to nothing submitted |
You are required to take two prelims and a final exam. Please see the Exams link for times and locations, review session information, topics, practice problems, and solutions.
We distribute prelims in 360 Upson (M-F, 10:00am–noon and 2:00pm–4:00pm) usually the day after the prelim. Bring your student ID card. Final exams may be reviewed the following semester, but may not be taken from the room. Note that this room also holds CS211 consulting, but our consultants work in a different area than the distribution center.
If you have a conflict such as a prelim scheduled at the same time, you must first try rescheduling the event conflicting with the CS211 exam. If you have exhausted other means for rescheduling your conflict, you must contact the course administrator (Kelly) at least two weeks before the exam. You must explain the nature of the conflict and provide documentation. You might be eligible to take an early prelim offering at 5:45–7:15 PM. We do not usually offer makeup exams at any other time. If you miss an exam because of a serious matter like illness, see the section on Illness.
Exams are graded out of 100 points. As with assignments, you may request a regrade. If we assign bonus points, these are added to your bonus point total for the semester.
Your final numerical score will be a weighted combination of your scores for all required course work. Note that A=assignment, P=prelim, F=final, and E=evaluation, which is the university course evaluation:
| Assignments (44%) |
Exams (55%) |
Eval (1%) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | A2 | A3 | A4 | A5 | A6 | P1 | P2 | F | E |
| 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 25 | 1 |
Note the evaluation is the university evaluation. We get a list of people who fill it out—the university keeps your responses anonymous. We reserve the right to change the relative weights.
We will determine your letter grade for the course using your final numerical score and predetermined grade cutoffs as given in the following table. These are numerical scores that will guarantee you at least a certain letter grade, regardless of how the rest of the class performs.
| A score of | guarantees at least |
|---|---|
| 90 | A |
| 80 | B |
| 70 | C |
| 50 | better than F |
Note the following:
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 and exam, there is a deadline for regrade requests, normally one week after the grading guide and solutions have been posted. The assignment/exam supervisor (see Assignments and Exams) will process the requests after the regrade deadline has passed. Regrade comments are either posted on CMS (usually for assignments) or returned in the consulting office (usually for prelims) as explained below.
In regrades, the burden of proof is on you. You must adequately demonstrate how and why you deserve a higher grade.
We allow minor corrections to code in some cases. For example, if fixing a small piece of code demonstrates that your code really did work a lot better than we perceived, you might earn more points. However, we will usually apply a point deduction for such fixes, so only in some cases will you receive additional points.
You have the following responsibilities:
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 AI, 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.
We try to reserve e-mail for emergencies and urgent matters. Something that is urgent is generally defined as something the instructors would find urgent. If you do need to e-mail the staff, please do not use HTML or MIME! Why? See this explanation.
We will be using the Cornell Course Management System (CMS) extensively for many administrative tasks, including posting of assignments, creation of partners, submission of solutions, grade reporting, and regrade requests. Please refer to the CMS page for information on the use of this system.
The utmost level of academic integrity is expected of all students. Please read carefully the following information and documents.
Please contact a member of the course staff immediately. This is not a competition between students vs. faculty. We are all working together toward the same goal, to maximize the value of your educational experience. Violations of academic integrity only hinder this process. There is no honor in it, nor in protecting it. Your information will be held in the strictest confidence and you will not be asked to testify against your peers at an AI hearing.
Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) runs several computer labs across campus for all members of the Cornell community. The JDK 5.0 and DrJava are installed on these machines. Refer to http://www.cit.cornell.edu/labs/ for locations and times of operation.
You can also find the course software in the Academic Computing Center (ACCEL), located in the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall. Any CS student may register for an account.
If you must miss any coursework due to illness or another university-excused conflict, you must contact Professor Schwartz as soon as possible and provide formal documentation. If you miss a significant amount of coursework, you are strongly encouraged to drop the course. If you miss an exam due to documented illness, you must contact Professor Schwartz as soon as possible to review the matter.
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.