CS99 |
Fundamental Programming
Concepts Summer 2003 |
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Course
Information
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The final project is due today. Make sure to hand in a paper copy and email me your code!. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Class Resources
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Course Description | |||||||||||||||||||||
CS 99. 2 credits. S-U grades only.
Students with previous
programming experience or students who do not intend to take CS 100
should not take CS 99. In CS 99, basic programming concepts and problem analysis are studied. An appropriate high-level programming language (MATLAB) will be used.
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Course Goals | |||||||||||||||||||||
At the conclusion of this course, students should have learned how to
do the following:
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Teaching Staff | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Meeting Times | |||||||||||||||||||||
Lectures will be held on Monday and Wednesday of each week. Monday's
lecture will be in Olin Hall 216; Wednesday's lecture will be held in the
class laboratory, Upson B7. Labs will be held on Tuesday and
Thursday of each week in Upson B7.
Section 1 will meet from 10:00-11:00am, and section 2 will meet from
11:30-12:30pm. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Homework | |||||||||||||||||||||
Homeworks are programming assignments where you will put into practice the concepts introduced in lecture. Students may not work with partners; work is to be completed outside of class time. You may review the department's policy on academic integrity to see what comprises acceptable collaboration. There will be 9 homework assignments. In total, they are worth 40% of your final grade. Students are recommended to do them all. After the first week, homework assignments will be posted online every Monday and Wednesday evening and also handed out in lecture that day. Homework posted Monday is due at the beginning of lab on Thursday; homework posted Wednesday is due at the start of the following Tuesday's lab.
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Labs | |||||||||||||||||||||
Labs also allow students to practice concepts from lecture, but at a
less challenging level than the homework. For labs only, students may
work in groups of two and may discuss the problems with others. The
teaching assistants will be on hand to answer questions and to help with any
problems students may have, conceptual or otherwise.
There will be 8 laboratory assignments. In total, they are worth 10% of the final grade. Labs are designed to be completed in an hour. They are handed out at the beginning of each lab session and are expected to be returned at the end of the same session. Attendance is mandatory for labs, as new material will be introduced in them. You will want to purchase either several floppies or a ZIP disk.
You will need these for storing your programs and perhaps for email.
Work from earlier labs may come in handy for later ones.
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Quizzes | |||||||||||||||||||||
There will be some occasional in-lecture quizzes, dates determined at the instructor's discretion. The quizzes are worth 2% of the final grade.. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Class Participation | |||||||||||||||||||||
We firmly believe that you'll get more out of the course and will likely enjoy it more, the more you participate in the class.. This does not necessarily mean that you must participate in class by asking questions or volunteering answers. There are other ways you can participate: by actively attending office hours, providing feedback on the course (questions about content, suggestions for improvement) via email to the instructor or TAs, etc or otherwise be 'engaged' with the class. Class participation is worth 5% of your final grade. For full credit, students
must attend laboratory sessions and lecture and may not miss any of the
quizzes. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Textbooks | |||||||||||||||||||||
CS 99 requires that you program in MATLAB.
Official course text:
Reserve Reading:
If you want to work on programs at home, you may purchase MATLAB from the Campus Store (approx. $120). However, the course staff is not responsible for helping you to work from home, including installing software and submitting labs.
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Web Resources | |||||||||||||||||||||
All course materials will be available at: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs99/2003su.
You should get into the habit of checking your email and the course web page on a regular basis (at least once a day). For printing in the labs and checking your Cornell email, you will need to have a Cornell NetID and password. If you do not have these yet, you need to go to the CIT helpdesk in the CCC building. While you're there, you can also pick up a Bear Access CD. This has the software you'll need to access these resources from your own computer. The Mathworks.com has a handy Matlab help page at:
http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/matlab.shtml | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exams | |||||||||||||||||||||
There will be two preliminary exams. Exams will be in-class and
closed-book. They will cover material from readings, lectures, and labs.
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Grading | |||||||||||||||||||||
Course assignments will
be weighted as follows:
There will be 8 labs, and 9 homework assignments. The final project may be thought of as a more difficult homework assignment. Collectively, the labs, programming assignments, and final project are worth 65% of the final grade. The exams are worth 28% of the final grade. Pursuant to university regulations, a grade of C- or above will become an S grade, and a grade of D+ or below will become a U grade. Late policy: No late assignments will be accepted. There is no room for error in the relentless pace of a six-week course. All assignments are due at the beginning of class. If you foresee difficulty in submitting a project on time, or anticipate missing a prelim, due to a serious illness or death in your immediate family, notify us as soon as possible and we will do our best to work with you. Regrade policy: You may submit an assignment for a regrade within 72 hours of when it was handed back to the class. When you do so, you must attach a statement detailing what you believe was graded incorrectly. Your assignment will then be regarded, and your grade adjusted. The adjustment may be up or down! In particular, frivolous requests will be treated harshly. Academic integrity:
CS99 students must adhere to the department’s policy on academic
integrity. In particular, you can talk to one another about how to use
the computing environment or about high-level ideas for solutions, but you
may not show one another your code, work together on writing code, or
share code with one another. If you are unsure of an action, ask a member
of the course staff for clarification. So long as you are honest in
presenting your work, you are not in violation of academic
integrity. |
last updated 7/31/2003