BASIC COURSE INFORMATION:

CS2024 meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in room 109 Upson 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. Our consultant this semester will be Morgan Ulinski who can be reached at meu3@cornell.edu. There is no administrative assistant for the course this semester.

BOOKS USED THIS SEMESTER:

This semester we will be using Deitel and Deitel's "Visual C++ 2008: How To Program." Now, we won't actually be studying Visual C++ per se, however the book does have some information specific to Microsoft's compiler. I must emphasize that CS2024 covers "vanilla" C++ and does not attempt to cover material on specific compilers. Why this book then? Last semester I had the opportunity to review this text and was very impressed with how thoroughly the C++ language was covered and how well written the text is. The book is a little on the expensive side, so I have asked to have two copies available for reserve in the Engineering library, and the book is listed as "optional" at the bookstore. 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 (Second Edition).

The second book (also optional) listed for this course 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.

OFFICE HOURS:

Since I do not have dedicated office space in the Computer Science department I will be holding scheduled office hours "virtually" in SecondLife. If you do not know what Second Life is, you may want to visit their website. Office hours will normally be Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9PM - 11PM on the Cornell Island. I will also be available by appointment in "real life." More details on office hours will be given on the first day of class.

The New Media Consortium manages an "archipelago" of higher ed "islands" in Second Life, and Ron's office hours are held on one such island dedicated to Cornell. To streamline the process of getting set up in Second Life, NMC maintains a web page to assist new Second Life users in getting their accounts and joining the NMC community. You must be a member of the NMC community to gain access to the Cornell island. Cornell University is a member of NMC. There is no charge for a simple account in Second Life.

When you are set up with an account in Second Life and you have joined the NMC community, you can proceed to office hours!