Syllabus: CS 1581 Honors Computer Science I
Course Content and Objectives
This course is an introduction to computer science, focusing on the
disciplines of procedural and data abstraction. It is intended for higher
ability students, but it does not require experience with any particular kind
of computer or programming language. It does require a minimum level of
mathematical sophistication. The course satisfies the
Liberal Education category 3 requirement.
This course is designed to be an introduction to the science of
problem solving through the writing of computer programs. Students will
become familiar with multiple computer programming paradigms, including
functional, imperative, and object-oriented programming. Programming will be
undertaken using the powerful, elegant, and high-level language Scheme. (The
version of Scheme we will use is called Racket.)
Scheme is simple to learn and helps students learn the principles of
procedural and data abstraction that they will carry throughout their
programming careers.
Grading Basis
Grades will be based on the total points earned on
exams, programming assignments, and lab activities. These points
are broken down as follows:
| item
| number
| points each
| total
|
|---|
| Midterm Exam
| 2
| 75
| 150
|
| Final Exam
| 1
| 150
| 150
|
| Individual Assignment
| 4
| 25
| 100
|
| Lab Exercises
| 8
| 10
| 80
|
| Extended Lab Exercises
| 5
| 15
| 75
|
| Grand Total
|
|
| 555
|
The final grades will be based on the 555 point total. Generally:
90% guarantees an A
80% guarantees a B
70% guarantees a C
60% guarantees a D
These grade cutoffs will never be raised; but they may be lowered.
Your grades will always be available through the
EGradebook System.
Course Organization
We will meet in lecture on Mon-Wed-Fri in MWAH 175, when new
material will be presented. Accompanying readings from the text will be
indicated on the term schedule.
We will meet in lab on Tuesdays (MWAH
177), where you will
perform lab exercises and/or work on individual assignments.
On Thursdays we will meet in a discussion section (MWAH 175) which will be
run like a lecture except that labs, assignments, and exams will also be
discussed.
Labs and Assignments
The Tuesday lab exercises will be posted on the term
schedule several days
before they are due. It is expected that you will read through the exercise
and perhaps get a start on it before the lab hour begins.
For labs 1—8, you will have
until 8:00 p.m. on the day of the lab to submit your exercise through the
Webdrop System.
Labs 9—13 are extended exercises and are due later in the week they are
assigned. See the term schedule.
The individual assignments will be more involved than the lab exercises, and
you are expected to work on them on your own time, although we will take
questions concerning them during labs and discussions. These assignments
will also be posted on the term schedule and
must be submitted through
Webdrop.
Exams
Exams will cover all lecture and reading material.
Exam dates, coverage, and topics are also given on the term schedule.
Exams must
be taken on the hour they are scheduled. They will not be given
early, and can be made up only if documented evidence of medical
emergency or death in the family is presented before the time of the
exam.
Development Environment
The development environment assumed by labs and assignments will be
DrRacket (formerly DrScheme).
This environment will be available on lab PCs, but you may also
install it on your own machines. The environment is free and open source.
Late Submissions
Lab exercises and individual assignments must be turned in through
Webdrop
by 8:00 p.m. the days they
are due. Ample time is given to complete these labs and assignments, and the
only reason for being late will be poor time management. Therefore, 20% of
the total
value of an assignment will be deducted for each day it fails to be turned in
by 8:00 p.m.
Collaboration and Academic Dishonesty
There are no team projects in this course. All lab exercises, assignments,
and exam takings are individual undertakings.
You may
discuss an assignment and general approaches to a problem with your
professor, your lab instructor, lab consultants, or your classmates, but
you must design your program and write the code yourself. You may
consult with others about your design or seek help in debugging, but you may
not collaborate with anyone on the writing of your code.
Any such collaboration will be regarded as
academic dishonesty, a serious offense. This
course will adhere to UMD's Student Academic Integrity Policy, which
can be found at
http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity. This policy
sanctions students engaging in academic dishonesty with penalties up to
and including expulsion from the university for repeat offenders.
Inappropriate Use of Technology in the Classroom
You must refrain from using cell phones,
text-messaging, watching videos, playing computer games, doing email,
or surfing the Internet on your computer for uses other than
instructor-sanctioned activities.
Permission to Copy Your Work
As you may know, the Department of Computer Science has an
ABET-accredited bachelor's degree in CS. This is an indication of the
strength of our program, and it benefits CS majors and even non-majors
by allowing us to provide strong course offerings.
In order to retain accreditation, we must periodically collect samples
of student work for each of the courses. To that end, I would like your
permission to anonymously copy samples of your work in this course.
This will be done by eliminating all identification such as names, ID's,
etc. before copying the work. This is voluntary. In the past almost all
students have agreed to this, which has been a key factor in retaining
accreditation.
If you do not want your work copied for this purpose, please send me
an email to that effect.
Thank you for helping with this; it is very much appreciated.
Etc.
- Student Success Roadmap
- UMD Tutoring Center
- As instructor I shall make every attempt to treat all students
equally, without regard to race, religion, color, sex, handicap, age,
veteran status, or sexual orientation. To inquire
further about the University's policy on equal opportunity, see the
Office of Equal Opportunity.
-
If you have any disability (either permanent or temporary) that might
affect your ability to perform in this class, please contact the Access Center, and
inform me at the
start of the semester.
Last Word
All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare. -- Benedict Spinoza
Page URL: http://www.d.umn.edu
/~tcolburn/cs1581/syllabus.html
Page Author: Tim Colburn
Last Modified: Tuesday, 14-Sep-2010 13:12:40 CDT
Comments to: tcolburn@d.umn.edu