CS 101: Grading

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Course Structure

There will be 1 midterm, a final exam, weekly lab assignments and two test programs. All assignments are due by the beginning of your next lab.

The weekly lab assignments will be done by pairs of students working together. The primary purpose of lab assignments is to give students an opportunity to practice what we discuss in class and learn the material.

The two test programs will be similar to lab assignments in the nature of the assignment. However, their primary purpose is evaluation, to determine how well you have learned the material from previous labs and classes. As a result, test programs will be treated as take-home exams and will be done individually.

Class meetings will be a mix of lecture and discussions. My goal is to have an interactive, problem-solving classroom.

Grading

Your final grade is computed as follows:

10% for the midterm exam
15% based on the final exam
20% based on lab assignments
25% for each of 2 test programs
5% based on class participation

Readings

This course uses two textbooks:

: Joel Adams, Alice in Action: Computing through Animation, Thomson Course Technology, 2007.; Kim Bruce, Andrea Danyluk and Thomas Murtagh, Java: An Eventful Approach, Prentice Hall, 2007.

Policies

Class participation is essential. Problem solving and programming are best learned through experience. Seeing a program is not nearly as valuable as helping to derive the program. We will spend a great deal of class time building programs together. As a result, you are expected to attend class.

Announcements related to issues that arise between class meetings will be made electronically. In particular, clarifications of assignments, changes to due dates, etc. may be reported to you via electronic mail. It is your responsibility to login and check your mail regularly.

In addition to electronic mail, copies of handouts and homework assignments will be available on the course web site. The home page for this course is http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~blerner/cs101/.

Honor Code

The work submitted for lab assignments will be done in pairs. The work submitted for exams and test programs must be your work alone. Submission of work that is not your own or your pair's is considered a violation of the honor code.