8.9

CS 3500: Object-Oriented Design

Syllabus – Spring 2024

Course staff

Instructors

Lucia Nunez
Lucia Nunez
l.nunez@northeastern
Meserve 335

  

  

Staff

Adeyinka Adedewe
Adeyinka Adedewe
adedewe.a@northeastern

  

Nadine AlMuasher
Nadine AlMuasher
almuasher.n@northeastern

  

Sofie Duntugan
Sofie Duntugan
duntugan.s@northeastern

Vidya Ganesh
Vidya Ganesh
ganesh.vi@northeastern

  

Jake Halaska
Jake Halaska
halaska.j@northeastern

  

Kevin Jones
Kevin Jones
jones.kev@northeastern

Daniel Kamen
Daniel Kamen
kamen.d@northeastern

  

Hwi Joon Lee
Hwi Joon Lee
 lee.hw@husky.neu

  

Connie Liu
Connie Liu
liu.conn@northeastern

Giacomo Mantovanelli
Giacomo Mantovanelli
mantovanelli.g@northeastern

  

Renee Reddy
Renee Reddy
reddy.ren@northeastern

  

Office Hours Schedule

Office hours are spread among several rooms; please check this calendar carefully to know where and when staff will hold their office hours. Everyone is currently using the Khoury Office Hours App for queuing. See here for info on how to use it.

Meeting places & times

  • Lucia Nunez

  

Churchill Hall 101

  

TF

  

09:50am — 11:30am

  • Lucia Nunez

  

Churchill Hall 101

  

TF

  

1:35pm — 3:15pm


General information

CS 3500 teaches a rigorous approach to object-oriented programming and design, with an emphasis on abstraction, modularity, and code reuse as applied to the building and understanding of large-scale systems. We will explore the basic mechanisms and concepts of object-oriented programming: object, class, message, method, interface, encapsulation, polymorphism, and inheritance. Students will gain hands-on experience with tools and techniques that facilitate the creation and maintenance of applications using the Java programming language.

Prerequisites

This course assumes familiarity with programming in the style of How to Design Programs, and basic knowledge of the Java programming language as introduced in CS 2510.

Materials

Software

For programming assignments, we will use Java 11. You should download and install the Java SE Development Kit, version 11 from Oracle.

The supported IDE (integrated development environment) for the course is IntelliJ IDEA. This is the IDE that the instructor uses in lecture, and we may occasionally give instructions for how to perform particular tasks in IDEA. You are free to use a different IDE, but we may not be able to help you if you run into trouble. IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition may be downloaded free of charge, and you can also license the Ultimate Edition.

If you are having trouble setting up IntelliJ, we have a video demonstrating how to configure your environment here.

Books

There is no required textbook, but you may find these books useful.

Online resources


Schedule

Lectures

How to read lectures

To get maximum benefit from lecture notes, please follow these steps:

  1. Before the scheduled lecture in class:

    • (3-5 minutes): Go through the lecture objectives to understand the context. If applicable, try to connect the objectives with material from previous lectures

    • (1 hour): Read the lecture notes

      • Take notes as you read, just like in a class

      • After each section, summarize it in your own words in your notes

      • As you read the notes, jot down any questions you have immediately. If they get resolved later in the notes, cross them out

      • For each example in the lecture notes, try to come up with your own example that shows the same concept

      • Highlight your summaries, and any unresolved questions. These are your guidelines for the actual class lecture

  2. Attend lecture. Add to your notes. Ask unresolved questions during or after class

  3. (10 minutes): After class, skim through your notes quickly to make sure you have understood everything

Lecture Schedule

This table gives the approximate lecture schedule. Since our sections meet on different days of the week, individual lectures may be out of sync, but each week will stay synchronized.

Week

 

Topics (tentative and approximate)

 

Materials

01/08 – 01/12

 

Why object-oriented design?

 

notes

 

The essence of objects

 

notes

01/15 M

 

No class: Martin Luther King Day

 

01/15 – 01/19

 

Java review

 

notes and notes

 

Java safari

 

notes

01/22 – 01/26

 

MVC and introducing the model

 

notes

 

The Builder pattern

 

notes

01/29 – 02/02

 

Controllers and Mocks;

 

notes

 

Class Activity: abstracting I/O

 

notes

02/05 – 02/09

 

Design exercise: Turtle Graphics

 

code

 

Command Pattern

 

notes

02/13 T

 

No class: Snow Day

 

Snow day notes

02/12 – 02/16

 

Inheritance vs. composition

 

notes

 

Encapsulation and Invariants

 

notes

 

Hw2 design critique

 

02/19 M

 

No class: Presidents Day

 

02/19 – 02/23

 

Intro to Performance

 

notes and notes

 

Introduction to Views, GUI basics

 

notes

02/27 Tu

 

Exam 1

 

02/26 – 03/01

 

GUI basics, in-class GUI exercise

 

notes and notes

03/04–03/08

 

Spring Break

 

03/11 – 03/15

 

in-class GUI excerise

 

notes and notes

 

The Strategy and Decorator patterns

 

notes

03/18 – 03/22

 

Hw5 Model Design Discussion

 

 

The Adapter pattern

 

notes

 

The Observer pattern

 

notes

03/25 – 03/29

 

Reading code effectively, exam review

 

03/29 Fr

 

Exam 2

 

04/01 – 04/04

 

Slack

 

 

Design Principles; Case study: Puralax

 

notes

 

Design Principles; Case study: SceneGraph

 

code

04/08 – 04/12

 

Introduction to Javascript

 

04/15 M

 

No class: Patriot’s Day

 

04/16

 

Wrapup

 


Testing

Understanding and implementating an assignment correctly are two distinct tasks, and demonstrating both tasks requires related but separate skills, and related but separate artifacts.

Testing

Testing your code is sufficiently important that we’ve devoted an entire page to it. Please read these notes, for each and every assignment you work on.

Graded Work Schedule

Assignments

Homework will usually be due at 8:59 PM; the day of the week varies, so you should check each individual assignment to be sure. General homework policies are here. Most homework assignments have several parts to submit, so multiple deadlines are shown for each assignment. See each assignment for additional information.

This homework schedule is tentative and subject to change at the instructor’s discretion.

Link

  

Assigned

  

Due

Assignment 1: Java refresher and representation

  

Tue 01/16

  

Tue 01/23
Wed 01/24

Assignment 2: Meet Your Match, Part 1: The Model

  

Wed 01/24

  

Thu 02/01
Fri 02/02

Assignment 3: Meet Your Match, Part 2: The Controller

  

Fri 02/02

  

Wed 02/14
Thu 02/15

Assignment 4: Meet Your Match, Part 3: Changing the Game

  

Wed 02/15

  

Thu 02/22
Fri 02/23

Assignment 5: Save the Date – Planner System, part 1

  

Mon 02/26

  

Thu 03/14
Fri 03/15

Assignment 6: Save the Date – Planner System, part 2

  

Fri 03/15

  

Wed 03/27
Thu 03/28

Assignment 7: Save the Date – Planner System, part 3

  

Wed 03/27

  

Tue 04/09
Wed 04/10

Assignment 8

  

Wed 04/10

  

Wed 04/17
Thu 04/18

Assignment 9

  

Wed 04/17

  

Before presenting

Exams

We will have two examinations during the semester:


Labs Schedule

Labs are all on Mondays this semester. Lab work will not always be submitted; read each lab carefully for more detail. Attendance is mandatory.

This lab schedule is tentative and subject to change at the instructor’s discretion.

Link

  

Assigned

  

Complete by

Lab 0: IntelliJ Setup

  

Mon 01/08

  

Mon 01/08

Lab 1: Abstraction and access

  

Mon 01/22

  

Mon 01/22

Lab 2: The Builder pattern

  

Mon 01/29

  

Mon 01/29

Lab 3: Working with mocks

  

Mon 02/05

  

Mon 02/05

Lab 4: The Command pattern

  

Mon 02/12

  

Mon 02/12

Lab 5: Practice reading code

  

Mon 02/26

  

Mon 02/26

Lab 6: Working with Git

  

Mon 03/11

  

Mon 03/11

Lab 7: Working with GUIs

  

Mon 03/18

  

Mon 03/18

Lab 8: Interface segregation

  

Mon 03/25

  

Mon 03/25

Open OH for Hw7

  

Mon 04/01

  

Mon 04/01

Lab 10

  

Mon 04/08

  

Mon 04/08

Course policies

Collaboration and academic integrity

You may not collaborate with anyone on any of the exams. You may not use any electronic tools, including phones, tablets, netbooks, laptops, desktop computers, etc. If in doubt, ask a member of the course staff.

Some homework assignments will be completed with an assigned partner, and some may involve a larger team (TBD). You must collaborate with your assigned partner or team, as specified, on homework assignments. You may request help from any staff member on homework. (When you are working with a partner, we strongly recommend that you request help with your partner.) You may use the Piazza bulletin board to ask questions regarding assignments, so long as your questions (and answers) do not reveal information regarding solutions. You may not get any help from anyone else on a homework assignment; all material submitted must be your own. If in doubt, ask a member of the course staff.

Providing illicit help to another student is also cheating, and will be punished the same as receiving illicit help. It is your responsibility to safeguard your own work.

A subtler form of cheating, but nevertheless illegal, is self-plagiarism. This is when you copy and submit code that you developed when you took CS 3500 previously for credit again. This is illegal if done for your group assignments, because the code you are attempting to submit has not been written just by you and your partner in the current semester.

Students who cheat will be reported to the university’s office on academic integrity and penalized by the course staff, at our discretion, up to and including failing the course.

If you are unclear on any of these policies, please ask a member of the course staff.

Homework

In general, you should submit your homework according to the instructions on the web page for the individual assignments.

Using the handin server

You will submit your homework using https://handins.ccs.neu.edu. We have written a how-to guide for using the handin server, if you are unfamiliar with it. (To log in to the handin server, you will need an active CCS account. If you are a CS major or have taken a CS class before, you should have one already. If you have forgotten your account name or password, go to https://my.khoury.northeastern.edu/ and click on the “Forgot Username” or “Forgot Password” links. If you have never created an account before, click on the “Apply for an account” link in the upper right corner.) Make sure you can log in to the handin server, and register for your section of the course, before the first homework is assigned.

Unlike prior semesters, you will usually need to submit multiple files for your assignments, rather than a single file. You should therefore add all your files to a .zip or .tar file, and submit that archive file. Note:

Additionally, every homework where you write code will be followed one day later by a self-evaluation assignment. Only one partner (for team assignments) needs to complete the self-eval, and it will count for both partners.

Submission troubles

If you have trouble submitting to the server and you have time before the deadline, please wait few minutes and try again; it may also be worth checking on Piazza to find out whether other students are experiencing similar difficulties. If upon retrying you still cannot submit, email your professor. Your email should have the subject “HW N submission problems” (where N is the appropriate homework number), and you should attach the ZIP file exactly as you would have submitted it to the server.

Late days & late work

Each student gets four free, no-questions-asked late days for the term. Two of these days can be used for individual assignments, and two will be for group assignments. The purpose of late days is make the extension process fair and transparent by getting the instructors out of the extension-granting business entirely. Instead, when you need an extension, you can take one—provided you have a late day remaining.

To use a late day, just submit the homework as normal. The server will keep track of the number of used late days, and will prevent you from submitting more than one day late to any assignment, or late at all if you’ve used all your late days. Conserve your late days carefully.

No more than one late day may be used on any one homework. You may not look at and must avoid gaining knowledge of the self-evaluation questions until you have submitted your late assignment. Late days cannot be divided fractionally, but must be used whole. Late days cannot be transferred to or shared with a partner, so in order to take an extension both you and your partner must have sufficient late days remaining. Choose your partners carefully.

Using a late day to submit your files does not automatically grant you a late day for the self-eval: it will remain due at the normal time.

Regrades for assignments

Regrade requests on assignments must be made within 3 days of receiving the grade for it. To do so, you must

Your assignment grade cannot decrease as a result of a regrade request, but it may not increase either. Any regrade requests sent after the 3 day period will be denied. Be respectful and polite in all communications to your graders.

You may request comments about a deduction as well. They follow the same protocol as above but do not call it a regrade request. If you want a comment to become a regrade request, you must send a separate email.

Regrades for exams

Regrade requests on exams must be sent to your instructor within 3 days of receving the grade for that exam. Note this will reconsitute an actual regrade of that question by the instructor. Your grade may go down as a result so state your case for a regrade clearly and concisely.

If you are unsure if you should ask for a regrade specific question but think you have a case, meet with your instructor and be very specific about what you want to ask about. Any attempt that intends to simply use the instructor to find points to recoup on the exam will be denied (read: no walking through the exam and hoping for points). The goal is to either fix a mistake you noticed or show your understanding of the material through what you answered. Both involve showing some mastery over the material.

Inclusive Class

Northeastern University values the diversity of our students, staff, and faculty; recognizing the important contribution each makes to our unique community. Respect is demanded at all times throughout this course. In the classroom, not only is participation required, it is expected that everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We realize everyone comes from a different background with different experiences and abilities. Our knowledge will always be used to better everyone in the class. We strive to create a learning environment that is welcoming to students of all backgrounds. If you feel unwelcome for any reason, please let us know so we can work to make things better. You can let us know by talking to anyone on the teaching staff. If you feel uncomfortable talking to members of the teaching staff, please consider reaching out to your academic advisor.

Northeastern is committed to providing equal access and support to all qualified students through the provision of reasonable accommodations so that each student may fully participate in the learning experience. If you have a disability that requires accommodations, please contact the Disability Resource Center.

Accommodations cannot be made retroactively and to receive an accommodation a letter from the DRC or LDP is required.

Grades

Your grade will be based on your performance on the assignments (60%), labs and in-class exercises (1%), and the exams (15%, 24%). Material for examinations will be cumulative. Both exams will count toward your final grade.

The grades will computed on an absolute basis: there will be no overall curving. The instructor may choose to curve an individual homework or exam, but please do not bank on such a chance.

The estimated mapping of raw point totals to letter grades is given below. Please note that these grade boundaries may move slightly in either direction at the discretion of the instructor, but the grade boundary for A is unlikely to change. Again, grades are not rounded: for instance, earning a 92.5% does not imply we will round up to a 93% and hence to an A. Rather, if a particular breakpoint falls in the middle of a tight cluster of numeric grades, we will attempt to move the breakpoint to give that whole cluster the same letter grade. If, near the end of the semester, you are concerned that your grade is hovering near a breakpoint, see a professor to discuss your concerns.

Range

  

93%

  

90%

  

87%

  

83%

  

80%

  

77%

  

73%

  

70%

  

67%

  

63%

  

60%

  

0%

Letter grade

  

A

  

A-

  

B+

  

B

  

B-

  

C+

  

C

  

C-

  

D+

  

D

  

D-

  

F