People:

Instructors:
Viera Proulx and John Clements

Teaching Assistants: Carl Eastlund, Dan Kunkle, Owen Landgren, Stevie Strickland,

Tutors: Christine Bernhardt, Mike Burns, Duncan Mak, Jonathan Simons

Everyone on the course staff is available for consultations to every student.

Class:

Lectures: The course has three lecture sections, that cover essentially the same material and the same key concepts.

Section	Location	Professor
MoWTh 9:15 am	118 WVH	Proulx
MoWTh 10:30 am	118 WVH	Proulx
MoWTh 1:35 pm	118 WVH	Clements

You must attend lectures on a regular basis, as many concepts covered in lectures are not in the textbook.

Labs: The course also has lab sections. The labs start on Tuesday, January 11. You must attend your lab section on a weekly basis. The purpose of labs is to give you some hands-on experience with the actual tools, and to explain some of the principles from lecture with hands-on examples.

Computing Environment: You will do your assignments initially using ProfessorJ languages within the DrScheme programming environment. Some assignments will require the use of additional Java classes that will be available to you. You may install the DrScheme on your computer at home and work there.

During the second half of the semester we will use Eclipse IDE with full Java language.

Assignments: There will be a problem set each week. The problem sets consist of several problems, drawn from the supplementary Web page. We will drop the worst homework grade from consideration for the final grade. You may therefore choose to skip one homework set; we'll just assign a zero (0) for this homework.

Submit your homework here.

Due Date: Fridays at NOON, unless otherwise specified. Because the homeworks are submitted electronically, network congestion is a real possibility. Please allow at least an hour before the assignment is due to submit the homework. "The Server ate my homework" is not an excuse.

Getting Credit for Assignments: There will be a simple quiz each week, graded only on a pass/fail basis. The goal of the quiz is to determine that you have worked on the homework set and understand the basic concepts in this problem set. You must pass the quiz to get the credit for the corresponding homework.

Pair Programming: You must work on your homework problems in pairs. Please introduce yourself to others in class and find a homework partner as soon as possible.

Pair programming means that you and your partner study the problem sets individually and possibly even sketch out solutions. Then you meet and jointly develop solutions to each problem. One of you--the driver--types, and the other one--the co-pilot--looks over the driver's shoulder. When something isn't clear, it is the co-driver's responsibility to question the approach. You must switch roles during such a problem solving session. Every partner must be able to solve every homework problem in the end.

Warning: You must be able to solve every homework problem on your own.

Are you sure you have read the warning?

You are free to collaborate at will with others on the problem sets. If you do so, you must acknowledge all collaborators on your cover page. Failure to do so may result in reductions of your homework grade.

Exams: We will have two three hour exams to assess your progress. The exams will take place on February 15, 6-9pm, and on April 5, 6-9pm. The exams will take place in Richards 200.

The exams will test material similar to that assigned in weekly homeworks. You will take the exams by yourself. Collaboration is not tolerated. If you make sure that you can do every the homework problem on your own, the exams will be easy. If not, you will probably have a difficult time with the exams.

Grades: You will get a grade for your homework and a grade for your exams. Both must be passing grades; otherwise you cannot pass the course. For the final grade, we will assign a weight of 35% to the homework grade and a weight of 60% to the two exams. The remaining 5% are up to the instructors' whim.