Our final is Friday, December 17 from 7-10pm in SCI 101. A final study guide is available.
Welcome to CS21. This course will introduce fundamental ideas in computer science and teach you how to write computer programs. We will study algorithms for solving problems and implement solutions in the Python programming language. Python is an interpreted language that is known for its ease of use. We also introduce object-oriented programming and data structures. A deeper coverage of these topics will be presented in CS 35.
This course is appropriate for all students who want to learn how to write computer programs and think like computer scientists. It is the usual first course for computer science majors and minors. Students with advanced placement credit or extensive programming experience should place out of this course and instead begin with CS 33 or CS 35.
By the end of the course, we hope that you will have developed the following skills:
Student Support Coordinator: Betsy Horner (Office: Science Center 257, Phone: 6062)
CS21 Ninjas (student mentors): Frank Chien, Haley Most, Ashley Oudenne, Brandon Snuggs
The CS Ninjas will assist the professor during class and run study sessions in the main CS lab (Science Center 240) on the following evenings:
Day | Time | Location |
Sunday | 7-10pm | Sci Center 240 |
Wednesday | 7-9pm | Sci Center 240 |
You are invited -- and encouraged -- to participate in these study sessions to prepare for quizzes, to discuss programming concepts, and to get friendly assistance in working on homework assignments. Our CS mentoring team is dedicated to helping students, who have no prior knowledge of computer science, learn to program in Python while keeping their senses of humor intact. As an added bonus, free food will be provided at the sessions.
Day | Time | Professor | Location |
Friday | 2:00-3:30 | Knerr | Science Center 238 |
Monday | 2:30-4:00 | Meeden | Science Center 240 |
Monday | 3:30-5:00 | Garrod | Science Center 240 |
Contact Tracey Rush at the Dean's office and follow these steps for obtaining accommodations.
5% | Class Participation |
30% | Quizzes |
40% | Lab assignments |
25% | Final Exam |
Quizzes will be given at the beginning of class on the days posted in the Announcements section of the Schedule. Please look over these dates carefully and contact the professor in advance if you cannot be in class for a quiz. If you are not present at the start of class on the day of a quiz, but make it to class before the end, then you may take the quiz. Otherwise you will receive a zero for that quiz.
Lab assignments will be posted on the Schedule in the middle of the week and will be due before midnight the following Tuesday night. You are strongly encouraged to start early and to attend the study sessions and lab sessions for assisstance. You will submit your assignments electronically using the handin21 program. You may submit your assignment multiple times, but each submission overwrites the previous one and only the final submission will be graded.
Late assignments will only be accepted if you contact the professor at least a day before the deadline with a legitimate reason for needing extra time, such as an illness or needing to leave campus.
Even if you do not fully complete an assignment, you should submit what you have done to receive partial credit.
Programming is not a dry mechanical process, but a form of art. Well written code has an aesthetic appeal while poor form can make other programmers and instructors cringe. Programming assignments will be graded based on style and correctness. Good programming practices usually include many of the following principles:
Academic honesty is required in all work you submit to be graded. With the exception of your lab partner on lab assignments, you may not submit work done with (or by) someone else, or examine or use work done by others to complete your own work. Your code should never be shared with anyone; you may not examine or use code belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else look at or make a copy of your code. This includes sharing solutions after the due date of the assignment.
All code you submit must be your own with the following permissible exceptions: code distributed in class, code found in the course text book, and code worked on with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments that indicates on which parts of the assignment you received help, and what your sources were.
Discussing ideas and approaches to problems with others on a general level is fine (in fact, we encourage you to discuss general strategies with each other), but you should never read anyone else's code or let anyone else read your code. You may discuss assignment specifications and requirements with others in the class to be sure you understand the problem. In addition, you are allowed to work with others to help learn the course material. However, with the exception of your lab partner, you may not work with others on your assignments in any capacity.
``It is the opinion of the faculty that for an intentional first offense, failure in the course is normally appropriate. Suspension for a semester or deprivation of the degree in that year may also be appropriate when warranted by the seriousness of the offense.'' - Swarthmore College Bulletin (2008-2009, Section 7.1.2)
Please see me if there are any questions about what is permissible.
WEEK | DAY | ANNOUNCEMENTS | TOPIC & READING | LABS |
1 | Aug 30 | Introduction to Python and Unix Zelle chapters 1-2 |
Lab 0 Lab 1 |
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Sep 01 | ||||
Sep 03 | ||||
2 | Sep 06 | Numbers and Strings Zelle chapters 3-4 |
Lab2 | |
Sep 08 | ||||
Sep 10 | Drop/Add ends Quiz 1 Quiz 1 Study Guide |
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3 | Sep 13 | Booleans Zelle chapter 7 and pg. 247 |
Lab3 | |
Sep 15 | ||||
Sep 17 | ||||
4 | Sep 20 | Graphics, Objects Zelle chapter 5 Notes on the Graphics Library |
Lab4 | |
Sep 22 | ||||
Sep 24 | Quiz 2 Quiz2 Study Guide |
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5 | Sep 27 | Functions, Objects Zelle chapter 6 |
Lab5 | |
Sep 29 | ||||
Oct 01 | ||||
6 | Oct 04 | while Loops, More Functions Zelle chapter 8 |
None | |
Oct 06 | ||||
Oct 08 | Quiz 3 Quiz3 Study Guide |
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Oct 11 |
Fall Break |
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Oct 13 |
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Oct 15 |
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7 | Oct 18 | Top-Down Design, File I/O Zelle chapter 9, section 4.6 |
Lab6 | |
Oct 20 | ||||
Oct 22 | ||||
8 | Oct 25 | Dictionaries Zelle section 11.6 |
Lab7 | |
Oct 27 | ||||
Oct 29 | ||||
9 | Nov 01 | Searching, Analysis of Algorithms Zelle section 13.1 |
Lab8 | |
Nov 03 | ||||
Nov 05 | Last day to declare CR/NC or W Quiz 4 Quiz4 Study Guide |
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10 | Nov 08 | Sorting, Analysis of Algorithms Zelle sections 13.2-13.3 |
Lab9 | |
Nov 10 | ||||
Nov 12 | ||||
11 | Nov 15 | Recursion Zelle sections 13.1-13.3 |
Lab10 | |
Nov 17 | ||||
Nov 19 | Quiz 5 Quiz5 Study Guide |
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12 | Nov 22 | Defining New Classes Zelle chapter 10 |
None | |
Nov 24 | ||||
Nov 26 |
Thanksgiving Break |
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13 | Nov 29 | Linked lists Handouts |
Lab11 | |
Dec 01 | ||||
Dec 03 | ||||
14 | Dec 06 | Wrap-up | None | |
Dec 08 | ||||
Dec 17 |
Final Exam 7-10pm |