CSCI 170 (GOLDWEBER)
Spring 08: 1/15/08 Introduction to Computer Science
CSCI 170

Instructor: Michael Goldweber
Office: 134 Hinkle, 745-3936 email: mikeyg@cs.xu.edu home page: http://www.cs.xu.edu/~mikeyg

Office Hours: Tuesdays thru Fridays: 2:00-3:00, or by appointment. See http://www.cs.xu.edu/~mikeyg/schedule08s.html for my schedule.

Course Home Page: http://www.cs.xu.edu/csci170/08s/

Schedule: Lectures are Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00-11:15 p.m. in Alter 223.

Required Text: None. Though there will be assigned readings on e-reserve, or distributed in class.

Other Required Materials: One USB memory stick.

Prerequisites: None, but familiarity with high school algebra is expected.

Required Work: You are expected to attend and actively participate in each session. It is crucial that you prepare for each session by reading the assigned material and attempting to understand it in advance of class.

In addition to traditional homework assignments, approximately 8-10 are planned, there will be critical reading assignments. Each of these reading assignments will by accompanied by a reading analysis (i.e. a critical thinking - assignment). These will by a one (or two) page (maximum) typed analysis of the reading assignment. For each critical reading assignment you will be provided with appropriate questions to focus your analysis

Both the traditional homework and reading analysis assignments are vital toward succeeding in the class. Each assignment will be due at the start of class on its due date. Homework will typically be due one week after its assignment. Reading analyses will be due on the class session following the reading assignment. No late work will be accepted.

Exams: There will be one midterm exam tentatively scheduled for Tuesday March 11. The cumulative final exam is scheduled for Thursday May 8, 2008, 8:30-10:20 a.m. Use these dates to make your travel plans accordingly.

Attendance and Classroom Participation: You are expected to arrive prepared to ALL 28 of the course sessions. Furthermore you are expected to participate in the classroom discussions and activities to the best of your abilities. It is difficult to envision a student missing and/or arriving unprepared to a number of the class sessions and still succeed in the course.

Grading: Grades on all assigned work and exams will be based on correctness, clarity and style; presentation counts. Your grade for the course will be split equally between the homework assignments (60%) and all other course work using the following breakdown: Midterm exam (10%), Final exam (15%), and critical reading analyses (15%).

Please notice that your work on the homework and journals is very important to your grade. Nonetheless, I urge you to be patient with yourself if you struggle in the early portion of the course, or indeed in any portion of the course. Learning, like science itself, proceeds in fits and starts. Hard effort sometimes pays off in gradual improvement and other times pays off in a sudden jump after all the pieces fit. I (and others) am here to facilitate that journey for you, please make use of us!

The Department of Computer Science and Mathematics has adopted the following grading standards:

A: Exceptional. The student's attainments are out of the normal course, unusual and special.
B: Good. The student's performance is done rightfully or skillfully and is commendable.
C: Satisfactory. The student's accomplishments are sufficient for the needs of the course.
D: Minimal passing.
F: Failure.

Plus/minus modifiers on grades will be used solely at the instructor's discretion. In cases where the instructor believes the plus/minus modifiers help give a more honest and accurate assessment, they will be used.

A more detailed explanation can be found at http://www.cs.xu.edu/~mikeyg/gradingStandards.html.

Exceptions to the Rules: Almost all rules are designed to be broken under the correct set of extraordinary circumstances. It is strongly recommended that you communicate to the instructor at the earliest possible time any circumstances you feel warrant an exception (e.g. illness, religious holiday, personal and/or family crisis, etc.). Remember that going into hiding is probably the worst strategy you can adopt! There is a direct relationship between the amount of sympathy you can anticipate from an instructor and the amount of time remaining until a given assignment's due-date. Finally, remember that if you are uncomfortable discussing something directly with an instructor (e.g. personal problems) you can always contact someone in the Dean of Students Office and have that individual contact the instructor.

Course Objectives:The primary focus of this course is to develop algorithmic problem solving techniques and to serve as an introduction to the field of computer science.

The basic activity of computer science is problem solving and therefore most of our efforts revolve around algorithms. Just as humans who are good problem solvers often mystify us, so computers seem strange and mystifying to those who haven't had the chance to understand them. We hope that this introduction to the science demystifies it enough to also demystify the machines enabled through this science.

Specifically, the course objectives are that students will be able to:

• explain key notions of computer science, particularly algorithm, abstraction, computability, and efficiency in non-technical terms.
• read articles about technology or computer science and relate them to the notions of computer science discussed in class.
• explain the basic components of algorithms and use them to describe algorithms for simple tasks, demonstrating algorithmic problem solving skills. The environment for the algorithms will vary and students will be expected to demonstrate skills in each environment.
• design abstractions for a variety of problems.
• analyze some simple algorithms in terms of their efficiency.
• reflect on the ethical issues raised by activities facilitated by technology related to computer science, and build a coherent statement of opinion on the matter.

Honor Code: All work submitted must be your own. You are strongly encouraged to discuss the homework with your classmates or with the instructor, but you must work out, write up, create, or program your own solutions. Work you hand in must be conceived, created, and fully understood by you. The best way to ensure this is to craft your solutions/answers/programs when you are by yourself rather than during your discussions with others. This will insure that your work is based on your own understanding rather than on that of your classmates. To do otherwise is a violation of the college's policy on academic honesty and will be handled accordingly. Please refer to the rules described in the Student Handbook.

I encourage you to follow these two guidelines, stated on many course websites, but perhaps originating most recently at Duke University.

• The Gilligan's Island Rule: Essentially, the idea is that when you meet to discuss problems, it is fine to have a communal board or paper to work out your ideas, but this record should be destroyed at the end of the session. Then, everyone should spend at least thirty minutes doing a relatively mindless task (like watching reruns of a brainless show - e.g. Gilligan's Island). This rule helps everyone be sure that the work they create truly represents their understanding of the material.
• List of Collaborators: If you discussed the problems with others, include their names in your writeup, either at the beginning or end of the problem, or in a section specifically designated as the list of collaborators. (If you have the same collaborators on all problems, a single listing is fine. If it varies by problem, list on a problem-by-problem basis.)

Remember, un-noted collaboration or any form of cheating will need to be dealt with harshly to protect the integrity of everyone involved.

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