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Course Information and Introductions
Intro to Computer Science
CS1510, Section 2
Dr. Sarah Diesburg
University of Northern Iowa 1
Instructor
Sarah Diesburg ([email protected])
Office: 311 ITTC
Office hours: MWF 11-noon, 2-3pm, by appt.
Class website:
1. http://www.cs.uni.edu/~diesburg/courses/cs1510_fa13/index.htm
2. eLearning
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Teaching Assistants
Levi Bostian Email: [email protected] Will help you with the labs (on Tuesdays)
Elise Fahrenkrug Email: [email protected] Will help you with homeworks 3-4pm M/W in WRT 339
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Class Schedule
Lecture M W F 10:00-10:50am in 328 ITTC Mandatory Three lectures per week
Lab Tues 10:00-11:50am in 112 Wright Also mandatory Hands-on work on projects for points TA and I are available
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Today
Passing along attendance sheet For rest of lectures, please sign by your name Used for two purposes
Class objectives What is computer science?
Logistics
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What is computer science??
Computer science is a discipline that involves the understanding and design of computers and computational processes And it’s a REALLY diverse discipline
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Wearable Computing
VirtualEnvironments
GraphicsComputer Vision
Robotics
Ubiquitous Computing
Bioinformatics
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Information SecurityUser informationAssurance
Digital Special Effects
Databases
High Performance Simulation
Human ComputerInterface Design
Groups of Contacts
Icons Representing
Individual contacts
Group Icons
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What do these things have in common? They all treat the computer as only part of a
bigger picture
They all treat the computer as a tool!
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Which tool would you rather use?
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Just like other tools, we have to be careful they aren’t misused
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But how do we turn a computer from that thing on our desk…
To that powerful tool that helps us solve problems?
Bioinformatics
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Programming!
Programming is the process of writing, testing, and maintaining the source code of computer programs Collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of
tasks, to be carried out by a computer While this course is an introduction to computer
science, it focuses on how we can program the computer to be the tool we need!
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A Well-Educated Computer Scientist Should be Able to... Apply the fundamental concepts and
techniques of computation, algorithms, and computer design
…to a specific problem
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Our Goals This Semester
Increase our problem solving skills Design good solutions to problems Test how well they are indeed solutions to the
problem Provide the solution as a readable document
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A brief look at course logistics Take the time outside of class to thoroughly
read the course syllabus (paper copy given to you, but also posted to the class website).
Some highlights…
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Why two websites?
eLearning is for interaction Traditional website is for notes, labs, and
other downloads Demo…
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Prerequisites
None Some of you may have programming
experience, others may not Either way is fine
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Required Skills
Time and patience
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Course Material
Lecture notes (posted at the class website) Textbook:
The Practice of Computing Using Python (2nd edition), by William Punch and Richard Enbody
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Class Grading
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Activity Quantity Points
Class Participation (Discussion Board)
6 pts per post 30
In-lab work (Tuesday) 13@15 pts each 195
Programming Assignments
11@25 pts each 275
Written Exams 100 and 150 pts 250
Programming Exams 2@125 pts each 250
Total 1000
Grade Scale
90% of all points for some sort of A 80% of all points for some sort of B 70% of all points for some sort of C
(Please notice, you must have a C or higher to enroll in the next course!!)
60% of all points for some sort of D Below 60% for an F
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Your Responsibilities
Understand lecture and reading materials Attend office hours for extra help, as needed Uphold academic honesty Turn in your assignments on time Check class web page and your UNI email
account and regularly
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Dos and Don’ts
Do share debugging experiences Do share knowledge of tools Do acknowledge help from others Do acknowledge sources of information from
books and web pages
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Dos and Don’ts
Don’t cheat Don’t copy code from others Don’t paraphrase code from others either
E.g., changing variable names & indentations Don’t post code to the discussion board
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Course Policies
Attendance mandatory There are no make-up exams for missed
exams… Honor code: read your student handbook Students with disabilities
Report to Student Disability Resource Center Bring me a letter within the first week of class
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To see or not to see me & TAs We are not psychics Please let us know if…
Class is too hard You don’t have the background Class can be improved in certain ways
When in doubt, email us…
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Survival Tips
Do post messages and read the discussion board frequently Sign up to receive emails
Do not post code on the discussion board If you absolutely need someone to look at your
code, contact me or the TA Web search engines are your good friends
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Programming Environment
Python freely available online (www.python.org) But get version 3.3.2
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Guidelines for Success in this Course Prepare for lecture! Read the text selections
before the start of lecture and complete any class prep assignment
On previous course evaluations, the NUMBER ONE answer to the question “I could have improved my learning in this course by…” was some variation of “read the textbook”
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Guidelines for Success in this Course Be on time. Class sessions will start promptly at
10:00. I will collect assignments at that time and will often start with important announcements.
Write code on your own! Think of simple problems on your and solve them. If you wonder "what if," TRY IT!
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Guidelines for Success in this Course Start assignments early so you have time to ask
questions. Face to face questions are better than email
questions. If you email me the night before something is due you
shouldn’t get mad if I don’t respond. If you spend more than 15 minutes staring at the
computer stuck on something, ask for help! Make use of the office hours early! Don't wait until late
in the term to seek help.
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Guidelines for Success in this CourseYou can (and should) program from home Remember, programming takes practice Make sure that your code runs in the lab
Verify that code that runs on another machine actually runs in the lab so there are no surprises at grading time
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Guidelines for Success in this Course Finally, remember, programming takes
practice. You may not get it the first time, but keep trying, asking for help, and caring. Eventually, you might find out that you are pretty good at this whole process!
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Rooms you should know! ITTC 328 – Lectures ITTC 305 – The departmental office ITTC 311 – My office ITTC 335 – Student Lounge Wright 112 – Labs on Tuesday. Open-lab other
days of the week. Wright 339 – Open-lab (TA hours 3-4pm M/W)
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Important Announcements For Tomorrow
Read Section 0.8 Meets in Wright 112 and starts PROMPTLY at 10:00 AM Make sure you know your CatID credentials
If you think you have used them but can’t remember them, get them reset downstairs in room 36 (you will need a photo ID)
Bring a USB drive if you have one (and if you don’t, GET one).
For Wednesday Read Sections 0.1-0.7
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