CS 112 Syllabus - Summer 2013

• An ability to use procedural programming language concepts including expressions, decision statements, simple data types, Boolean logic, input/output, loop constructs, and procedures.
• An ability to combine programming techniques to solve problems of varying degrees of difficulty.
• An ability to refine computer programs through testing and debugging to ensure proper operation.
• An ability to find and understand programming language documentation to learn new information needed to solve programming problems.

C or better in MATH 104, 105, or 113 (or sufficient score on the math placement test). Corequisite: CS Majors must also be enrolled in CS 101 this semester.

• The Practice of Computing Using Python, second edition. William Punch and Richard Enbody.
  • An eText version is available.
  • readings will be suggested, but there will not be required problems from the book.
  • an older version of the text uses Python 2.7.x, instead of Python 3.x. There are a few significant differences in syntax, but if you can keep track of these (and different page numbers), you might be able to use an old version of the book if you've already got access to it.

All correspondence will go through Piazza. You can send private messages to the instructors (professor, GTAs, UTAs all) as well as post public questions visible to all students, collaborate on responses, and tag everything by topic.

• All assignments will be submitted (per published deadlines) via Blackboard. This is basically the only use for Blackboard in the course. (submitting work, viewing grades).
• Course discussions will take place on Piazza. Go sign up now, so you don't miss announcements.
• Documents such as GTA/UTA contacts, schedules, and lecture slides will be on piazza.

All project grades will be averaged together. Projects are due at a specific time on a specific day. Each 24-hour period that is entered before turning in the assignment will incur a 25% "ceiling penalty". This means your score will be the minimum between what functionality score you achieve on it and the penalties score. For instance, turning in an assignment 25 hours late is two "days" late, so the lateness penalty score would be 100-25-25 = 50%. If you scored a 93% for functionality, you would actually receive min(93,50)=50%. If you scored only a 43% for functionality, your score would be min(43,50)=43%. This is much better than a flat percentage penalty off - the missed points overlap with the penalty!

Each student will be given three Late-Day tokens to skip the late assignment penalty. They are automatically applied to the earliest late submissions.

The last project might not be allowed to be turned in late at all, to facilitate grading by the deadline. If this is the case, leftover late-day tokens will be worth a small reward.

The lowest project grade will be dropped.

After the first two projects, any code turned in that does not compile (specifically on Python 3) will receive at most 50%. No exceptions. At this point, if the grader is able to quickly fix your code, you might get some points back. If the grader cannot immediately spot and fix the issue, you'll be fortunate to get any points at all.

• Turning in code that runs is a big deal!

All lab assessment grades will be averaged together. Lab assessments will be either paper-and-pencil quizzes or computer-based tasks.

Any missed lab assessment is simply missed, regardless of the reason why (travel, illness, work, traffic, etc.)

We will drop the lowest two grades from this category.

If you choose to miss some early on, and later on have to miss for some understandable reason, that is too bad. Try to save them so you can actually throw out a bad grade, and not just to hide some zeroes.

• these tests will focus on performing programming.
• they will be entirely paper and pencil - no computers.
• all students must have their GMU identification available on testing days
• if you miss the midterm, and a valid reason is verified with documentation (ER visit, traffic accident, violent illness), I may elect to allow the final exam to count 40% to give you a sort of do-over. This policy is not automatic, however.
• if you miss the final, there is very little I can do for you. Don't miss the final!
• the final will not be given early. You are starting the course with knowledge of the schedule (see below).
• You must pass the final exam to pass the course. You also need to have a passing percentage grade, but failure on the final exam indicates a systemic lack of true progress. After well over 1,000 students, I've only had to apply this rule a handful of times (I think three times). Generally, students who fail the final exam do not have a passing grade in the course anyways.
• there will only be a curve if a specific question ends up being too ambiguous or otherwise obviously unfair.

• given the percentages above, the allowed assessment/project drops, you should always be able to calculate your semester grade at any point in the semester.
• there will be no make-up or extra-credit assignments at the end of the semester; your grade should be a measure of your semester-long progress.

Grades will be assessed on the following scale:

If you feel points have been incorrectly deducted, contact the grader. For all projects and lab assessments, that is your GTA who leads the lab section. For the midterm and final exam, that is the professor.

If you have not initiated contact within a week of receiving the grade, it is too late. We cannot entertain a swarm of contested grades at the eleventh hour to try to maximize end-of-semester grades.

We strive to grade each student's work fairly and uniformly, often through specific tests, which might even be automated as part of the grading process.

• All students will abide by GMU's Honor Code.
• All work must be your own. If you are caught cheating, you and every other involved student will be turned in to the honor court.
• See the CS Honor Code Policies to understand better what constitutes cheating in the CS setting.
• See the CS Statement on Academic Integrity for more information.