Course Basics

Prerequisites: CS 112 (C or better)
Format: Lecture plus weekly lab

Instructors:

Lectures:

Labs:

Textbooks:

Blackboard: Blackboard will be used for all course material (slides, etc.), assignments, and grades.

Gradescope: Gradescope may be used for exams and assignment submissions.

Piazza: Piazza will be used for all official announcements, online discussion and Q&A; any announcements made on Piazza will be assumed to be known to students.

• Do not e-mail course staff about programming problems; use the discussion board.
• Use public posts on Piazza to discuss programming project requirements, labs, and other material related to the course.
• When prompted by a TA, use private posts on Piazza to share portions of your code pertaining to your questions. Don't share your project code in public posts.
• Email course staff only for personal issues such as meeting outside of office hours, missing lab/lecture, grading disputes, medical situations, etc. Email addresses are listed above.

Course Information

Course Description: Thorough treatment of programming according to object-oriented principles. Introduces classes, interfaces, inheritance, polymorphism, and single dispatch as means to decompose problems. Covers intermediate programming techniques including error handling through exceptions, arrangement of source code into packages, and simple data structures. Intermediate debugging techniques and unit testing are covered.

Outcomes

1. An understanding of basic object-oriented programming concepts and principles
2. An ability to apply basic object-oriented principles and techniques in the design and development of software systems using a specific programming language.
3. An ability to effectively use both basic command line tools and sophisticated integrated development environments, and to understand the benefits and limitations of each.
4. An ability to successfully perform debugging operations and techniques.

Coursework

Readings: online textbook with practice problems; weekly deadlines; automated grading
Class participation: it varies by instructor
Labs: programming exercises during recitation(lab) sessions; collaboration/group work allowed; same date as the recitation(lab) sessions
Exercises: programming assignments; open resources; collaboration/group work allowed; weekly deadlines
Projects: programming assignments; individual work; 2-3 weeks to complete.
Exams: individual work; you might need the Respondus Lockdown Browser as well as a working webcam and microphone.

Grading Procedures

Grade Distribution

Grading Policies

• Grades within a category (i.e. midterms, projects, labs) are weighted equally.
• Students must have Respondus Browser lockdown installed before taking any quiz or exams.
• By department policy, the student must pass the final or the weighted average of all three exams must be a passing grade (≥ 60) in order for a student to pass the course.
• The final exam is cumulative; a high final exam score dominates (replaces) lower score on midterm.
• Challenging of any grade must occur within a week of when the graded assignment has been returned.
• Any number of resubmissions are allowed (the most recent is used), however a resubmission turned in after the deadline will be considered a late submission.
• Lab grading is fully automated. Projects and Exercises grading is partially automated.
• Code which does not compile will receive a zero in most cases.
• Absences are absorbed by the drop policy - in general, make-ups are not allowed except on exams (under very special circumstances).
• Assignments are due at midnight on the listed due date.
• Late submission policy (up to 48 hours) is as follows: <=24 hours with 10% off, >24 hours &&<=48 hours with 20% off, > 48 hours will receive 0. For example, if you are late by 10 hours and you get 90 on the assignment, your final points will be 81. Submission times are automatically recorded by Blackboard, and there is no distinction between a minute late and a day late. Please plan ahead to make sure that your submission is on time. Saving backups regularly is highly recommended.

Grading Scale

Tips

• Save backups regularly because the unexpected happens and cannot be used as an excuse to get an extension. Save backups on a cloud service because the local file system timestamp is not acceptable.
• To receive a grade, the submission must be gradable. This means submitting .java source rather than compiled .class files or word documents containing the source. It also means that the code must be submitted on Blackboard rather than simply saved.

Honor Code

Unless specific instructions are given to the contrary, programming assignments are an individual effort, no group work is allowed. In addition to code, this includes the sharing of test cases, pseudocode, or approaches, receiving assistance in debugging code, as well as the use of external Internet sites.

Both the GMU Honor Code and the CS Department Honor Code apply in this class. Any use of a direct contribution on any program, homework, quiz, or exam will be reported as a violation of the honor code.

We take the honor code quite seriously. Any attempts at copying or sharing code, algorithms, or other violations of the honor code simply will not be tolerated. We use automated software to flag suspicious cases, and then review them to find the cases that must be submitted to the Office of Academic Integrity. The penalty for cheating will always be far worse than a zero grade, to ensure it's not worth taking the chance. Confirmed cases of cheating almost always translate into course failure.

Some kinds of participation in online study sites violate the Mason Honor code: these include accessing exam or quiz questions for this class; accessing exam, quiz, or assignment answers for this class; uploading of any of the instructor’s materials or exams; and uploading any of your own answers or finished work. Always consult your syllabus and your professor before using these sites.

Special Accommodations

Students who have a right to accommodations due to disabilities or other conditions should discuss this with the instructor as soon as possible. Accommodations will follow the recommendations of the University's Office of Disability Services.

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Tentative Schedule