This course is intended for students from the humanities and social sciences who want a one-course introduction to computers, and have little or no computer experience. No mathematics or science background is assumed. The course is a broad introduction to computer science, including topics from hardware design, algorithms, data structures, and theory.
The laboratory is complementary to the classroom work, uses PCs running
Windows, and is based on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Students
will construct their own home pages in the first couple of weeks. They
will then add to them throughout the semester, while exploring a broad
spectrum of practical applications, including graphics and digital
sound. The final three labs are a gentle introduction to programming in
Java.
Alexey Lvov
207 Fine Hall, 258-3683
lvov@math
Office hours: Tuesdays 12--1, or by appointment
Yaoyun Shi
214 C.S. Building, 258-1793
shiyy@cs
Office hours: Mondays 11--12, or by appointment
None. No math, no programming experience.
This course uses a discussion, not lecture, format. Each class will cover particular subjects from the assigned reading; particular issues for discussion will be posed in a handout distributed the previous week (and available on the course homepage). Students will be expected to have carefully read the relevant assigned readings and to have prepared responses to, and analyses of, any assigned discussion questions or topics. The quality and quantity of student participation in class discussions is worth 20 percent of the course grade. Participation grades will reflect the quality of the student's analysis as well as the student's contribution to the process of discussion: making connections with other students' remarks, raising overlooked issues, asking good questions, making good summaries.
Nine hands-on computing laboratory exercises will be assigned, starting the second week of classes. The labs are designed to be easily completable in two-and-a-half hours or less, during the scheduled lab sections, which are: M-Tu-W-Th 1:30--4:20 and M 7:00--9:50. Assistants will be in the labs to help out. Most labs requires about one hour of preparatory reading. There will be no labs in the first week of classes, the week before Spring recess, nor the last week of classes.
The laboratory room is located in the Engineering Quadrangle: Room E-203 can be found by entering the Olden Street door closest to Prospect St., turning right, and then following the sound of keyclicks. Lab section assignments will be based on student preferences, and will be posted before the start of the first lab.
Lab reports are together worth 40 percent of the course grade. To receive credit, students must complete labs in the week they are assigned, unless there are extraordinary circumstances and/or prior arrangements.
Weekly problem sets, together worth 10 percent of the course grade, will be assigned. Problems will be drawn mainly from the text. They are intended to be straightforward and should take at most 2 hours to complete, not counting the reading. Problem set solutions will be due on Fridays by 5 PM sharp. No credit will be given for late papers unless there are extraordinary circumstances and/or prior arrangements. There will be no problem set due in the week before Spring recess (midterm instead), nor in the last week of classes.
Policy on collaboration. Students are encouraged to collaborate on problem sets, but must turn in separate solutions; the names of collaborators should appear on the paper.
A take-home, open-book midterm examination will be given
during the week before spring break.
It will cover material presented and discussed in the classes and
assigned reading through
Tuesday, March 10.
It will be worth 10 percent of the course grade.
A take-home, open-book final examination will be given during the
spring-term exam period. It will cover all of the assigned readings and material
presented and discussed in class.
It will be worth 20 percent of the course grade.
Policy on collaboration. Are you kidding? No collaboration on take-home exams.
G. Michael Schneider and Judith L. Gersting, An Invitation to Computer Science, PWS Publishing Company, 1995.
Copies of any supplemental readings will be handed out in class.