CPS 1.001, Fall 2004

Course Overview

Instructor Dietolf (Dee) Ramm dr@cs.duke.edu 660-6532 D226 LSRC Office Hours: Wed 1:30-2:00, Thu 2:30-3:30, for other times, just ask!	Lectures 111 BioScience 10:20 to 11:10 MWF Lab sessions 01 Old Chemistry 2:50 to 4:10 (one of) M-F

Senior UTA Alex Papson ap21@duke.edu Office Hours: TBA	Grad TA Siddhesh Sarvankar siddhesh@cs.duke.edu D307 LSRC Office Hours: TBA

Summary of office hours and review sessions

List of Lab TAs

Textbook Great Ideas in Computer Science with JAVA by A. W. Biermann and D. Ramm, MIT Press, 2001.

Central Theme
What computers and computer networks are, how they work, what they can do, and what they cannot do, now and in the future. This includes a focus on the concepts that are likely to be important for years to come.

Sub-themes
An exposure to Java Programming.
Interaction of computers/computing with society.

Course Outline (most of these topics will be covered)

Using computer networking
- HTML- setting up your own home page
- Browsers
- Java applets
Computer programming in the language Java
- Interfaces with the network
- Decision trees
- Object-oriented programming
- Text manipulation
- Numerical computation
- Databases
- Software engineering
- Simulation
Understanding what a computer is and how it works
- Electric circuits
- Machine architecture
- Language translation
- Operating systems
- Computer networking
Advanced topics
- Computer security
- Complexity theory
- Noncomputability

Topics Not Covered
Commercial word processing, operation of commercial software packages, history of computing.

Who Should Take This Course
This course is designed for students who have no experience in computer science, who have no or minimal computer skills, and who want a general overview of the field. Little or no mathematical background is required. However, students should be prepared for a rigorous coverage of computing including extensive programming, detailed studies of the internals of the computer, and various advanced topics. Students should be prepared to learn several abstract notations in the course and to use them extensively.

About the Instructor
See Ramm's home page

This Web Site
This web site includes general information about the course, information about the professor and the TA staff, all of the class handouts (as they become available), all of the lab assignments (as they become available), and current news and announcements.

First Lab
Labs begin on Monday, 8/30.

Grading

	Item	Approximate Weight
	Programs, problems (labs)	10%
	Programming test (in the last lab. meeting)	5%
	In-class activities	5%
	Project/Essay	15%
	Quizzes (every week at the end of the Wednesday lecture)	25%
	Midterm Exam (Wed, Sep 29)	15%
	Final Exam (Wed, Dec 8, 7:00pm )	25%

Grading Policies

Each student must write his or her own programs without help from other persons. After a program is typed into a machine, students may help each other to find bugs but not to write new code. Homework problems must be done without help from others.
Normally, no make-up exams will be given. If the absence is excused, the final grade will be based on the other scores earned. If an exam is missed for reasons beyond the student's control, the following are the appropriate responses.
If you missed work due to a short-term illness, you must follow the procedures described
here. For other emergencies (death of a relative, other serious personal problems, etc.) you should contact your dean. He/or she will then send excuses to all courses affected.
The lowest two quizzes will not be counted. No make-up quizzes will be given. If a quiz is missed for an excusable reason, be sure to hand in a written excuse. The quiz average will be based on the quizzes actually taken.
Late homeworks or programs (labs) will be penalized. The penalties will be announced at a later time.
The grade of I (incomplete) will be administered as specified by University rules. Thus it will not be given to those students who simply did not complete the course on time.
Unethical practices by any student (such as copying on an exam or copying a homework) will be dealt with strictly usually by turning the case over to the Judicial Board. (Special caution: Often two or more versions of the quizzes or exams are used on a given day. If you accidentally see an answer different from yours on another paper, both may be correct. Your neighbor may be taking a different version of the test from you.)
The final exam is not optional and every student will be required to take it at the scheduled time unless a written excuse is presented from the Dean.
Final grades will be assigned approximately on the basis of 90%-100% A, 80%-89% B, and so forth.

Records
Grades will be recorded on the Blackboard system. They will be available there for your inspection and verification. However, keep copies of all homework assignments, quizzes, labs, and tests until after the end of the course. Occasionally assignments are misplaced and errors are made in grading or recording your grades. You will be expected to have copies of all of your work. You will be given grade feedback. You will be expected to compare these with your personal copies and notify us of any errors.

Class Schedule