CSC 160
Computer Programming for Non-Majors

Fall, 2008

Syllabus	Calendar	Homework	PSP	Moodle (incl. my textbook)	Pictures used in my textbook	Worked Exercises from my textbook	Supplementary Textbook	Daily Survey	Design recipes

This course meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:25-3:40 PM in Science 227. The last time I taught this course was Spring 2008.

Getting Help

My office hours (in Alumnae Hall 113A; if I'm not there, look around the corner in the 112 lab) are MTTh 1:00-2:15, W 10:00-12:00, and other times by appointment.

Textbook

The main textbook for this class is one that I'm writing; it'll be available, chapter by chapter, on Moodle. I use a lot of pictures in the book; if you'd like to be working with the same pictures, you can download them from here. In past semesters, I've used How to Design Programs, by Felleisen, Fisler, Flatt, and Krishnamurthi, published by MIT Press, and you're encouraged to read parts of that book too (especially when we get to chapters of my book that haven't been written yet!)
We'll be programming in the Scheme programming language. Why Scheme rather than C++ or Java?

Partners for upcoming assignments

Recipes and Syntax Rules

Software support

We use the software package DrScheme, which is available for free download for Windows, Mac, and Unix. You are encouraged to install it on your home computer. The current version, which should be installed in the computer labs on campus, is 371.

After you've installed it, please also download and install the 371-tiles.ss and 371-sb-world.ss teachpacks; see here for directions.

Reading List

• Read (and use!) the Design Recipe(s).
• Skim my Adages on Software Engineering and Object-Oriented Programming; in particular, read the few paragraphs about "the joys (and woes) of the craft".
• On Pair Programming: read All I Really Need to Know about Pair Programming I Learned in Kindergarten , and
  the Extreme Programming page on Pair Programming
• More generally, skim through the various sections of Extreme Programming
• An interesting article on the value of computational thinking for non-computer-scientists
• My page on the minimal Scheme language treats Scheme as a foreign language, with its own spelling, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, and idioms.
• You might also be interested in Jack Crouch's CS1 Web site. Jack Crouch teaches a course on beginning programming, using Scheme, DrScheme, and How to Design Programs; the difference is that he's teaching high school freshmen rather than college freshmen.
• Why Scheme rather than C++ or Java? A collection of success stories and articles about Scheme in education and industry.

Who should take this course?

This course is intended primarily for people who have not previously studied computer programming, primarily non-majors. CS majors are allowed to take the course, and will almost certainly learn something, but this course isn't part of the CS major. For non-majors, this course counts towards your math/science distribution requirement.