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This semester we'll use several ``textbooks'':
- Data Abstraction and Problem Solving with C++: Walls and
Mirrors, 3rd edition, by Carrano and Pritchard.
Most of the reading assignments, and some of the homework, will be from
this book.
- Watts Humphrey's Introduction to the Personal Software Process.
Using exercises in this book, you'll study your own programming style
and learn to predict how long you'll take to accomplish a specified
programming task, as well as to budget your time so you finish each
program without staying up until 3 AM the night before it's due.
I won't give specific reading
assignments in this book, but expect you to finish it on your own by the end
of the semester. Each homework assignment you turn in should be
accompanied by various work logs, described in the book.
- Bjarne Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language.
This is a reference book, not a textbook: it doesn't explain things
in as much detail as a ``teach-yourself-C++'' book would, but gives you
the information you need. Since professional
computer scientists have to learn a new language every year or two, you should
get used to learning a language from this sort of book.
I've ordered the third edition as an ``optional'' textbook for the
course; if you already have a previous edition, you can use it for most
of the topics we'll cover.
The reading assignments are an important part of the course. If you're
going to pay $50 or more for a textbook, you might as well get your
money's worth by reading it. We'll go through about 10 chapters
of the Carrano-Pritchard book, most of the Humphrey book, and
scattered parts of the Stroustrup book this semester, so
make time in your weekly schedule for at least fifty pages a
week.
You are responsible for everything
in the reading assignments, whether or not I discuss it in a lecture.
You are also responsible for checking my class Web page at least once a week or so for assignments, corrections to assignments,
solutions to assignments, etc..
Next: Grading
Up: Computer Science 172 Introduction
Previous: Subject Matter
2001-08-17