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\title{Computer Science 160 \\
A First Course in \\
Computer Programming}

\author{Dr. Stephen Bloch \\
office 114 Alumn\ae\ Hall \\
phone 877-4483 \\
email \texttt{sbloch@adelphi.edu} \\
Web page \texttt{http://www.adelphi.edu/sbloch/} \\
Class Web page \texttt{http://www.adelphi.edu/sbloch/class/160/} \\
office hours 10:00-12:00 Monday \& Friday,
1:00-4:00 Tuesday \& Thursday}

\maketitle

\section{Subject Matter --- Overview}
Computers do many of the same things people do, only faster, more
accurately, and without getting bored.
Accordingly, the task of programming a computer is essentially the task
of figuring out exactly how \emph{you} would solve a particular problem,
and then explaining it to the computer.  Unfortunately, computers are
literal-minded and completely devoid of intuition, so your explanation
must be much more precise and unambiguous than if you were explaining
things to a human being.  This course, therefore, is about how to
analyze a problem, figure out precisely and unambiguously how to solve
it, and present this explanation to a computer.

In a broader sense, this course is about problem-solving, and about a
particular way of approaching the world which we may call \emph{algorithmic
thinking}.  I consider computer science a ``liberal art''
providing training in how to think, regardless of whether you choose it as
a profession.

\section{Who Should Take This Course}
This course is intended primarily for people who have not previously
studied computer programming, both CS majors and non-majors.  For
non-majors, this course counts towards your math/science distribution
requirement.  Students who have passed at least a semester (half a year)
of computer programming with a ``B'' or better, or who have a strong
math background, may skip this course and go straight to CSC 171, or
they may take this course anyway; some of the concepts will be familiar,
but they'll probably still learn a lot.

If you're a computer science or information systems major and haven't
previously studied programming, you should take this course as early
as possible, preferably in your first semester at Adelphi.  If you're a
computer science minor or a math major and haven't previously studied
programming, you should take this course in your first two
years at Adelphi.
If you're curious about how computers work, what programming is like,
and how programmers think, this is a good course to take.
If you have no interest in
writing programs of your own, but simply want to \emph{use} Web
browsers and search engines, spreadsheets, databases, word processors,
\emph{etc.} and perhaps write your own Web pages, you should 
take CSC 170 instead.

\section{Prerequisites}
This course has no prerequisites.  Students are not expected to know how
to program, use, or even turn on a computer.  However, students who have
done some programming in a different language 
may still benefit from the course; consult the professor.

\section{Subject Matter --- More Details}
\subsection{``Good'' Programs}
What distinguises a ``good program'' from a ``bad program''?  Obviously,
a good program has to work correctly and reliably~--- a difficult goal
in itself, as we'll see.  But this is far from enough.
In practice, very few programs are written once, used for a
while, and discarded: much more often, a program is used until the need
for it changes, the program is \emph{modified} to handle the new
requirements, the modified program is used for a while, and the cycle
repeats.  Thus a ``good program'' must be not only correct the first time
around, but structured in such a way that it can easily be modified to
accomodate likely changes in requirements.  We'll study how to design
such programs.

\subsection{Kinds of Knowledge}
A first programming course is in some sense an almost impossible
task.  In one semester, you'll be asked to learn several different kinds
of knowledge:
\begin{enumerate}
\item How to use the computers and the software on them
\item The grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary of a programming
language
\item How to analyze a problem and design a program to solve it, so that
the program is both correct and easy to write, read, modify, and repair
\item How to plan your time, and what sequence of steps to go through,
in designing, writing, testing and debugging a program
\item Application-specific knowledge (\emph{e.g.} to write a program
that draws geometric shapes on the screen, you have to know something
about geometry.)
\end{enumerate}
It is easy for a student (or a professor or a textbook author, for that
matter) to get caught up in the details of the first two at the expense
of the rest.  I urge you \emph{not} to fall into this trap, because the
specific kinds of computers and software, and to some extent the
language, you learn this semester will almost certainly be obsolete by
the time you leave Adelphi.  The much more interesting and lasting
knowledge is at levels 3, 4, and 5 (and I'll try to minimize the time we
spend on level 5 because it's not specific to computer science). 
In short, although all five kinds of knowledge are necessary in order to
write a good program, I'll try to concentrate on levels 3 and 4.

\subsection{Language and design recipes}
Programming a computer requires that, to some extent, you learn the
computer's language.  Computers ``understand'' a lot of different
languages, and the choice of language affects how you approach
programming.  I've taught beginning programming in a number of
different languages --- Pascal, C++, Java --- but to my mind most
of them require spending \emph{far} too much class time on level-1 and
level-2 knowledge, with not enough time left for levels 3 and 4.
So for the past three years we've been starting students in the 
simple, easy to use Scheme language, and switching to more complicated
languages like Java or C++ for the next semester
after students have a firm understanding of the concepts.

We'll pay a lot of attention to \textbf{design patterns}, which are
step-by-step ``recipes'' for getting from a vague English-language
description of a problem to a working computer program.  Every year,
some students skip the recipes when they're in a hurry, and
invariably find themselves wasting more time as a result.  To prevent
this, \textbf{you will be graded} on, among other things, how well and
thoroughly you use the recipes.

% \subsection{Knowing your Tools}
% If you wanted to learn carpentry, you would start by studying the
% characteristics and capabilities of each of the common tools carpenters
% use, so you use the right tool at the right time for things that it does
% well.  In programming, although you have editors, compilers, etc. to
% help, your main tool is your mind; accordingly, it makes sense to study
% the characteristics and capabilities of your mind.  Indeed, it can be
% studied and measured just as scientifically as a bouncing ball in
% Physics class.  By the end of the semester, you should have a much
% better idea (backed up with hard numbers) of how \emph{you} work as a
% programmer, and hence the ability to accurately estimate how long
% \emph{you} will need to complete a specified programming task.  This
% allows you to plan ahead and complete assignments on time --- an
% invaluable skill for a professional programmer, and applicable to the
% (non-programming) rest of your life as well!

\section{Texts}
We'll use the textbook \emph{How to Design Programs},
by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt, and Krishnamurthi (who also wrote the
programming platform we'll use, DrScheme).  This book is available in
the bookstore, but you don't have to buy it because it's also available
on the Web at \texttt{http://www.htdp.org/}

% For more level-4 knowledge, we'll use \emph{Introduction to the Personal
% Software Process}, by Watts Humphrey (Addison-Wesley 1997, ISBN
% 0-201-54809-7).  This book discusses how to keep track of problems you
% encounter in programming, so as to prevent them in the future, and how
% to manage your time so as to finish programming assignments before
% they're due.  (The easiest way to fail my class is to fail to turn in
% homework assignments!)

You'll need to read, on average, around 15 pages a week.
\textbf{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; I often post assignments, corrections to assignments,
solutions to assignments, \emph{etc.} there.

\section{Grading}
I expect to give about ten programming assignments, one
every week or two.
Most assignments are to be turned in by email, and will be considered late
if the time stamp on the email is after midnight on the assigned due
date.  Assignments will lose $10\%$ credit per day late, so if you've
got the choice between turning in an incomplete program today and a
better one tomorrow, turn it in today unless you think you'll improve it
by more than $10\%$.
Any homework assignment turned in after midnight, Friday, May 10 (the 
last day of class) will get a zero.

I also plan several brief in-class quizzes (say,
15 minutes each), mostly on level-2 language issues.  Which I said I wasn't
particularly interested in, but you \emph{do} need to know it in order to do
your assignments, and these quizzes seem the best way to make sure
everybody learns the language.
Each quiz will count for 2\% of your semester grade.  Quizzes cannot be made
up; if you're not there the day I give the quiz, you get a zero on it.

% These numeric grades will be converted to letter grades as follows:
% I'll draw a curve showing the distribution of numeric grades, and look
% for naturally-occurring ``clumps''.  For each clump, especially the
% top and bottom ones, I'll examine some exam and
% homework papers to decide what letter grade seems appropriate.  This
% method corrects for excessively hard or excessively easy assignments
% while not penalizing anybody for having genius classmates.

We'll also have a two-hour final exam from 10:30-12:30 on May 15,
and a ``brownie points'' grade, each
weighted the same as a programming assignment. 
For example, if there are 5 quizzes, 10 programming assignments, and a final
exam, each quiz will be worth 2\%, each programming assignment will be worth
7.5\%, the final exam will also be worth 7.5\%, and the ``brownie
points'' (my purely subjective judgment of how seriously you're taking
the course) another 7.5\%.  The precise numbers may vary a little from this.
The final exam must be taken at the scheduled time, unless arranged in advance
or prevented by a documented medical or family emergency.  If you have
three or more exams scheduled on the same date, or
a religious holiday that conflicts with an exam or assignment due date,
please notify me in writing within the first two
weeks of the semester in order to receive due consideration.
% (and I'd
% prefer it if you let me know earlier --- you should know within the
% first week of class when all your exams are).
Exams not taken without one of
the above excuses will be recorded with a grade of 0.

\section{Program standards}
Every program must contain, in the first few lines, a comment indicating the
name(s) of the student(s) working on it and which assignment it is.
Programs not containing this information, clearly visible, will get a zero.

Every program must be accompanied by test cases, so I can see how it
actually works.
Programs with inadequate or poorly-chosen test cases will lose points
(we'll discuss how to choose good test cases); programs turned in with no
test runs at all will lose \emph{lots} of points.

Having done my share of programming, I know that sometimes you hit a brick wall
and cannot get the thing to work for love or money.
If this happens, turn in the program together with
a detailed description of how the program fails,
what you've tried in your attempts
to fix it, and how those attempts didn't succeed.
You won't get full credit, but if I'm
convinced that you're working on it diligently, you'll get partial credit.
Note that ``how the program fails'' does \emph{not} mean saying
``I got an error message'': you need to tell me \emph{which} error message you
got, \emph{when} you saw it, and \emph{what} you think the error message means.
Similarly, if the program fails by producing wrong answers,
you need to tell me \emph{when} it produces wrong answers
(are they \emph{all} wrong, or just in a few cases?),
\emph{how} they are wrong (\emph{e.g.} are all the numbers consistently
higher than you expected, are they the negatives of the correct answers,
or are they all over the place with no apparent pattern?),
and your speculations on \emph{how} such an error might have arisen.
I'm requiring all this not because I'm mean and horrible, but
because by the time you've written all this down,
you may have enough information to actually \emph{fix} the problem,
which is much better than turning it in incomplete.

I also expect you to maintain a log of what kinds of errors you encountered,
how you discovered them, how long it took you to fix them,
and what the actual problem was.  This log must be turned in with each
homework assignment.  I've written some Web-based forms to make it easy
to record this stuff, or you may just keep track of it yourself.

% Programs are not abstract works of art,
% they are supposed to run and solve real problems.  So if I get a program
% that doesn't compile or run, or a program that has little or nothing to do
% with the problem I assigned, I will give it a zero, no matter how much
% time you put into it.  Don't bother turning in a program you haven't
% tested yourself.

\section{Ethics}
Most homework assignments in this course involve writing, testing, and
debugging one or more programs.  For most of these assignments, you are
to work in teams of two students, switching teams from one assignment
to the next, if at all possible.  (If you have a really terrible
schedule and can't get together with a partner, talk to me and we'll
arrange something.)

When I say
``teams of two students'', I don't mean ``you write the first half of the
assignment, and I'll write the second half''; I want \emph{both} students
working \emph{together} on \emph{all} of the assignment, using the techniques
of Pair Programming (on which I'll give you a reading assignment).
I expect people to switch partners from one assignment to the next, so you
get experience working with different people.

It's hard to define what constitutes ``cheating'' in this sort of
course.  Students are encouraged to help one another with level-1 and
level-2 difficulties (``how do I save this file?'', ``what's the syntax
for \texttt{define-struct}?'', \emph{etc.}), regardless of whether
they're on the same team, but designing, coding, testing, and debugging 
should be done by the one or two people whose names are on the assignment.

It's remarkably easy for a professor to
notice when three different teams have turned in nearly-identical
programs; if that happens, I'll grade it once and divide the credit
among the three, so the best any of them can hope for is 33\%.  I
don't try to figure out who copied from whom; it is \emph{your}
responsibility to not let anyone copy your homework.  Among other
things, that means don't leave it on the ``Universal Share'' drive,
because anyone at Adelphi can copy it and even delete it.

All work on the final exam and the quizzes must be entirely the work of the one
person whose name is at the top of the page.  If I have evidence that
one student copied from another on an exam or quiz, \emph{both} students will be
penalized; see above.

% \pagebreak

\section{Schedule}
This class meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 12:00-12:50 PM
in Business 110.

All dates in the following schedule are tentative, except those fixed
by the University; if some topic listed here as taking one lecture in
fact takes two lectures to cover adequately, or \emph{vice versa},
the schedule will shift.  I'll try to keep this information up to date
on the class Web page.

% In the column marked ``Reading'', the letters ``HtDP'' precede section
% numbers in \emph{How to Design Programs},
% while the letters ``PSP'' precede section numbers in
% the Humphrey textbook on the Personal Software Process.  There may also
% be other reading assignments provided on the Web.

% In no case will an assignment be due earlier than indicated in the
% following schedule, but some may be due later; this will be announced
% in class a reasonable time in advance.  I'll try to keep an updated
% version of this schedule available online.  

I expect you to have read the reading assignments (usually 5--10
pages per lecture)
\emph{before} the lecture that deals with that topic.  
This way I can
concentrate my time on answering questions and clarifying subtle or
difficult points in the textbook, rather than on reading the textbook
to you, which will bore both of us.  \textbf{Please read ahead!}

When I say ``read'' above, I
mean an active process, involving not only the textbook but
pencil, scratch paper, and a notebook for writing down key points.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you'll need a computer for trying
out the new ideas you find in your reading.  Just as you cannot learn
about cooking or driving a car just by reading about it, you cannot
learn about programming just by reading about it.  In short,
\emph{every} time you read about a new programming idea, \emph{try it!}
The \emph{How to Design Programs} textbook contains lots of exercises,
which you are encouraged to do as you come to them in the text, whether
assigned as homework or not.

% \subsection{Schedule for Section 2 (9:25 AM)}
% 
% blah
% 
% \subsection{Schedule for Section 3 (10:50 AM)}
% 
% blah

% Quiz 1: Solo, week 1.
% algebraic expressions
%
% HW1: Solo.
% Fill out surveys.
% Use a Web browser to visit the class page and read some of the adages.
% Write a brief essay on what you've done with computers in the past,
% what you hope to do with them in the future, what you hope to do with
% them this semester, and your reaction to the adages you've read.
% Turn in by email; due Week 2.
% 
% Quiz 2: Solo, week 3.
% Defining functions.
% 
% HW2: In pairs, due Week 4.
% Defining functions (Chap. 2)  Defect recording log.
% 
% HW3: In pairs, due Week 5.
% Function composition and designing larger programs. (Chap. 3)
%
% Quiz 3: Solo, week 5.
% Conditionals and booleans.
% 
% HW4: In pairs, due Week 6.
% Conditionals, booleans, and symbols (chaps. 4-5)
% 
% HW5: In pairs, due Week 7.
% Graphics and (x,y) coordinates (chap. 6)
% 
% HW6: In pairs, due Week 8.
% Defining structures (chap. 6)
%
% Quiz 4: Solo, week 8.
% Structures.
% 
% HW7: In pairs, due Week 9.
% Mixed-type data (chap. 7)
%
% Quiz 5: Solo, week 9.
% Lists.
%
% HW8: In pairs, due Week 10.
% Lists (chap. 9)
%
% HW9: In pairs, due Week 11.
% More with lists (chap. 10)
%
% HW10: In pairs, due Week 12.
% Recursion on natural numbers (chap. 11)
%
% HW11: In pairs, due Week 13.
% Functional abstraction? Assignment? Loops? Vectors?
% 
% Final exam: Solo.  Comprehensive.
\end{document}
