Course Schedule (Fall 2005)

Syllabus Annotations

• It has a thorough introduction section that describes how computers, hardware, software and the Internet work, as well as the process of editing and compiling programs. Some introductory texts just jump into the programming process and don't give the background information on computers, networks and the web. I doubt I'll spend much time covering this material in class, but for students without much experience, this could give some much needed insight.
• The topic order seems to basically be in line with what our ad hoc departmental committee recommends; basic data types and expressions and object creation and use come before writing classes of one's own, although this is still done before selection and iteration, which may be too early. We'll see...
• The text uses Java 1.5 which should be helpful for the students' transition to CSCE 270.
• Advanced topics like inheritance, polymorphism, exceptions and recursion are covered later in the book.
• The book has many self-review exercises (with answers), exercises and some programming assignments at the end of each chapter.
• The book is quite readable and I think will be accessible to students. I like the "key concept" boxes that emphasize important points. It is the fourth edition of the book so I anticipate (and hope!) it will have fewer errors, which can be very confusing for novice programmers.
• The student web site looks helpful.

Note also that this course is designed as a first year course for computer science and computer engineering majors. It is also required for some other majors including physics. If you are just looking for a course to fill a general university requirement, then this is probably not the right one for you. You might want CSCE 120 instead.

This statement is very honest and lets the students know up front what the course is generally all about. It also reflects some of the frustrations of faculty who have taught the course in the past that students who "didn't belong" in the class would quickly be overwhelmed by the material and the amount of work required by the course. Although I knew I was opening myself and the students up to the possibility of this same sort of thing happening during the current semester, I felt strongly that I wanted to present a more inclusive view of the course. Thus I changed the statement to point out that the course could be useful to non-majors and a place where students could explore the possibility of pursuing CS or CE further. One of the best programmers I've had in an introductory computer science course (CS2) was an English major.

To help alleviate concerns or fears inexperienced students might have, I also added an explicit statement that previous programming experience was not required for the course.

This course is designed to be an introduction to some of the basic concepts of computer science within the context of learning a computer language. By the end of the term you should expect to have a good working knowledge of the Java language, a rudimentary idea of computer science as a discipline, and have been exposed to object oriented programming and graphical programming.

I decided to modify the course goals on the syllabus to reflect the course objectives identified in this portfolio of skill development, contextualization of computer science and fostering a hospitable environment. The first two I stated explicitly. For the last it made more sense to me to actually be hospitable, sharing with the students my hope that they'd enjoy the class and programming, rather than to tell the students that I wanted the class atmosphere to be a hospitable one.

• email - Students often email me when they are having problems completing their programming assignments. Nothing beats the fact-to-face communication of office hours for providing this sort of help. However, I like email because it forces students to articulate specific questions. They cannot walk in my office and offer a generic "it doesn't work" or "it crashes". If their first (or subsequent emails) don't ask a specific enough question I reply with a question that prompts them to be specific (e.g., "What does the error message say?", "What have you done to track down the error?", etc.) Students soon begin to realize that articulating a precise question the first time will get them the help they need much more quickly.
• online forum - I have had some classes that make extensive use of online class forums. For example, a couple of my classes with only around 20 students logged over 400 forum postings over the course of the term. Again, I like this mode of communication because it forces students to be articulate. It also makes students aware that others are having similar problems to their own (very helpful for less confident students), gives them a chance to help others (a constructive outlet for more advanced students), and all students can benefit from the exchanges that occur. To encourage students to use the forum I check and answer forum questions often, give little "hints" on lab and homework assignments (especially early in the semester) to help them realize it is worthwhile to read the postings, I let them know it is fine to post questions anonymously (that way they don't have to worry about looking "stupid") and I thank them for their questions and their replies to others. While I answer many of the questions on the forum, some of the most productive threads have developed when I have been unable to check the forum often because I was at a conference or had a looming paper deadline. Students will really step up and help each other out. One danger of using class forums though is that students will post too much of their code, thus giving others their solution. I try to make it clear that if they need to include more than a couple lines of code in their posting then they need to email me directly.

Last Modified: 6/2/2006