Summer 2011 Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. J. Carter M. Tiernan 620 NH x20113 (817-272-0113)
E-mail: tiernan@uta.edu Web: www.uta.edu/faculty/tiernan or
ranger.uta.edu/~tiernan
Class CSE1320 – 001 (51382): TR 1:00 – 2:50pm, NH 229
Office hours: Wed. 1:30 – 3:00 and other times available by appointment
In the summer I run summer camp programs so it is hard to hold regular hours
but I can make appointments to work with you and am happy to do so.
Course Objective:
For students with basic programming skills, this course continues development of the students' capabilities in programming using advanced features of C consistent with software engineering principles. Students successfully completing this course will be able to apply structured, top-down design software engineering techniques to the analysis and procedural design of moderately complex computer programming problems. Moreover students will gain the ability to program in C using aggregate data structures and dynamic memory allocation techniques. Time permitting, students will also be introduced to programming in C++ using objects and will discuss concepts of object-oriented programming.
Catalog Description:
Programming concepts beyond standard control and data structures. Emphasis is given to data structures including linked lists and trees as well as modular design consistent with software engineering principles.
Prerequisites: CSE 1104, CSE 1105, CSE 1310 (or CSE 1311), and MATH 1323 (or concurrently).
Textbook: Foster and Foster, C By Discovery, Fourth Edition. REQUIRED
Schedule: See Dr. Tiernan's website for the list of class topics, the semester schedule and the exam dates for the class.
Grading:
Labs 46% {4 labs at 8, 12, 12, and 14 percent}
Three (3) in-class quizzes 6% {3 at 2 percent each }
Exam I 15%
Exam II 15%
Final Exam 18%
Extra Credit Service Learning 3% {OPTIONAL - see below}
The first lab assignment will be offered early in the semester and is designed to help students practice with the basics of C programming (function calls and definitions, input/output, mathematical operations, etc.). All lab assignments are individual effort only.
Make up exams must be arranged in advance and will be scheduled at the discretion of the instructor.
CHEATING on exams, PLAGIARISM, or COLLUSION will not be tolerated.
Labs:
Every lab assignment has a given due date. No late labs will be accepted. (Five minutes late is still late.) Lab assignments will be posted on the class website listed at the top of this page.
Lab assignments must be individual effort. The Statement of Ethics you will receive details the definitions of collusion, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty as related to lab assignments in CSE.
All four (4) required labs must be submitted in order to have the possibility of making a grade of A. At least three (3) out of the four (4) required labs must be submitted in order for a student to pass CSE 1320 with a C or better. At least three (3) of the submitted labs must receive passing grades (with no significant errors) in order to pass CSE 1320 with a C or better.
All of the four required lab assignments will be written in C. Time permitting there may be an optional extra credit lab written in C++.
Lab Grading:
Each lab will be graded on a number of factors. Always be sure that a turned in lab compiles on the UTA omega UNIX system under the gcc compiler without warnings or errors even if it is not complete. You will receive partial credit for a working stubbed program. It is your responsibility to completely test your lab assignment PRIOR to submission.
Programs that do not compile successfully (without compiler warnings or errors) will receive zero (0) credit.
Programs that do not execute successfully (without inappropriate termination) will receive zero (0) credit.
This means that ALL choices the user can make when running your code must work properly and ALL inputs (excluding ones the lab instructions say you don't have the deal with) must work properly even if the input value is invalid; for example, a negative value for a month must NOT make your program crash.
Labs that implement some, but not all, of the requirements must compile and run successfully without errors or warnings to receive partial credit. Examples of errors are
Compilation errors - these occur when the program is being compiled and prevent creation of an executable file (a.out)
Compilation warnings - these occur when the program is being compiled, are printed to the screen but still allow the creation of an executable file
Execution errors - these occur once the program has started running and cause the program to terminate in any way other than that defined by the programmer (ex: segmentation fault, divide by zero error, incompatible types, etc.)
See the class website for complete instructions on how to compile and submit lab assignments. See the link labeled “How to submit your 1320 lab”
Additional procedural information on lab assignments may be handed out or made available on the website as required.
There are LOTS of references on the class website to help you write programs. Use them! Note that the “Sticky Bits in C” presentation has some info about how to do debugging.
Quizzes:
Pop quizzes will be given in class and based on the assigned chapters and class lectures. No make-up quizzes will be given.
Exams:
Material covered on the exams will be based on the assigned chapters and class lectures. All exams are mandatory. There are NO make-up exams after the scheduled times. If a student notifies the instructor IN ADVANCE, then an early make-up exam M AY be arranged at the discretion of the instructor. The instructor's decision is final. All exams may be kept by the instructor.
Service Learning Extra Credit:
This class will offer the opportunity for you to earn up to 3% extra credit for the semester grade by performing some service to the CSE department, the UT Arlington College of Engineering, the University, or the community. The service must be completed and documentation turned in by the Friday BEFORE Dead Week. The service learning credit structure is as follows:
- 4 or more hours of service to the CSE dept. or the College of Engineering, documented by a faculty or staff member, is worth 3%;
- 2 to 4 hours of service to the CSE dept. or the College of Engineering OR 4 or more hours of service to the University, documented by a faculty or staff member, is worth 2%;
- 2 to 4 hours of service to the University, documented by a faculty or staff member OR 4 or more hours of service to the community documented by a staffer of the community organization is worth 1%.
CSE dept. service includes volunteering at approved events, joining ACM, GDC, or AAAI and assisting with their events, or other CSE service approved in advance by Dr. T. Approved events include the RoPro Contest (Feb.), Engineering Saturday (Sept., Nov. and Apr.), FIRST Tech Challenge (Mar.), FIRST Lego League (Nov.), and the RoPro Camp (July). This is not a complete list but it gives some examples.
College service includes volunteering at the Engineering Welcome Bash, joining ESC/ JCEO, volunteering at Engineering Summer Camps, and assisting with ESC events such as Engineers Week, or other College of Engineering service approved in advance by Dr. T.
University service includes activity with UTA Volunteers, FLOC, or the BIG EVENT, or other UTA service approved in advance by Dr. T.
"Community" service includes volunteering at public schools, parks, animal shelters, and homeless shelters.
Other venues for service (within UTA or within the community) must be approved in advance by Dr. T prior to your service.
Miscellaneous:
The class syllabus, schedule, and other information will be available on my website as it is developed. YOU are responsible for checking the website regularly for information such as due date changes and assignments.
Before census day you must e-mail to tiernan@uta.edu the following information:
Full name, e-mail address to be used for class distribution list (this must be an e-mail address that you CHECK regularly and preferably a UTA address), and any special information you would like me to have about you.
The subject line for this e-mail should be "Lastname - CSE1320 Distribution List Info" substituting your last name for "Lastname"
If you require accommodation based on disability, I would like to meet with you in the privacy of my office during the first week of the semester to ensure that you are appropriately accommodated.
If you are considering dropping this class please come discuss your performance in the class with Dr. Tiernan so that you can make the best choice.
Students who are members of the Honors College may wish to take this course for Honors credit. If you wish to do so, please provide me with an Honors Credit Contract (downloaded from http://honors.uta.edu/documents/credit.pdf). You and I will together determine an appropriate supplemental assignment to justify the awarding of Honors credit. If you are not in the Honors College and would like to learn more about the benefits of membership, visit the website at http://honors.uta.edu/, where you will find an application form for electronic submission.
Grading issues:
Requests for re-evaluation of assignments are limited to seven (7) calendar days after the assignment is returned. Every assignment submitted for regrading must be given to the instructor (exams and quizzes) or lab instructor (labs) in its entirety and will be completely regraded. Papers will not be re-evaluated in the classroom or lab.
Applications for excluding (or replacing) the grade in a course are available online from the Registrar's office (Office of Records) and must be turned in to the Registrar before the last drop day of the semester in which the course is being retaken.
Semester grades will be available via the UTA website, after the Registrar has completed processing the semester grades.
Ethics and Academic Integrity:
A Statement of Ethics will be provided for you to read, sign, return, and follow. Violators of the ethics code will be reported to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs and penalties will be levied as described in the Statement of Ethics.
How to be successful in Dr. T's class:
For lecture material - Read the textbook in advance. Come to class with material already a little bit familiar then hear it in class again
For lab assignments - START EARLY! Read and follow ALL the instructions. Don't pick and choose which ones you pay attention to. Use a highlighter to go over the assignment the first time and a pen or pencil to go through it a second time.
Design your lab first, then build it piece by piece. Make each piece work and TEST it before you do more. Save a version of the tested partial program then make a copy and continue working on the copy. This means you always have a working version that you could turn in. Test your program by trying out all the possible things that can be wrong and make sure that your program keeps running. If Dr. T says the program does not have to handle a particular problem then you can ignore that one.
How to get help:
This course offers assistance through weekly office hours for the course instructor and the TA. USE THEM. Go talk to the TA as soon as you can just so you can meet them. Once you meet them, it is easier to ask them for help. Go talk to Dr. T in her office as soon as you can. Same reason.