15-190-mini:  Topics in Intermediate Programming
Syllabus -- Spring 2010


Staff
Schedule
of classes:
   Days  Staff Time Room
 Lecture W Kosbie (koz) 6:30pm - 9:30pm GHC 5222
 Reprise F CA's tbd tbd
Office Hours:


See 15-110 Syllabus.
 
Required
Textbooks:		 None.
Optional
Textbooks:
  • A.K. Dewdney, "The New Turing Omnibus"
     
  • Brookshear, "Computer Science: An Overview"
     
  • Biermann, "Great Ideas in Computer Science"
     
  • Harel, "Algorithmics:  The Spirit of Computing"
     
  • Janacek and Close, "Mathematics for Computer Scientists"
    Numbers, Logic, Induction, Sets, Counting, Functions, Sequences, Calculus, Matrices, Probability, Statistics
     
  • Kaw, et al, "Numerical Methods with Applications"
    Approximation and Errors, Differentiation, Nonlinear Equations, Simultaneous Linear Equations, Interpolation, Regression, Integration, Ordinary Differential Equations, Fast Fourier Transforms, Partial Differential Equations, Optimizations
  • Horstmann, "Big Java", 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2007, ISBN: 0470105542.
     
  • Carrano and Savitch, "Data Structures and Abstractions With Java", 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2006, ISBN: 013237045X
Required
Software: 		We will use Java 1.5.  You could also use Java 1.6 (the most recent version), and in a pinch even Java 1.4 (though we will occasionally use features such as the "foreach" loop that are not present in that version).  Given the sometimes subtle inconsistencies between Java versions, it is advised that you remove any other versions of the JDK that you may have on your machine (though this is not a requirement).

For now, we will use 2 IDE's: DrJava and, for those using PC's (rather than Macs), JCreator (we like version 2.5 -- it's older, but it's simple and gets the job done).  This is a loose requirement, in that you may elect to use another IDE, or even just the command-line.
Course
Requirements: 		Attendance is required.  Missing one week will lower the semester grade by 1 full letter grade.  Missing two weeks will result in failing the course.

Participation in this course is required.  Students are expected to pay attention, take clear and complete notes, ask and answer questions, and contribute to all aspects of the course.

Homework is optional.  All the required material will be covered in lecture.  Even so, students are encouraged to do the optional homework assignments in order to get the most out of this learning opportunity.

Assessment:  Any material covered in lecture may be included in the next week's quiz.
Grading:
 Course Component    Weight 
Attendance + Participation 50%
Quizzes 50%

Each quiz will be graded on a standard scale:
   A: 90 - 100
   B: 80 - 89
   C: 70 - 79
   D: 60 - 69
   R:  0 - 59
Bonus and Extra Credit: The homeworks are optional.  They will not impact your grade.
Exams: There will be no midterm or final exam.
Quizzes:

Quizzes will be given once per week covering the previous week's material.   No late / make-up quizzes or tests will be administered, except in the case of medical or family emergencies.
Cheating
and
Collaboration:

Except for quizzes, students may collaborate in any way with anyone.