CMU 15-112: Fundamentals of Programming and Computer Science
Check1: Due in Autolab by 10pm Tue 17-Jan

• Important: you should start this check right away. There is no need to wait until you arrive at CMU to get started!


• Please read all the directions carefully before starting!


• This check should take 2-3 hours to complete. Please do not hurry through this. Take your time and do it well, taking time not just to finish the assigned tasks, but to try to really understand the material. Learning is more important than finishing quickly. In any case, this is an intensive course, and you want to get off on the right foot!


• As we will discuss when we first meet, this course is "semi-flipped", in that you'll start each week -- including the first week! -- by watching videos of some of the basic concepts for that week. This allows us to use lecture and recitation time chiefly for the higher-level concepts and applications (that is, problem-solving), which is a better use of your precious time. We tried this model in fall-16, and students and staff reported that it worked quite well, as also evidenced by students spending less overall time on the course while learning as much as their predecessors. Sweet!


• With that said, the semi-flipped model will only work well for you if you take it seriously, and really watch the videos, and really think hard about them, and come to class on Tuesday ready for the next step.


• As for how to watch the videos: it's really important that you stop them as you go, and try out the code yourself. You can do this directly in the browser. Run the code examples. Then, edit them slightly and predict what will happen, then run the edited code to confirm. Play around with it, work the clay, don't be afraid to make mistakes, just be curious and have fun with it. That will lead to much deeper learning!


• But with that said, we do not expect you to completely master the material in the videos. If that were so easy to do, we'd just offer the entire course by video. We do not believe that to be the case. So we also offer extensive office hours and online supports, not to mention lots of labs and homeworks and quizzes and such, starting from the first day of classes. Since you'll be watching these videos before then, just do your best, understand them as well as you can even if that's quite imperfectly, and that will be just fine. So long as you try reasonably hard, you're fine.


• While all future checks are strictly collaborative, check1 is optionally collaborative or solo, the reason being that many of you will do this before you arrive at CMU which makes it very difficult to form groups for this check. Again, this is a one-time exception.


• Even so, you are encouraged to work in small groups if that is in any way possible in your case, watching the videos together, pausing as you go, discussing the videos, and being sure that everyone is following the material. Besides, working in groups is an important job skill to develop, and in addition it's simply more fun.


• That said, while you are strongly encouraged to collaborate, be sure that all your submitted work is entirely your own. Do not copy anything from anyone here -- only submit your entirely-original answers for credit.


• To start:
  1. Download the file check1.txt
  2. Be sure to track your time as you go, and to answer the questions in the check1.txt file as you go rather than after watching all the videos. Edit the check1.txt file directly, as you will submit that file when you are done.
  3. Carefully watch all the videos in these notes: Getting Started, Functions, and Data and Expressions.
  4. Note that you are not expected to watch the video on Conditionals, though you may do so if you wish, as we will be covering that material in lecture on Tuesday.
  5. Answer all the questions in the check1.txt file.
  6. When you are done, upload your completed check1.txt file to Autolab. Be sure to click on "check1", and be sure to submit this before Tuesday at 10pm. No late submissions will be accepted.
     • Note: some of you may have problems logging into or submitting your file to autolab. If that's the case, don't worry. We will have office hours on Tuesday and we will gladly help you get your work uploaded then.
  7. The deadline on all future checks is 10am, so that you complete them prior to attending class on Tuesday (which is the point, after all). But given that a few of you may not be able to start this task by then, on check1 only the deadline is 10pm Tuesday. However, we very strongly encourage you to complete this before Tuesday's lecture if at all possible. You will get more out of Tuesday's lecture if you do so, and you will save yourself a large block of work on Tuesday night as well. So get to it, and good luck, and have fun!