Bryn Mawr College
CS 110: Introduction to Computing
Spring 2012 - Section 2
Course Materials

Last updated: Februrary 15, 2012. Subject to change.

General Information

Course Description: An introduction to the nature, subject matter and branches of computer science as an academic discipline, and the nature, development, coding, testing, documenting and analysis of the efficiency and limitations of algorithms. Also includes the social context of computing (risks, liabilities, intellectual property and infringement).

This semester, we will be exploring the creative aspects of coding as a context for learning the above concepts. You will exercise your creativity by desiging programs in a language called, Processing. Processing is a language/environment built upon the programming language Java. Processing was created by artists, designers, and computer scientists to explore ideas of creative coding using computer algorithms. The blurb below, from Shifman's text is an excellent description of what we will be doing this semester:

This book tells a story. It’s a story of liberation, of taking the first steps towards understanding the foundations of computing, writing your own code, and creating your own media without the bonds of existing software tools. This story is not reserved for computer scientists and engineers. This story is for you.

From: Learning Processing, by Daniel shiffman, page ix.

We will cover the entire text during this semester. Please refer to the text for more details.

Text & Software

Syllabus and Schedule

Course Policies

Communication

Attendance and active participation are expected in every class. Participation includes asking questions, contributing answers, proposing ideas, and providing constructive comments. Feedback is welcome at any time.

Grading

There will be 7 assignments assigned. Assignments must be submitted according to the CS 110 Assignment Submission Policy.
There will be 6 problem sets assigned. Problem sets will be due at the same time as assignments; both should be submitted together.

At the end of the semester, final grades will be calculated as a weighted average of all grades according to the following weights:

Incomplete grades will be given only for verifiable medical illness or other such dire circumstances. Graded work will receive a percentage grade between 0% and 100%.

The instructor reserves the right to adjust the percentage ranges for each letter grade upward in your favor.

Submission and Late Policy

All work must be turned in as an electronic submission. E-mail submissions, when permitted, should request a "delivery receipt" to document time and date of submission. Extensions will be given only in the case of verifiable medical excuses or other such dire circumstances, if requested in advance.  Refer to the Assignment Submission Instructions for details..

Late submissions will receive a penalty of 20% for every 0-24 hours it is past the due date and time (e.g., assignments turned in 25 hrs late will receive a penalty of 40%).

Exams

There will be two exams in this course.  The exams will be open book, open notes.  They will cover material from lectures, homeworks, and assigned readings.

Study Groups

You are encouraged to discuss the material and work together to understand it.

• The readings and lecture topics are group work. Please discuss the readings and associated topics with each other. Work together to understand the material. Reading groups to discuss the material are highly recommended -- we will explore many ideas and it helps to have multiple people working together to understand them.
• It is fine to discuss the topics covered in the homeworks, to discuss approaches to problems, and to sketch out general solutions. However, you MUST write up the homework answers, solutions, and programs individually without sharing specific details, mathematical results, program code, etc. 
• Under NO circumstances should you share computer code with another student.  Similarly, you are not permitted to use code found on the internet for any of your assignments.
  
• Exams, of course, must be your own individual work.

If you have any questions as to what types of collaborations are allowed, please feel free to ask.

Links

• Processing web site
• Shiffman text web site
• Dropbox
• BMC @ OpenProcessing
• Studio Sketchpad
• ASCII Codes