General Information

Instructors:

Office Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Lecture Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:40 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Room: Park 278
Lab: Wednesdays 2pm-4pm in Room 231 (additional lab hours will also available, see below)

Laboratories:

• Computer Science Lab Room 231 (Science Building)
• You will also be able to use your own computer to do the labs for this course.

Lab Assistants: The following Lab assistants will be available during the week for assistance on lab assignments.

1. Kalina Kostyszyn Mondays & Wednesdays 9:00a to 11:00a
2. Bryce Lewis Wednesdays and Thursdays & Wednesdays and Thursdays 8:30p to 10:30p
3. Leqi Liu: Tuesdays & Wednesdays 8:00p to 10:00p
4. Adrianna Castilla-Hernandes Fridays 2:00p to 4:00p and Tuesdays 9:15a to 11:15a
5. Ziyan Yang: Mondays & Wednesdays 3:00p to 5:00p
   

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Texts & Software

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Syllabus

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 new language/environment built upon the programming language Java. Processing was created by artists, designers, and computer scientists to explore ideas of creative coding sing computer algorithms.

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

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Important Dates

September 3: First lecture
October 8: Exam 1
December 10: Last lecture/Exam 2

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Assignments

1. Lab Assignment 1, Due Monday, September 8
2. Lab Assignment 2, Due Wednesday, September 10
3. Homework Assignment 1, Due Wednesday September 17
4. Homework Assignment 2, Due Wednesday September 24
5. Homework Assignment 3, Due Wednesday October 10
6. Homework Assignment 4, Due Monday November 3, 2014
7. Homework Assignment 5, Due Monday November 17, 2014
8. Homework Assignment 5 Code
9. Homework Assignment 6

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ClassExamples

1. drawInLoop
2. Eyes
3. Eye
4. Bouncing Ball
5. polygon based on mouse
6. maui bus flower
7. bezier curves tutorial
8. star burst and jelly fish
9. pieChart
10. Apple Stock
11. Apple Stock Price File
12. OOP Tick Reader
13. More OOP Tick Reader
14. final Review Questions
15. studentInfo

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Lectures

• Week 1 (September 3)
  
  
  September 3: Course introduction, adminstrivia. Computing: an introduction, examples of modern day computing. Algorithms, programs, and programming languages. Creative computing: an introduction with examples. Introduction to Processing.
  
  Slides: 01_Introduction
  
  Do: Go to the computer lab, log in and start the Processing 2.0 application . Go to the Tutorial section of the Processing web site:
  
  http://www.processing.org/tutorials/gettingstarted/
  
  Read the Getting Started tutorial (by Casey Reas and Ben Fry) and try out the two examples of simple Processing programs presented there.
  
  If you’d like to be able to work on your own computer, go to processing.org’s Download section and install Processing on your computer. Ensure that you have a working implementation of Processing.
  
  After completing the above tutorial, readChapter 1 (Read pages 1-12, skim 12-32, return to IDE details as needed)
  

• Week 2 (September 8, 10)
  
  
  September 8: Art By Numbers. Processing, Drawing basics: canvas, shapes, and colors. Introduction to Processing commands: size(), background(), 2D shapes (point(), line(), triangle(), rectangle(), quad(), ellipse(). Drawing attributes and modes. Structure of a static processing program. CS/Programming principles: Algorithms, psuedocode, code, syntax, sequencing.
  
  Slides: 02_ArtByNumbers
  
  Do: Read Chapter 2 (pages 33-50).
  
  Read and do the Coordinate System and Shapes and the Color tutorials on processing.org.
  Review the Processing commands introduced; try them out, experiment with shapes, modes, attributes, and colors.
  
  Lab Assignment#2 (Due on Wednesday, September 10):
  

September 10: Lecture#3
Topics: Basic drawing & 2D shapes contd.: arc(), quad(), curve(), beginShape(), endShape(), vertex(), curveVertex(). Basic structure of a static Processing program.

Slides:03_2DShapes


Do: Finish reading Chapter 2. For more on drawing curves read the Drawing Curves tutorial on processing.org.


September 10: How to draw simple text. Variables, types (int, flot, String, boolean, color), naming rules, declarations, arithmetic operators. Predefined Processing variables: width, height, displayWidth, displayHeight, PI, HALF_PI, TWO_PI, mouseX, mouseY. Static vs. Dynamic Program modes, (usijng setup() and draw() functions), code blocks ({..}), interactivity with mouseX and mouseY variables, event listeners, frame rates.
Homework Assignment#1 (Due on Wednesday, September 17):
Homework Assignment 1
Do: Read Chapter 3 (page65-72)




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• Week 3 (September 15, 17)
  
  Pre-Survey: Please fill this out!
  
  September 15:
  Slides:04_Functions
  
  
  Homework Assignment#1 (Due on Wednesday, September 17):
  Homework Assignment 1
  September 17:
  
  

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• Week 4 (September 22, 24)
  
  September 22:  
  
  Slides: 05_ControlStructures
  
  while loops, do while loops, for loops, if statements, review of functions and variables
  Review and interactive review of examples, loops, functions, variables, iteration
  September 24:   Home Work Assignment #2 Due
  

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• Week 5 (September 29, October 1)
  
  September 30:
  
  Trigonometry, drawing polygons, more interactive review
  October 2 :
  random and noise functions, more trigonometry

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• Week 6 (October 6, 8)
  
  October 6:
  review of material todate
  October 8: Exam 1 is today.
  

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• Week 7 (October 13, 15)
  
  No Classes. Fall Break
  
  

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• Week 8 (October 20, 22)
  
  October 20: Review Class Exambr>
  October 22: Read Chapter 5, Arrays, Data Visualization
  
  

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• Week 9 (October 27, 29)
  
  October 27: More Arrays, Graphs For Data Visualization,
  
  October 29: Finish Chapter 5
  

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• Week 10 (November 3, 5)
  
  November 3: Start Reading Chapter 6
  Finish Arrays, Heat Maps, Labels on x,y axis and how to calculate. Wrap up apple chart example
  Homework Assignment#4 (Due on Weds November 5):
  
  Slides: Arrays
  
  
  November 5: Introduction to Object Oriented Programming and Classes
  Classes encapsulating data and behavior: eye example, ball example. Principles of object oriented programming and ball game development

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• Week 11 (November 10, 12)
  More object oriented programming examples
  November 10:
  
  November 12:
Inheiritance, Shape Hierarchy, balls in box

Course Policies

Communication

Attendance and active participation are expected in every class. Participation includes asking questions, contributing answers, proposing ideas, and providing constructive comments.

As you will discover, we are proponents of two-way communication and we welcome feedback during the semester about the course. We are available to answer student questions, listen to concerns, and talk about any course-related topic (or otherwise!). Come to office hours! This helps us get to know you. You are welcome to stop by and chat. There are many more exciting topics to talk about that we won't have time to cover in-class.

Although computer science work can be intense and solitary, please stay in touch with us, particularly if you feel stuck on a topic or project and can't figure out how to proceed. Often a quick e-mail, phone call or face-to-face conference can reveal solutions to problems and generate renewed creative and scholarly energy. It is essential that you begin assignments early, since we will be covering a variety of challenging topics in this course.

Grading

There will be seven assignments, weighted equally in the final grading.  Assignments must be submitted according to the Assignment Submission instructions.  You should pay careful attention to the Code Formatting Standards and Grading Policy when doing your assignments.  The grading structure for individual assignments is broken down in the Grading Policy, posted in each assignment.

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.

Submission and Late Policy

All work must be turned in either in hard-copy or electronic submission, depending on the instructions given in the assignment.  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 and supported by your Academic Dean.

No assignment will be accepted after it is past due.

No past work can be "made up" after it is due.

No regrade requests will be entertained one week after the graded work is returned in class.

Exams

There will be two exams in this course.  The exams will be closed-book and closed-notes.  The exams will cover material from lectures, homeworks, and assigned readings (including topics not discussed in class).

Study Groups

We encourage you to discuss the material and work together to understand it. Here are our thoughts on collaborating with other students:

• The readings and lecture topics are group work. Please discuss the readings and associated topics with each other. Work together to understand the material. We highly recommend forming a reading group to discuss the material -- 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 solutions, mathematical results, program code, etc.  If you made any notes or worked out something on a white board with another person while you were discussing the homework, you shouldn't use those notes while writing up your answer.
• Under ABSOLUTELY NO circumstances should you share computer code with another student.  Similarly, you are not permitted to use or consult code found on the internet for any of your assignments.
  
• Exams, of course, must be your own individual work.

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Links

A database of color names

Created on August July 28, 2014.