CS 1054: Syllabus

Instructor

Graduate Teaching Assistants

  • Name: Robert Ball
  • E-mail: rgb6@vt.edu
  • Office: McB 116/118
  • Office hours: TBA
  • Lab hours:
    • (91365) F 2:30 - 4:20 PM
    • (94926) F 11:15 AM - 1:05 PM
    • (94928) R 2:30 - 4:20 PM
  • Name: Purvi Saraiya
  • E-mail: psaraiya@vt.edu
  • Office: McB 116/118
  • Office hours: TBA
  • Lab hours:
    • (91366) W 6:00 - 7:50 PM
    • (91367) W 1:25 - 3:15 PM
    • (94927) R 5:00 - 6:50 PM

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

  • Name: Francisco Rojas
  • E-mail: frojas@vt.edu
  • Office: McB 118/116
  • Office hours: TBA
  • Lab hours:TBA

Course Information

Catalog description

This course provides an introduction to object-oriented programming using the Java language. Fundamental concepts underlying programming and software solutions to many problems. Structured data, statement sequencing, logic control, classes, objects, methods, instantiation of classes, sending messages to objects. (2H,2L,3C).

Textbook

The following book is required:
Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction using Java, David J. Barnes and Michael Kölling, Pearson Education, ISBN: 0130 44929 6, 2003.

Grade distribution

Scores in this class will be on a 1000 point scale distributed as follows
Labwork 150
Programming Asssignments 450
Midterm Exam 200
Final Exam 200

Labwork - 150 pts

There is a weekly lab session to accompany the lectures. The lab sessions will reinforce the concepts that are taught in the lectures. Attendance will be taken during the labs and this will count towards the final score. The labs will be handled by the GTAs. 

Programming projects - 450 pts

The majority of your grade will come from individual programming assignments. There will be five or six programming assignments. The number of points per assignment will be indicated on the assignment description. All programs have to be submitted to the curator system. Precise instructions regarding each individual submission will be provided with each assignment specification.

Exams - 200 pts

There will be two exams in this class. The midterm exam will cover approximately half the course material and is tentatively scheduled in the middle of October. The final exam will be a comprehensive exam covering the entire course material and is scheduled for December 18, 10:05 AM - 12:05 PM.

Note: There will be no make-up of the midterm or final exam, unless there is a valid reason. If you have a valid excuse for not being able to take the exam in the scheduled time-slot, please inform the instructor atleast 24 hours in advance. The request has to be accompanied by a letter from the Dean's office.

Grading Policy

Upon receiving grades for attendance, quiz, homework, or project, you have exactly one week to question/contest your grade. After that, you will not be able to contest the grade which you received on an assignment, project, exam or quiz. This is to ensure that the grader remembers the grading criteria and is able to fairly consider any re-grading request.

Late Policy

Each programming project and homework assignment will have a due date and time and will include instructions for submission. Except in the very rare case that an extension is granted, late submissions will incur a penalty of 20% per day, and will not be given any credit if submitted after graded assignments or solutions have been released. Any request for an extension must be made at least 24 hours prior to the due date. Plan your time carefully for the programming projects, especially if you will be using computers in the campus labs — you may be competing with other students for scarce resources, so don't put things off until the last minute.

Class web site, listserv and forum

The url for the class is http://courses.cs.vt.edu/~cs1054/fall2003/. Announcements regarding availability of assignments and grades will be posted to the class listserv. The listserv address is L91365_91366_91367_94926_94927@listserv.vt.edu. Every student who is registered by the first day of class is automatically subscribed to the class list. The listserv will be used primarily for announcements and clarifications.

A discussion forum for the class is available at https://forum.cs.vt.edu/. The forum should be used for discussion about the projects rather than the class listserv. Questions (and answers) of relevance to the entire class will be posted to the class listserv by the instructor and/or the GTAs.

Posting of solutions to the listserv or forum is NOT permitted. The Honor Code applies to both the listserv and forum too.

Web forum policy

Programming Environment

All lab sessions will be performed under the BlueJ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with the latest version of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE). The BlueJ IDE can be downloaded from http://www.bluej.org/. The version number of the BlueJ that should be downloaded is 1.3.0. The textbook comes with a previous version (1.2.1) of the IDE. Please do not use that version.

Online Grader

The programming assignments will be autograded by the departmental online grader. The address of the curator will be made available later.

The Honor Code

The Honor Code applies to this course and will be enforced. All graded assignments must be your own work. You may seek help during office hours from the instructor or the Graduate Teaching Assistant. Always give credit for work that is not entirely yours (e.g., parts of programs or homework answers borrowed from a book). You can find the Computer Science departmental policy on koofers at http://www.cs.vt.edu/academics/ugrad/Handbook/koof.html.

Other notes

© Mir Farooq Ali 2003.