CIS 170 Science of Computing
Schedule and Topics as of 11/17/08 - v2

Prof. Anthony Hornof, Fall 2008

The schedule is designed so that the reading, programming exercises, short-answer homeworks, and in-class activities all complement each other and provide a synergistic learning experience. This schedule will evolve during the term to reflect opportunities that arise for a customized learning experience. The reading refers to textbook chapters that students should read before that class. Qs are take-home questions on the reading. Exs are exercises from the textbook. Previous versions of the schedule: v1 v2

 

Date

Discuss in Class

Read 

Deliverables (due at start of class)

Week 1 - Mo, Sep 29

Intro to Computer Science

 

Week 1 - We, Oct 1

Intro to Alice

1

Chapter 1 Questions

Week 2 - Mo, Oct 6

Scenarios and Storyboards

 

 

Week 2 - We, Oct 8

Creating an animation

2

Exercises 1.1, 1.2, 1.3

Week 3 - Mo, Oct 13

Programming: Putting together the pieces. Built-in functions and expressions.

3

Ch. 3 Questions. Exercises 2.5 (Tortoise Gets a Cookie) OR 2.6 (Magnet Fun). See Blackboard

Week 3 - We, Oct 15

Programming: Simple control structures. Conditional execution

 

 

Week 4 - Mo, Oct 20

Classes, objects, & world-level methods. Parameters. 4

Ch. 4 Questions. Exercises 3-1-3 (Hop), 3-1-4 (Volleyball Jump), and 3-2-7 (Snowman to Stool). See Blackboard

Week 4 - We, Oct 22

Class-level methods and inheritance

 

 

Week 5 - Mo, Oct 27

Interactive programming

5

Ch. 4 assignment on Blackboard

Week 5 - We, Oct 29

Parameters & event handler methods

 

 

Week 6 - Mo, Nov 3

Midterm

 

Ch. 5 assignment on Blackboard

Week 6 - We, Nov 5

Execution control with If/Else & boolean functions

6

 

Week 7 - Mo, Nov 10

Midterm review. Functions. Top-down decomposition. Abstraction revisited. Encapsulation.

 

 

Week 7 - We, Nov 12

How to start a programming project

 

Ch. 6 assignment on Blackboard

Week 8 - Mo, Nov 17

Repetition: definite loops

7

 

Week 8 - We, Nov 19

While: The indefinite loop

 

 

Week 9 - Mo, Nov 24

Debugging and Troubleshooting

 

Ch. 7 assignment on Blackboard

Week 9 - We, Nov 26

User interface design principle. State.

 

 

Week 10 - Mo, Dec 1

Review for Final Exam

 

 

Week 10 - We, Dec 3

To be determined. (Instructor will be away at the CHI conference papers review meeting.)