University at Albany / Computer Science

CSI201 Introduction to Computer Science - Syllabus

CSI 201 Section 0001
Fall 2015
Meeting Time: M/W from 2:45 - 4:05 p.m
Location: LC-18
Instructor
Instructor Title
Office Location
Office hours
E-mail Address

Dr. Guy Cortesi

Visiting Asst. Professor
Li67C
T/TH 10-12 & by appointment
gcortesi@albany.edu

TEXTBOOK (REQUIRED):
Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Data Structures, 3/e Gaddis & Muganda
2016 Pearson 1464 pp ISBN-10: 0134038177 | ISBN-13: 9780134038179 - See more
at: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/pearsonhigheredus/educator/search/hipSearchResults.page?isbnFlag=f
alse#sthash.7odtBafP.dpuf. This textbook will also be used for CSI310 Data Structures.
MyProgrammingLab - This course will use a special version of the textbook that includes the
MyProgrammingLab bundle available through the college bookstore as ISBN 9780134278476. If you
purchased a book and it doesnt have a MyProgrammingLab software access key you can purchase one
separately at: http://www.pearsonmylabandmastering.com/northamerica/myprogramminglab/. The access
info / code you need to register for the course is as follows:
Course Title: Intro to Computer Science
CourseID (a.k.a. "Section Access Code"): ATALB-4341-0
COURSE DESCRIPTION / OVERVIEW
This course is designed to introduce the computer science discipline, which begins with computer
programming, to its majors and minors. It is also an option for some requirements in certain other majors or
minors. Unlike introductory courses that are broad, shallow or conceptual introductions to various aspects
of a field, this course achieves its purposes by concentrating on one central skill: computer programming.
In this course you will learn to create programs in the Java language. The basics are programming the
computer by writing, testing, and debugging codes that you write in Java to store and sequentially process
data. You will learn to perform basic internal calculations and utilize the data storage capabilities of todays
computers. We will cover basic issues of computer science, such as how to use computation for interesting
applications, and computational efficiency.
You will be required to employ the most basic information technology skills for programmers, learning
them as necessary from course staff and classmates. Blackboard, common to other UA courses, is used.
Besides Blackboard, this course requires studying materials located by URLs on the public Web, writing
and editing programs or other text files, compiling and running programs, web up/downloading, managing
folders/directories of your files, making archives, transferring archives, files, and folders/directories
between computers, keeping backups and version histories, etc.

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This is a hands-on, cumulative skill practice and development kind of course not a course of just learning
facts. The critical thing you must do to succeed is to actively participate (not just listen, read and study).
The course plan gives incentives for regular, frequent and sometimes challenging engagement with the
subjects intellectual work, but also makes it more fun and easier to maintain the necessary attention.
PREREQUISITES
An inclination to use elementary mathematics and the detailed, precise thinking styles taught in
mathematical sciences. No previous experience with computers is required - just a willingness to learn from
working hard. However, success in this course tends to increase with increasing levels and grades in college
level mathematics study.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES / OUTCOMES:
(1) The chief learning goal is to demonstrate fluency and problem solving skills in computer programming
at levels expected during the first semester of university computer science major study. Briefly: Given a
sufficiently detailed description of what a computer can do and a strategy for doing it, the student shall write
a program that makes the computer do it by implementing the given strategy.
(2) Fluency consists of competence and confidence together. Your confidence to handle novel programming
quirks on exams, new assignments and your own inventions is achieved by working out, repeatedly, within
your own consciousness all the logic and details that go into homework solutions, practice questions and
examples. The midterm and final exams will have coding questions: to actually write code to solve new
problems based on the practice the projects required, but not the same. Memorization or thoughtless copying
from the note sheet will not get a high grade on these exam questions.
(3) The purpose of this course is to enable you to either (a) work with or (b) become one of those experts
who invent or construct software and maybe scientific ideas about computing. Scientific ideas, the content
of computer and other mathematical science, are ideas (about the things of the science) that are precisely
formulated, often with formulas and logic, that fit observations repeatedly, frequently measurements, better
and better as the science develops.
COURSE WEBSITE AND BLACKBOARD:
Blackboard will be used to provide essential course materials, the most current syllabus, and assignment
documents and no separate course website will be maintained. This is not an online course and class/lab
attendance is essential to be aware of the latest course content, teachings, assignments, and due dates.
ASSESSMENT AND POLICIES:
Laboratory Sessions: The schedule for lab sessions and staff office hours will be available in Blackboard.
Labs start on Monday 8/31. The lab periods will be used for learning and discussion exercises conducted by
the assistants. Accomplishments in every lab will be assessed with the assistant checking your work and/or
material submitted electronically to Blackboard. Unit (Chapter) assignments consist of a combination of
MyProgrammingLab exercises, homework, and a programming assignment. Any of this may be
worked on during the Lab Period, though the focus should be on getting help from TAs and Q&A about the
chapter assignments and material. Significant extra time, outside of the Lab Period, will also be needed to
complete the chapter assignments by the due dates (especially the programming assignment).
You must register for some lab session. If the session is overfull or conflicting, we will accommodate you
entering a different session. If you cannot come to your registered lab period in any single week, or you
need more time to complete its requirements, you can go to a different one that week so long as there is
physical space available (which there is likely to be.) Please confirm this with the appropriate TA for that
lab section in advance.
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Programming Projects: There will be eight programming projects. Some will be continuations of previous
ones. Submissions that do not compile get ZERO points, automatically! Incremental software development
will be demonstrated in lectures. It is expected that you will start the projects early enough so that you can
get any help you may need to get the syntax right after getting those error messages from the Java compiler.
Although the programming work can be done on your own computers, and this is encouraged, problems
(hardware, software, network access) with your system will not be accepted as excuses for late or missing
programming project or lab completion work. Information Commons computers are provided in the UA
Libraries as the last resort" for students with computer or network problems.
Programming guidelines and submission information will appear in assignment documentation. All
programming projects will be submitted as a JING webcast. Please read the JING document in Blackboard.
There is a link to a YouTube video in the document that walks you through installation and doing screen
captures. The only difference in the video is that you submit a link in blackboard to your webcast -- you do
not email it to the instructor.
JING Webcasts: Your JING webcasts should contain the following items.
1) You should start by showing the comments in your code that include your name, the class, and what the
assignment number is.
2) You should show all of your code. Slowly scroll through your code.
3) You must show your code compiling.
4) You must show your code running and completely test your program. If there are special inputs or
outputs your program should check, please make sure you detail that your program can handle it.
5) If there is anything special you added to the program then please detail it.
You only have 5 minutes in your screen cast so please make sure you are concise and you cover everything
you need. You may have to practice your screen capturing a few times to get this right.
Exams: Two exams will be given a mid-term and a final. A portion of the class period preceding each
exam will be utilized for a review session. Make-up exams will be given only for valid and verifiable
excuses (e.g. a major medical situation). In such a case, it is your responsibility to contact the instructor
ahead of time to make other arrangements. Failure to do so will result in a zero grade for the exam.
Grading
A final grade will be determined as a sum of the following:
8 Chapter (Unit) Assignments (6.5 points total each / 8 Chapter Assignments 52 points) 52%
MyProgrammingLab Exercises (2 points each - 16 points) 16%
Homework (.5 points each - 4 points) 4%
Programming Projects (4 points each - 32 points) 32%
Exams:
2 Exams a mid-term and a final exam (24 points each) 48%
Total possible points = 100
Grading Scale
Final letter grades will be based on cutoffs applied to your score computed as above, with the professor
reserving the right to assign higher grades based on a record of substantial improvement. The cutoffs will be
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determined by the quality of fundamental content the scores represent, so there is no predetermined
percentage A's, B's, C's, etc. to be awarded and no curve or forced ranking.
A: 100-95 points A-: 94-90 points
B+: 89-87 points B: 84-86 points B-: 80-83 points
C+: 79-76 points C: 75-70 points
D: 69-60 points
E: 59 points and below
Policy on I Grades
Students must complete all requirements in order to pass the course. The instructor will be the sole judge of
whether an incomplete is warranted. Specifically, a grade of I will only be given for genuine extenuating
circumstances that are beyond your control after the midterm point. Both of the following conditions must
be met:
(1) Your work must be in good standing as of October 26, 2015 (two weeks before the last day to drop
course with W grade 11/9), defined as follows: You must have an average score of at least 50%
on the programming assignments and at least 50% on the everything else due up to that point
(2) Your midterm grade must also be equivalent to at least a C. Therefore, if you miss the midterm or
have performed poorly on exams, assignments, etc., you are not eligible for an I grade. Your choices
are to work smartly and hard to catch up, get a poor or failing grade, or drop the course by the drop
date.
Written documentation must, upon request, be supplied about the extenuating circumstance either by you or
by the University administration. The Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies and her assistants are there to
assist you and will write letters to your professors that request appropriate accommodations. Under no
circumstances will the condition for completing an I grade be repeating the entire course without a new
registration.
Policy on Final Grades
Final grades are computed based on the above formulas and are NOT negotiable. Per department policy,
students may not submit additional work or be re-examined for the purpose of improving their grades
once the course has been completed and final grades assigned.
Attendance/Lateness/Use of Computers in class
Late work submission will NOT be accepted and will be graded as a zero. Students will benefit from
attending and participating in every class. If you are unable to attend it is your responsibility to make-up
any material missed. Since this is not an online class, lecture materials and all information covered in class
will not be fully available in Blackboard. Please do not ask the instructor for missed materials the
materials available are posted to Blackboard. Also, please also DO NOT disrupt the class by entering late or
leaving early without instructor approval. Computers may be used during class for note taking as long as the
use is not disruptive or distracting.
Email
When sending the professor or the TAs an email you must use proper business etiquette. Do not expect us
to respond to emails that do not have the name of the person and class info from the person who sent it. We
also choose to not respond to emails that are not written properly. Re-read what you write before you hit
send. The subject line of the email should contain several things: 1) the number of the class 2) the time of
the class 3) One of the following words Question, Problem, or Attendance
e.g. subject line: CSI 201 on-line Problem.
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Responsible Computing
Students are required to read the University at Albany Policy for the Responsible Use of Information
Technology (http://www.albany.edu/its/policies_responsible_use_of_IT.htm). Students will be expected to
apply the policies discussed in this document to all computing and electronic communications in the course.
Students With Disabilities
Accommodations will be made for clients of the Disability Resource Center (DRC) upon adequate prior
notice and according to that center's recommendations. Many Albany students had much greater educational
success after strategies to work around a wide range of mental and/or physical personal variations were
recommended by the experts at UA's DRC. Of course, privacy prevents their identities from being
disclosed. Students with genuine continuing hardship situations, or any disability related problems with Lab
or homework computer usage should confer with the professor (and DRC for disabilities) at the start of
classes. If you are a qualified person with disabilities who might need reasonable accommodations in this
class, please communicate with the professor as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be
made to meet your needs. Frequently, this involves coordinating accommodating activities with other
offices on campus.
Academic Honesty and Overall Regulations / Plagiarism
Every student has the responsibility to become familiar with the standards of academic integrity at the
University. Faculty members must specify in their syllabi information about academic integrity, and may
refer students to this policy for more information. Nonetheless, student claims of ignorance, unintentional
error, or personal or academic pressures cannot be excuses for violation of academic integrity. Students are
responsible for familiarizing themselves with the standards and behaving accordingly, and UAlbany faculty
are responsible for teaching, modeling and upholding them. Anything less undermines the worth and value
of our intellectual work, and the reputation and credibility of the University at Albany degree. Plagiarism
and other acts of academic dishonesty will be punished. Read the Standards of Academic Integrity and
policies in the Undergraduate Bulletin (http://www.albany.edu/undergraduate_bulletin/regulations.html).
The standards described in this document will be applied in this course relating to academic honesty and
overall regulations.
Plagiarism and other acts of academic dishonesty will be punished. Students are expected to submit original
work. While you may discuss a problem with another student, the work you submit must be your own. Any
student who submits copied work or any student that provides work for copying will earn a zero grade for
that assignment. If there is more than one copying incident, the student will be graded an F for the class. As
per college policy, cheating activity will be reported to the college administration.

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COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS:

The following schedule of lecture topics and reading assignments is preliminary and may be changed as the
semester progresses. The final schedule and specific h/w and lab assignments and materials will be provided
in Blackboard. Students are expected to have read the listed material before it is covered in class.
Class
1
2
3
n/a
A
4
n/a
A
5
6
n/a
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
n/a
24
25
26
27
28

Day
W
M
TH
W
M
W
M
T
W
M
W
M
TH
W
M
W
M
T
W
M
W
M
W
M
TH
W
M
W
M
T
W
M
W
M
W
M
W
M

Date
8/26
8/31
9/1
9/2
9/7
9/9
9/14
9/16
9/21
9/23
9/28
9/30
10/5
10/7
10/12
10/14
10/19
10/21
10/26
10/28
11/2
11/4
11/9
11/11
11/16
11/18
11/23
11/25
11/30
12/2
12/7
12/9
12/14

Topic
Intro & Overview, Intro to Computers and Java
MyProgramming Lab Discussion
No Class Labor Day
Java Fundamentals
No Class Instructor out of town

Readings
Chapter 1

Notes
Lab Sessions Start

Chapter 2

Chap 1 Assigns* Due

No Class U Albany Holiday

Decision Structures

Chapter 3

Chap 2 Assigns* Due

Loops and Files

Chapter 4

Chap 3 Assigns* Due

Mid-Term Exam
Methods

Chapter 5

Chap 4 Assigns* Due

A First Look at Classes and Objects

Chapter 6

Chap 5 Assigns* Due

Arrays and the Arraylist Class

Chapter 7

Chap 6 Assigns* Due

A Second Look at Classes and Objects

No Class U Albany Thanksgiving break

Chapter 8

Chap 7 Assigns* Due

Recursion
Last Day of Classes
Final Exam (Date to be finalized)

Chapter 16

Chap 8 Assigns* Due

*Each Chapter (Unit) Assignments consist of a combination of MyProgrammingLab exercises, homework,

and a programming assignment. Assignment are due at the start of the lecture class period on the date
identified..
There will be additional materials related to Java and programming and other course topics. These materials
and links will be posted in Blackboard.

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