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Saint Louis University

Computer Science 1300/5001
Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

Michael Goldwasser

Fall 2019

Computer Science Department

Note: This website is being maintained as a public archive, however student taking the course should rely on our Moodle instance for the most up-to-date information.

The printed syllabus can be downloaded here.


Table of Contents


Overview


Course Administration


Flipped Classroom

Throughout the semester, we will employ a "flipped classroom" approach, constructed around a series of units, each centered around a chapter of the textbook. Typically, two class meetings will be devoted to an exploration of a unit, structured as follows. (Note: for some topics, we will choose to vary this structure to use one or three days.)

Before "Day 1"

Typically, the instructor will post a reading assignment two days prior to the introduction of a new topic in class. By 8:00am of the designated "day 1" for a topic, students are responsible for having:

Before "Day 1"

During the first day engaging a new topic, the instructor will employ a variety of techniques that may include a combination of:

Between "Day 1" and "Day 2"

There will typically be an individual homework that consists of several questions that require deeper engagement in the new material. The homework will be released alongside the original reading, so that students can consider (and perhaps complete) the questions while doing the reading. However, the homework will be due at 10:00am at the beginning of "day 2" so that students may use "day 1" to gain greater understanding of the new material, and to ask clarifying questions.

"Day 2" - Hands-on Day

For most topics, the goal of the second class meeting will be to rapidly gain experience with new ma- terial in a programming environment. We will (loosely) employ the technique of "pair programming" having students work together in pairs each day (with those pairs randomly re-assigned for each such class period).

Within such a 50-minute meeting, we will typically provide 40 minutes of practice time, with an ample supply of programming challenges, many with embedded solutions, and none of which are to be submitted. In the final 10 minutes, a similar challenge problem will be provided as a formal quiz to be completed and submitted by the pair of students.


Technologies


Grading Policy

Course Grades

Letter grades will be based on each student's overall percentage of awarded points according to the following formula.

Student percentage above 90% will result in a grade of A or better.
Student percentage above 87% will result in a grade of A- or better.
Student percentage above 83% will result in a grade of B+ or better.
Student percentage above 80% will result in a grade of B or better.
Student percentage above 77% will result in a grade of B- or better.
Student percentage above 73% will result in a grade of C+ or better.
Student percentage above 70% will result in a grade of C or better.
Student percentage above 67% will result in a grade of C- or better.
Student percentage above 60% will result in a grade of D or better.
Student percentage below 60% will result in a grade of F.
Any modification to this scale at the end of the year will be in favor of the students. That is we may later decide to award an A to a student who is slightly below the above cutoff, but we certainly will not deny an A from someone who is above the cutoff.

Extra Credit

Homework and programming assignments will sometimes include a small extra credit challenge. Please notice, however, that the actual extra credit given for these challenges is relatively insignificant. Students who are concerned about improving their overall grade would be best advised to focus efforts on doing as well as possible on the required work and in preparing for exams.

Our real reason for including these opportunities is to provide some fun and encouragement for students who wish to dig a bit deeper than was required in an assignment. For those students, the chosen extra credit challenges provide a good next step.

Late Policies

The timing of the various assignments, quizzes, and exams are orchestrated based around the classroom activities and so we will not allow any late submissions of reading assignments or homework assignments.

Quizzes and exams must be taken at the regularly schedule time unless advanced arrangements have been made for unavoidable conflicts or subsequently due to emergency situations with approprite documentation

For the out-of-class programming assignments, we wish to allow students to continue to work comfortably beyond the official deadline when a little more time will result in more progress, while at the same time discourage students from falling significantly behind pace and jeopardizing their success on future assignments. Our solution is the following exponentially decaying late formula (some have suggested that we should offer extra credit to anyone who fully understands this formula).

We will consider an assignment submission "complete" when any part of the assignment is last submitted or modified. Any assignment that is not complete promptly by its due date and time will be assessed a penalty based on the formula S=R*e-h/173, where S is the grade given, R is the grade the work would have received had it been turned in on time, and h is the amount of time (in hours or fractions thereof) that the work was late.

Examples:


Academic Integrity and Collaboration Policy


Supporting Student Success

In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. The Student Success Center assists students with academic-related services, is located in the Busch Student Center (Suite 331). Students can visit www.slu.edu/life-at-slu/student-success-center to learn more about tutoring services, university writing services, disability services, and academic coaching.

Furthermore, the Department of Computer Science provides drop-in tutoring support for our introductory classes as well as use of our department's Linux computing systems. Tutoring hours are held in the Linux Lab (Ritter Hall 117) and no appointments are necessary. The schedule for available hours can be found at cs.slu.edu/resources/tutoring.


Disability Accomodations

Students with a documented disability who wish to request academic accommodations must formally reigster their disability with the University. Once successfully registered, students also must notify their course instructor that they wish to use their approved accomodations in the course.

Please contact Disability Services to schedule an appointment to discuss accomodations requests and eligibility requirements. Most students on the St. Lous campus will contact Disability Services, located in the Student Success Center and available by email at Disability_services@slu.edu or by phone at 314-977-3484. Once approved, information about a student's eligibility for academic accommodations will be shared with course instructors by email from Disability Services and within the instructor's official course roster. Students who do not have a documented disability but who think they may have one are encouraged to contact Disability Services. Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries.


Title IX Statement

Saint Louis University and its faculty are committed to supporting our students and seeking an environment that is free of bias, discrimination, and harassment. If you have encountered any form of sexual misconduct (e.g. sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, domestic or dating violence), we encourage you to report this to the University. If you speak with a faculty member about an incident that involves a Title IX matter, that faculty member must notify SLU's Title IX coordinator (or that person's equivalent on your campus) and share the basic facts of your experience. This is true even if you ask the faculty member not to disclose the incident. The Title IX contact will then be available to assist you in understanding all of your options and in connecting you with all possible resources on and off campus.

For most students on the St. Louis campus, the appropriate contact is Anna R. Kratky (DuBourg Hall, room 36; anna.kratky@slu.edu; 314-977-3886). If you wish to speak with a confidential source, you may contact the counselors at the University Counseling Center at 314-977-TALK. To view SLU’s sexual misconduct policy and for resources, please visit the following web address: www.slu.edu/here4you and www.slu.edu/general-counsel.


Michael Goldwasser
CSCI 1300/5001, Fall 2019
Last modified: Friday, 12 June 2020
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