Course Information and
Introductions
Intro to Computer Science
CS1510
Dr. Sarah Diesburg
University of Northern Iowa
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Instructor
Sarah Diesburg (diesburg@cs.uni.edu)
Office: 311 ITTC
Office hours: MW 2-3pm, TTh 3-5pm, by appt.
Class website:
1. http://www.cs.uni.edu/~diesburg/courses/cs
1510_sp15/index.htm
2. UNI eLearning
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Teaching Assistants
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Jordan Baker – bakerjal@uni.edu
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Lab Assistant (10:00am), Grader
Huy Nguyen – nguyehad@uni.edu
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Lab Assistant (8:00am)
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Class Schedule
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Lecture M W F 9:00-9:50am in 328 ITTC
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Mandatory
Three lectures per week
Lab
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Section 1 Thurs 8:00-9:50am in 112 Wright
Section 2 Thurs 10:00am-11:50am in 339 Wright
Also mandatory
Hands-on work on projects for points
TA and I are available
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Today
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Passing along attendance sheet
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Class objectives
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For rest of lectures, please sign by your name
What is computer science?
Logistics
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What is computer science??
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Computer science is a discipline that
involves the understanding and design of
computers and computational processes
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And it’s a REALLY diverse discipline
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Robotics
Computer Vision
Graphics
Ubiquitous Computing
Virtual
Environments
Wearable Computing
Bioinformatics
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Digital Special
Effects
Databases
User information
Assurance
Information Security
Human Computer
Interface Design
G ro u p
Ico n s
G ro u p s o f
C o n ta cts
Ico n s
R ep resen tin g
In d ivid u a l
co n ta cts
High Performance Simulation
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What do these things have in
common?
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They all treat the computer as only part of a
bigger picture
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They all treat the computer as a tool!
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Which tool would you rather use?
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Just like other tools, we have to be
careful they aren’t misused
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But how do we turn a computer from
that thing on our desk…
To that powerful tool
that helps us solve problems?
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Bioinformatics
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Programming!
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Programming is the process of writing, testing,
and maintaining the source code of computer
programs
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Collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of
tasks, to be carried out by a computer
While this course is an introduction to computer
science, it focuses on how we can program the
computer to be the tool we need!
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A Well-Educated Computer
Scientist Should be Able to...
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Apply the fundamental concepts and
techniques of
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computation,
algorithms, and
computer design
…to a specific problem
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Our Goals This Semester
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Increase our problem solving skills
Design good solutions to problems
Test how well they are indeed solutions to the
problem
Provide the solution as a readable document
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A brief look at course logistics
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Take the time outside of class to thoroughly
read the course syllabus.
Some highlights…
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Why two websites?
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eLearning is for interaction
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Submit assignments and labs, view your grades
Traditional website is for notes, labs, and
other downloads
Demo…
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Prerequisites
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None
Some of you may have programming
experience, others may not
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Either way is fine
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Required Skills
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Time and patience
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Course Material
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Lecture notes (posted at the class website)
Textbook:
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The Practice of Computing Using
Python (2nd edition), by William
Punch and Richard Enbody
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Class Grading
Activity
Number
Points
Class
Participation/Attendance
14@5 pts each
45
In-lab Work (Thursday)
13@10 pts each
130
Programming
Assignments
11@25 pts each
275
Midterm Exams 1 and 2
2@150 pts each
300
Final Exam
1@250 pts each
250
Total
1000
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Grading Scale
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100 – 92
91.9 – 90
89.9 – 88
87.9 – 82
81.9 – 80
79.9 – 78
77.9 – 72
71.9 – 70
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
C-
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69.9 – 68
67.9 – 62
61.9 – 60
59.9 – 0
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D+
D
DF
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Your Responsibilities
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Understand lecture and reading materials
Attend office hours for extra help, as needed
Uphold academic honesty
Turn in your assignments on time
Check class web page and your UNI email
account and regularly
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Dos and Don’ts
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Do share debugging experiences
Do share knowledge of tools
Do acknowledge help from others
Do acknowledge sources of information from
books and web pages
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Dos and Don’ts
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Don’t cheat
Don’t copy code from other people or
websites
Don’t paraphrase code from others either
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E.g., changing variable names & indentations
Will be using sophisticated plagiarism checker
http://www.uni.edu/policies/301
Don’t post code to the discussion board
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Course Policies
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Attendance mandatory
There are no make-up exams for missed
exams…
Honor code: read your student handbook
Students with disabilities
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Report to Student Disability Resource Center
Bring me a letter within the first week of class
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To see or not to see me & TAs
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We are not psychics
Please let us know if…
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Class is too hard
You don’t have the background
Class can be improved in certain ways
When in doubt, email us…
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Survival Tips
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Do post messages and read the discussion
board frequently
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Do not post code on the discussion board
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Sign up to receive emails
If you absolutely need someone to look at your
code, contact me or the TA
Web search engines are your good friends
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Programming Environment
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Python freely available online (www.python.org)
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But get version 3.4.1
Do NOT get version 2
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Guidelines for Success in this
Course
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Prepare for lecture! Read the text selections
before the start of lecture and complete any
class prep assignment
On previous course evaluations, the NUMBER
ONE answer to the question “I could have
improved my learning in this course by…” was
some variation of “read the textbook”
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Guidelines for Success in this
Course
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Be on time. Class sessions will start promptly. I
will collect assignments at that time and will
often start with important announcements.
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Write code on your own! Think of simple
problems on your and solve them. If you wonder
"what if," TRY IT!
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Guidelines for Success in this
Course
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Start assignments early so you have time to ask
questions.
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Face to face questions are better than email
questions.
If you email me the night before something is due you
shouldn’t get mad if I don’t respond.
If you spend more than 15 minutes staring at the
computer stuck on something, ask for help!
Make use of the office hours early! Don't wait until late
in the term to seek help.
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Guidelines for Success in this
Course
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You can (and should) program from home
Remember, programming takes practice
Make sure that your code runs in the lab
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Verify that code that runs on another machine
actually runs in the lab so there are no surprises
at grading time
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Guidelines for Success in this
Course
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Finally, remember, programming takes
practice. You may not get it the first time, but
keep trying, asking for help, and caring.
Eventually, you might find out that you are
pretty good at this whole process!
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Rooms you should know!
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ITTC 328 – Lectures
ITTC 305 – The departmental office
ITTC 311 – My office
ITTC 335 – Student Lounge
Wright 112 – Section 1 lab. Can also work in
here outside of lab times.
Wright 339 – Section 2 lab. Can also work in
here outside of lab times.
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To Do
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Buy a class thumb drive for your labs and
assignments.
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