Intro to CIT 594
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~matuszek/cit594-2011.html
Prerequisites
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The formal prerequisite is CIT 590 or CIT 591
CIT 591 was primarily a course in Java
If you did not take CIT 591...
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You must already know Java, including Swing
You must know how to write JUnit4 tests
You must be comfortable using Eclipse
You are expected to have good Java programming style
Other programming languages can not be used as a substitute
for Java
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What the course is about
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There are four main, interrelated topics in CIT594:
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Recursion
Data structures
Algorithms
Analysis of algorithms
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We will continue to explore good programming
techniques and programming style
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It will also be necessary to cover more Java
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Recommended Java reference
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This is a good reference
book
Java topics are covered in
an independent fashion—
you don’t have to read all
previous sections first
Recommend algorithms references
Java Collections
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Java Collections implement many of the most
important data structures for you
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A traditional data structures course would have you
implement these yourself
I don’t believe in re-inventing the wheel
However, you need to know how these data structures are
implemented, for the times when you need something more
than Java gives you
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Algorithms
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There are literally thousands of published algorithms
We will cover:
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a few algorithms that are related to the data structures we
are studying
a few more algorithms that your instructor especially likes
It’s almost always better to find an existing algorithm
than to re-invent it yourself
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Analysis of algorithms
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Analysis of algorithms is a relatively small part of this
course, but it’s an important part
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Analysis can tell you how fast an algorithm will run,
and how much space it will require
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A good algorithm, even if badly coded, can run circles
around a poor algorithm that is carefully tuned and
highly optimized
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Assignments
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Except as otherwise noted, all assignments:
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There may (or may not) be some team assignments
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Partners are assigned by the instructor
We do not have a laboratory section
You will do some assignments by yourself
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Should be done in Eclipse
Should include complete JUnit tests for non-GUI, non-I/O methods, and
Should include complete javadoc documentation for non-private entities
Must be submitted via Blackboard; email will not be accepted
You may discuss the assignments with other students
You may help (and get help with) debugging
You may not give your source code to anyone
Late assignments will lose 5 points per day, and may or may not
be accepted if more than a week late
Grading
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We will have:
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Grades will be weighted as follows:
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Approximately one assignment per week
One midterm
One final exam
Grades will be curved
We will use Blackboard to turn in assignments
50% assignments
20% midterm
30% final exam
If you feel a grading error has been made, you have one week
after grades have been posted to bring it to our attention
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Office hours and (no) labs
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I avoid making appointments
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I have an open door policy: If my door is open, I’m
available
Posted office hours are just the times that I try hard to be in
my office, not the only times you can talk to me
The TAs will also have office hours
We will not have extra help sessions or labs this
semester
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The End
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