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Primary Text

Horstman, C. (2003). Computing Concepts with Java Essentials, Third Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Course Description

As suggested by the title of both this course and its text, the focus of this course is computing. More specifically, this course provides an introduction to the fundamental principles of object oriented programming. This principles will include abstraction, information hiding, encapsulation, composition, inheritance and polymorphism. The Java programming language will be used as a vehicle for exploring and obtaining hands-on experience with thes object oriented principles.

What is the prerequisite knowlege for this course? This is a second course in Computer Science and thus some prior knowledge of the discipline is assumed. In particular the student is assumed to have had programming experience equivalent to that contained in our CS131 - Introduction to Computing I course or one year of high school computer science. More specifically, a mastery of procedural programming is expected, including sequential processing, conditional statements (if/else), iteration (for, while) as well as the creation and use of functions/methods. However, a knowledge of the particulars of the Java language is not necessary.

What should you expect in this course? The work in this coures can be broken into 4 categories: reading, homework, labs and exams. For the majority of class periods there will be assigned reading that is to be completed before class. There will be homework assignments including short answer, essay and small programming tasks to be completed. Homeworks will typically be assigned and collected on a weekly basis. The labs will be one or two week assignments requiring you to design, write and debug more extensive programs than are assigned for homework. The labs may involve the development of an application program such as a utility or a game, or the creation of a simulation for the purpose of answering a question that has been posed. There will be three midterm exams and a cumulative final exam. More details on each of these components is given below.

How much time should you expect to spend on this course? To quote the Dickinson College catalog "...Each course, unless otherwise noted in the course description, is equivalent to four semester hours. Credit for courses is based on the assumption that at least three hours of study accompany each class period (excluding labs)." (p. 203) Therefore, given three meetings per week it is expected that you will spend an average of 9 hours of week outside of class completing the readings, homeworks and laboratory assignments.

Grade Determination

	Homework (approx. 10):	20%
	Labs (approx. 10):	30%
	Midterm Exams (3):	12% each
	Cumulative Final Exam:	14%

All assignments will be graded on an absolute scale. As an example a student scoring an average of 82% on homework, 78% on labs, 68% on the midterm exams and a 87% on the final would have a final grade of:

82*0.20 = 16.4 78*0.30 = 23.4 68*0.12*3 = 24.48 + 87*0.14 = 12.18 -------------------- 76.46

If at the end of the semester the grades do not correspond to the expected 90% (A,A-), 80% (B+,B,B-), 70% (C+,C,C-) scale, a curve will be applied to the total absolute grades for the course to determine each individual's final grade.

Reading Assignments

Typically you will be expected to complete a reading assignment prior to each class period. The reading will be related to the material that will be discussed during the following class period. By reading in advance you will be better prepared to participate in the discussion of the material. You will also be familiar with the vocabulary being used and aware of the ideas and concepts that you found confusing.

Homework

Homework will be assigned and collected roughly once a week. When homework is assigned a due date for the assignment will be given. Homework assignments must be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. Any assignment not received at the beginning of class will be considered late. Homeworks must be type written. If you have an extenuating reason that prohibits you from typing your homework assignments please discuss it with me in advance. Please note that writing, spelling and grammar do count!

Labs

The labs in this course are open labs. They will be distributed prior to your lab period and will be due at the start of your following lab period. Do not expect to complete the entire lab during the lab period. You are expected to work on the lab outside of lab time. The purpose of the lab time is for you to ask questions of myself and the TA's about problems you are having with the lab. I highly recommend that you start the labs prior to the lab period so that you can make the most productive use of the lab time. Labs will be graded based on your answers to any questions that are asked in the lab and the code that you write.

Attenance during the lab period is mandatory. Missing the lab period will result in a 10% penalty on the grade for the associated lab. There are only two exceptions to this policy. The first exception is if you complete and hand in your lab prior to the lab period, then you are not required to attend. Note that if you hand in your lab early and miss the lab period you will not be permitted to submit it again later. The second exception requires that you discuss your need for missing the lab period with me prior to missing the lab, and that I approve your absence.

Midterm Exams

All midterm exams will be timed (50 min.) and given in class. These exams will be closed book. However, you will be permitted one 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper (both sides) of hand written notes that can be read with the naked eye. Because of the nature of this course, each exam will be cumulative. However, empahsis will be placed on material introduced since the previous exam.

Final Exam

The final exam will be cumulative and will occur during the final exam period as assigned by the College. As with the midterm exams, the final will be closed book. However, you will be permitted two 8.5"x11" sheets of paper (both sides) of hand written notes that can be read with the naked eye.

Cheating and Plagiarism

This class follows the definition of cheating and plagiarism as described in the Dickinson College Student Code of Conduct and Disciplinary System. In addition to that definition I would like to make several clear statements about what is permissible collaboration in this class and what is not.

• You may discuss the homework assignments and your ideas for solving the problems. However, after your discussions you must write your own solutions. Everything you hand in must be your work and only your work! To be safe I suggest that you do not write anything down while discussing assignments or ideas with others. Then following your discussion sit down by yourself and write up your own solution. If you are unable to reconstruct the idea for yourself then you do not fully understand it!
• On lab assignments you may again discuss general ideas for how write the required programs. Under no circumstances may you show another student your program code. They may not look at your screen, a printout, an electronic copy or any hand written code or notes. All help writing and debugging your solutions to the labs must come from the TA's or myself.
• You are also responsible for taking reasonable precautions to ensure that no one copies your work. This includes using the paper shredder in the lab to shred old printouts of your lab and homework solutions. Do not simply discard your old printouts in the recycling bin or the trash.
• You may incorporate code that appears in the text or on the class web site into your solutions. When you do so you must indicate the code that was copied and where it was copied from (page # or URL). Under no circumstances may you use code written by a current or previous student, code from another text, another instructor, a friend, a relative or downloaded from the Internet.

Got the idea? Do your own work and do it honestly! If there is ever any question about whether what you are doing is permitted then most likely it is not! Please ask for clarification on any issues related to this policy before it becomes an issue!

Late Work Policy

Absolutely no late work will be accepted!

However, since I am not a complete tyrant, I am implementing what I call the "NEET" late policy. NEET stands for "No Excuse Extension Time" and you can use it to extend any due dates you choose. The rules of NEET are as follows:

• Each of you will receive 2 days worth of NEET.
• NEET can be used only in full day chunks.
• So if your assignment is 1 hour late you just used one full day of NEET.
• NEET may be applied to (almost) any assignment.
  The only assignments that NEET may not be applied to are in class exams, the final, presentations and any take-home assignment due on the last day of finals week.
• Using NEET on a group deadline costs each member of the group the same amount of NEET.
  So if your project is a day late every member of your group looses 1 day of NEET. If a member of your group doesn't have any NEET left and the deadline is missed that member will receive no credit.
• Use your NEET wisely.
  No other extensions will be granted without an act of your respective deity. I recommend saving them for emergency use.

Late work handed in after all your NEET has been used will receive no credit. Any assignments handed in late must be given to me in person so that I may account for your NEET.