CS 117
Syllabus
Spring 1998

The Instructor
I can often be found in CMC 327. My office phone number is 646-4364, and my home number is 663-7123. My office hours for the spring term of 1998 are: Monday 2A, Tuesday 2:00-3:00, Wednesday 5A, and Friday 2A. If you need help at some time other than office hours, you are welcome to drop by.
Book
The textbook for this class is A Computer Science Tapestry, Owen L. Astrachan, McGraw-Hill 1996.
Your Grade
Your grade in the course will be determined by your performance on two exams given during the term, a final programming project due on the last day of finals, and homework. Each of these four pieces will count for 25% of your grade.
Working Together
Working together is good. Sharing ideas helps you learn, and it's also fun. I encourage you to work on homework together, with a couple of restrictions. First, I don't want you to write programming assignments in groups of more than two. Second, if you use someone else's idea, you should give that person credit in writing. And finally, you will write your final project on your own, so you might want to consider going solo on a homework assignment or two to get some practice.
Homework Policy
Homework is due at the beginning of class (period 3A) on the due date. Homework turned in on the due date but after the beginning of class will be docked 25%. Homework turned in the day after the due date will be docked 50%. Later homework will be marked as handed in but not given a score. Check with me ahead of time if you have need of an extension.

This policy is strict to protect the grader (Daryl Beres, beresd) and to encourage you to begin your work as early as possible. Writing good programs takes time. I'll give you at least two class days' notice of each assignment's due date. You should start early so you have time to think about the programming problem, plan your solution, and, eventually, write and debug your program.

The Mechanics of Getting Help
If you are working on a program and you need help, you can consult with another student in the lab, you can ask a lab assistant for help, you can talk to Mike Tie, and you can talk to me. Before coming to my office, please send your program to me by e-mail. If you include a brief note with your program telling me what the problem is (send me any error messages you are getting, too), I can try to answer your question via e-mail, even from home if I'm logged on. Don't worry about flooding me with e-mail--I'm already flooded, with or without your program.



Jeff Ondich, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Carleton College, Northfield, MN 55057, (507) 646-4364, jondich@carleton.edu