About
Table of contents
Class Sessions
Lecture
Lectures are Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30-5:00 PM Eastern in Meyerson Hall, Room B3. Lectures will be simultaneously broadcast on Zoom and recordings will be made available to students shortly after the end of class on Canvas. Attendance of some form is expected and is to your benefit.
Recitation
Recitation will be held on Fridays from 3:30-5 PM Eastern in Towne 313. These sections will begin with a brief review session, followed by about an hour to work on a problem set. These problem sets can be completed collaboratively and are designed to be completed within the hour.
The first recitation of the semester is mandatory. During it, TAs will help you set up your programming environment for the course. Attendance at recitation beyond the first is not mandatory; however, it is strongly encouraged for all students who are able to join to do so. This is a valuable time to not only improve your skills in the course but also to meet your fellow students and the TAs.
Assignment Policies
Grade Breakdown
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Homework | 60% |
| Weekly Quizzes | 5% |
| Pre-lecture Reading | 5% |
| Midterm | 15% |
| Final Project | 15% |
Homework
There will be 6 homework assignments throughout the semester. These start as small programming assignments and increase in complexity. All homework assignments will release on Wednesdays after lecture and will be due 1-2 weeks later on Wednesdays at 11:59 PM. Refer to the course calendar for exact release and due dates. Submissions will be made on Gradescope. Homework assignments should be completed individually, with the exception of homework 5.
Late Day Policy
Each student has 4 late days for the entire semester which may only be applied to homeworks. You cannot use late days on readings, quizzes, or the final project. If you submit a homework late, you lose at least 1 late day. A delay of more than 1 day is OK, but it will further reduce your balance. Late days cannot be taken in fractions: 24 hours and 1 second late is 2 full late days expended.
You may not use more than 2 late days on any assignment. Submitting more than 2 days late or submitting without any late day balance remaining will result in a 50% deduction of your grade on that assignment, even if this is not automatically reflected on Gradescope.
Some notes:
- You can use late days automatically without asking.
- Earlier homework assignments are generally easier than later ones.
- Late days should not be used for health-related issues. See below for more details.
Extensions
If you are experiencing extenuating circumstances, make a private post on Ed and we will grant you an extension. Late days and extensions cannot be combined.
Please note that you must ask for an extension and get it approved at least 24 hours before the assignment is due. Extension requests submitted or viewed after the assignment deadline will not be granted. This means that asking for an extension shortly before the due date of an assignment is not advisable since the course staff are not responsible for arbitrarily fast turnaround on Ed posts.
Weekly Quizzes
Most weeks a check-in quiz will be released after Wednesday’s lecture and will be due the following Monday by 11:59 PM. These quizzes are open note and may consist of multiple choice questions, fill in the blank, matching, or a small programming problem. Answers are graded on correctness and you have unlimited attempts until the deadline.
Pre-Lecture Readings
Lectures will have a small reading and self-check questions associated with them introducing the topics for that lecture. Answers are not graded on correctness, only on submitting some answer. These readings must be completed before lecture. Readings will be available a week before the associated lecture.
For more information on where to access pre-lecture readings and weekly quizzes, read the section on Ed Lessons.
Midterm
There will be one timed, in-person midterm exam for this course covering the material up through ArrayLists. The midterm will be held during the normal lecture time on Monday, October 14th. If you require accommodations for the exam, please read the section on Disability Accommodations.
Final Project
The final project for the class is a large programming assignment, much like the later homeworks. More details can be found on the assignment page once it releases towards the end of the semester.
Collaboration & Academic Misconduct
There is a very fine line between productive discussion of course material and cheating. We can learn a lot from talking to and working with each other. but we also want to ensure that every student can get the maximum benefit from the material this course has to offer. The overall goal is for you to learn the material to be prepared for the future.
You are welcome and encouraged to work with your classmates on the pre-lecture readings, in-class polls, recitation worksheets, and additional practice problems. The following policy applies only to homework assignments, weekly quizzes, and the final project:
In this course we define cheating as any sharing of code or solutions to assignments either by copying, retyping, looking at, supplying a copy of a file, or dictating to someone what to write. This includes using any code generated by a large language model such as Chat-GPT. It is a serious offense. If you are caught cheating, you can expect an initiation of a cheating case in the University system and a zero for the assignment. Depending on circumstances, you may receive a failing grade in the course.
If you feel you are having a problem with the material, or don’t have time to finish an assignment, or have any number of reasons to cheat please reach out to Kyrie first. We are more than happy to work with students as needed to support your learning in this course. Just don’t cheat.
Course Resources
Office Hours
Office Hours will be held throughout the week. These are a great place to receive assistance on homework assignments as well as to talk with TAs. Most TAs are MCIT students who may have valuable advice and experience to share.
Times for Office Hours can be found on the Weekly Schedule. Any changes to regularly scheduled office hours will be announced on Ed and updated in the schedule.
Ed
Ed is a platform we will use for several aspects of the course.
You should use the discussion board for asking questions about material, assignments, and to contact TAs. Please read through the pinned post for more information about how to use the discussion board. Do not email your TAs directly. If you have a sensitive question you may choose to email Kyrie, but for all other questions you will get a much faster response from posting on Ed.
Ed also has a Lessons section which we will use for managing course material. From the course calendar, you will find links to the following course material, broken down by topic:
- Pre-lecture Reading
- Lecture Slides & Code
- Weekly Quiz
- Extra Practice Problems
If there is a topic you would like additional practice, you can find more problems on Ed dealing with that topic to work through. Using Ed’s built in programming environment, you will be able to try out solutions, as well as view a course staff solution.
Note:Some topics may not have extra practice problems.
Gradescope
Gradescope is the platform we will use for submitting homework assignments and the final project. It is a submission portal where coding assignments can be autograded, providing more immediate feedback to you about your code’s correctness.
Note:Not every assignment will have an autograder and autograders are not an excuse to not thoroughly test your own code.
Course Climate
Extenuating Circumstances: “Don’t Suffer in Silence”
We recognize that our students come from varied backgrounds and can have widely-varying circumstances. If you have any unforeseen circumstances that arise during the course, please do not hesitate to contact the course staff to discuss your situation. The sooner we are made aware, the more easily we can provide accommodations. You can also visit counseling services if you find you need help beyond the course staff.
Typically, extenuating circumstances include work-school balance, familial responsibilities, health concerns, or anything else beyond your control that may negatively impact your performance in the class. Additionally, there is a difference between “productive struggle” which is healthy for learning, and “needless suffering” from toiling over an issue for a very long time.
In summary, life happens! Our focus is on providing an excellent educational environment which is not possible if we view our course as existing in a vacuum. We are here to support your ability to be successful, and we encourage you to work with us to make that possible.
Disability Accommodations
Your experience in this class should not be affected by any disabilities you may have. The Student Disability Services (SDS) is a unit within the Weingarten Learning Resources Center (WLRC) dedicated to ensure equal access to all University programs, activities and services. They offer a wide range of services for students with disabilities that are individually designed and remove the need to reveal sensitive medical information to the course staff. Please submit a request if you will have a medical need for extensions of assignment deadlines or exam accommodations.
Religious Accommodations
We follow the University of Pennsylvania Policy on Secular and Religious Holidays. The schedule was designed with multiple religious observances in mind, but if one you observe was missed and conflicts with the course, please follow the linked guidelines.