Nov-30: First, note that I have once again reset the sign-up page. Have at it.
Second, for those who want to move on to Project 5c without having fully completed Project 5b, well, following that link. Alternatively, visit the Projects page, which contains that same link.
Nov-15: I have reset the sign-up page for the week after break (Nov 26 to 30, now correctly listed on that page). Go sign up for a meeting time if you need one, but please do try to resolve your difficulties by (a) trying on your own (of course), and (b) sending an email to me. If you are around for some part of the break, you are welcome to email me if you care to meet.
Nov-15: In working on Project 6 (the Sudoku solver), you should use a Scanner object. You've used it before---to define keyboard in a number of your programs and then call methods like nextInt() to read integers from the keyboard. Here, you should use a Scanner to read from a file.
To accomplish these tasks with a Scanner, it may help to look at the Scanner class documentation. Most specifically, you likely want to examine these two methods:
Nov-10: At long last, here are the solutions to the mid-term exam. Please examine them and see if they make sense to you, and determine whether you have questions about them. When I have completed grading the mid-terms (!), I will add to this document a discussion of common mistakes.
Nov-10: My greatest apologies for failing not only to lead our labs yesterday, but also for failing to post a notice about it. Also, my thanks to all of you, for everyone was quite understanding about my annoying, episodic health problems here. I am happy to report that I'm back on my feet and ready to go.
That said, I just posted a new slate of times on the sign-up page, so select a time for yourself if you have questions that are best answered in person. Moreover, I am going to hold some optional replacement lab hours tomorrow (Sunday). I will be down in the lab from 3 to 6 pm, available to answer questions and help you get things done with whichever lab is currently occupying your thoughts.
Nov-08: The migraines strike again. I am out of commission for the rest of the day, which means that our 8 pm lab is cancelled. I will try to schedule some additional lab time for the weekend so those in this section (and anyone else) can get extra time to work on the assignments. Additionally, those in tonight's lab section who wish to attend a lab tomorrow are welcome to do so -- we'll squeeze you into the room.
Nov-03: First, thank you to everyone for exercising your flexibility, patience, communication, and consideration regarding last week's labs. In spite of the complex restructuring of the week, nearly everyone managed to get into a lab section and get some critical work done.
Second, I have cleared the sign-up page for this week's office hours. Please note that I am trying, for this week, 20 minute (instead of 30 minute) time slots in an effort to provide more opportunities for everyone. Please also note that, because of pre-registration, a good deal of my available time must go to those meetings; that is, if you are unable to sign up for one of the posted office hours, it is deeply unlikely that I will have any other time available to meet with you this week. Do you best via email in that case, and be prepared to take advantage of your time in the lab.
Oct-30: Because of Friday's canceled classes and labs, I am rescheduling those lab sections as follows:
I am sure that for some of you, this rescheduling will anywhere from undesirable to impossible. For those for whom it is undesirable, I ask that you simply live with it -- this week's cancelations are creating many difficulties, and we're all doing what we can to work around them. If your assigned time creates a non-academic conflict, then I expect you to put this academic priority first. If your assigned time creates an academic conflict, choose another section. If all of that fails, then, and only then should you contact me about this issue.
Oct-30: I have added a few more office hours to this week's sign-up sheet, due to popular demand. Also, please watch this space for announcements regarding the rescheduling of this Friday's labs.
Oct-29: When you have completed the code for Project 5a, please run it not on 50 million values, but on 50,000. The larger number will take far too long with the solutions that the vast majority of you are likely to write. Moreover, note that Project 5b has not yet posted, but I hope to remedy that later today.
Oct-29: We will NOT meet for class today. No sooner did I send you email about class being held than the college cancelled all classes. Enjoy the storm!
Also, the sign-up page had some problems, which a few of you kindly pointed out to me. I believe those problems are fixed, so go ahead and use it.
Oct-24: Because I do not always answer email quickly, and because all of our schedules are complex, I am attempting a new method of scheduling meetings with y'all. If you want to meet with me, sign up here for a time slot. I will post a fresh copy of this page each week.
Oct-20: For this week only, the Q-Center TA help session will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Sunday in the basement of Seeley Mudd. Spread the word. Please remember that the help session leader, Mark, is simultaneously running these sessions for both this course and COSC-161, so he may be in Seeley Mudd 006, helping those students as well. I have asked additional TA's from this class to show up, so I hope that there will be sufficient help available.
Oct-18: Although I had to miss this morning's 10 am lab (apologies to those in that section!), I will be in for labs tonight and tomorrow. Our goal is to work toward completing Project 4, all of which is now available.
Oct-16: Because many of you want to come in and ask questions, I will be in my office from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm today. Please limit yourself to preparation for tomorrow's mid-term, and leave questions regarding the projects for after the exam is finished.
Additionally, here are the solutions to the sample mid-term exam.
Oct-14: Since many of you have been inquiring, the Registrar has posted the final exam schedule. The exam for this course will be on Monday, December 17, from 2:00 to 5:00 pm, in Merrill 2 (our usual classroom).
Oct-11: I am once again suffering from a migraine, so tonight's lab time will be run solely by the TA's. I hope to be back tomorrow for those labs. We will be addressing Project 4b, which is already posted, so this lab time should be used to complete Project 4a and get started on 4b.
Oct-10: At long last, Project 4b is posted. Finish Project 4a to figure out how to find 4b. Please carefully note the deadline for Project 4b; it is unusual in compensation for the time you must spend preparing for the mid-term exam.
Oct-08: Here is the aforementioned sample mid-term exam. I will later post the answers to these questions. Please keep in mind that this sample is meant solely to show you what kinds of questions may appear on an exam. Critically, it is not meant to be a study guide, nor a comprehensive listing of either topics or question types. Be sure, when studying, to focus on your notes and on your work from the projects.
Oct-08: I was unexpectedly out of comission this weekend, so my apologies for the lack of communication. For those around during this long weekend, I still hope to have a help session tomorrow (Tuesday). Watch here for more information. I will also answer your email querries today, as well as post the promised sample mid-term, post Project 4b, and (finally) return a graded Project 1. Stay tuned.
Sep-25: A number of you attended what you thought would be a TA help session at the proferred time of 7 to 9 pm on Sunday. You reported that nobody was there, and thus the session was a bust. The lead TA in this matter informed that he had mistakenly intended for the first couple of weekend sessions to be on Saturday, and thus wasn't there on Sunday. So, the issue has been resolved: Henceforth, the TA help sessions will indeed be from 7 to 9 pm on Sundays in the lab. Please give it another try.
Sep-25: For any of you seeking to see me today (Tuesday), I am unavailable for the day. Send me a note if you want to meet tomorrow or Thursday.
Sep-22: For those who have gotten to the end of Project 3a, Project 3b has been posted. Good luck.
Sep-20: First, please attend your assigned lab section for this week. Many of you have asked to move to another section, and the proposed moves have seemed acceptable, so I've suggested that those who have asked should go ahead and attend their desired section. If we find, this week, that some section is over-subscribed, then we will do something to re-balance them.
Additionally, we had a debate in class on Monday as to whether the swimming record that you must obtain for Project 2 is listed as being in meters rather than yards. Bafflingly, many of you insisted that it was listed in meters; however, there is no indication on the board that the record is for a distance given in meters. As I suggest in the assignment, all of the swimming records are given in yards; that observation remains true here, and the record in question is unambiguously given in yards. If you thought it was meters, I would be fascinated to know why you thought so.
Sep-13: Lab section information, take II. Below are the rosters for the other three lab sections. Again, please attend the section to which you are assigned. If you wish to change sections, contact me and we can make adjustments for next week going forward.
Lab Section 02, Thursday, 8 pm:
Winthrop Harvey Owen Marschall Donna Leet Conner Reilly Devin Gibbs Carl Lindstrom Janita Chalam Kristin Young Steven Santos Sangbo Nam Julia Pearson Luisa Santos Peter Alsharif Enkhnasan Enkhbold Michael Solimano Rick Terry Lucia Yang Ivane Gamkrelidze Michael Aldo
Lab Section 03, Friday, 1 pm:
Clara DeWitt Salena Budinger Eleanor Cory Daniel Keolasy Eli Mlaver Jenny Li Amanda Goorin Nicholas Egan Jessica Kaliski Adaugo Ugocha Lenworth Williamson Gabirela Ulloa Emy Kelty Jeremy Paskoff Susan Laker Greg Singer Brendan Hsu Jeffrey Feldman Luis Rattenhuber Tommy Haskel Sam Cadwell Jeremy Bannister? Robert Osur
Lab Section 04, Friday, 2 pm:
Patrick Routh Krista Zsitvay Thornton Ellis Josephine Chu Charlie McAllister Steven Molitor Julie Christensen Junyu Chen Quincy Ogutu John Russell Sarah Bessa-McManus Samuel Keaser Nadirah Porter-Kasbati Alexus Strong Shruthi Badri Jeon Domingue Clay Andrews Alex Butensky
Sep-12: Lab section information, take I. I am constructing the lab sections, but for this evening, I am only going to post information regarding the first lab section for Thursday at 10 am (tomorrow morning). The rosters for the other lab sections will be posted in the early afternoon, so be sure to check for that update.
The following students are assigned, and listed in no particular order, to Lab Section 01, Thursday, 10 am:
Mapate Diop Elizabeth Mutter Raveen Nathan Parker Moody Owen Marschall Maris Aebi Phong Gia Hoang Karina Kossler Yanzhen Lu Peter Kaasila Denise Escovar Emily Bai Karl Gadicke Leslie Coronel Chloe Revery Maile Hollinger Eurasia Lambert Luis Velasquez Doyle Judge **(email me)
The lab will be held, as all of them will, in Seeley Mudd 014. Please be there on time and ready to dig into the next project (or, for those still working on it, the previous project).
Sep-12: Our class has grown even bigger, and we do not fit into our new classroom, Merrill 3. So, we are going to switch to our new new classroom, Merrill 2, which is where all of our lectures will henceforth meet.
Sep-10: Mr. Harvey (one of your fellow students) has brought to my attention an error in Project 1. I have updated the Project 1 document to update how y is calculated. Specifically, the original formulation was y = b/a - 1. The new, correct formulation is y = b/a.
If you have already completed the project and submitted your work using the original calculation for y, you need not update and resubmit. This correction mostly removes the confusion that has resulted in using the x, y, z values in searching the pictures in the gym, and finding a person that seems to have no interesting connection to the class.
Sep-09: There are a number of significant issues here, so let's address them one-by-one:
New classroom: Since we did not fit in Seeley Mudd 206, we will now hold our lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays in Merrill 3. Of course, we will still meet at 1 pm on those days.
One mid-term: The Course Information document has been updated to reflect a change from two mid-term exams to a single mid-term. The high enrollment would make the grading of two mid-terms intractable.
Scheduling labs: I have created a poll in which I need each and every one of you to provide scheduling information. With so many people registered for the course, we need to divide the class into three lab sections; moreover, this division needs to occur over the next few days -- before this Friday! Please go to the Doodle poll and provide information as to which of the many possible lab hours fit your schedule.
Project 1: I have posted Project 1. The first portion of it, involving Howdy.java, is very much like what we did in lab on Friday, and it should take little time. The latter part of the lab is a bit more involved, and we will address important material on Monday necessary to complete it. Notice that this project is due on Thursday, one minute before it becomes Friday.
Sep-09: Many of you are seeking the first project -- the one that I promised for the first lab. After being sick for the last two days, I am finally about to get that assignment posted. Check here before the day is out, and there will be an announcement and link to that project, as well as a number of other bits of information and organization. Note that the first assignment will not be due until Thursday night. You do not have any work due for tomorrow's class.
Sep-06: Our lab sections will be held in Seeley Mudd 014. However, since there are so many students taking the course, not all of you can fit in the lab at Fridays at 1:00 - 1:50 pm. Therefore, there will be three lab sections, held at:
Next week, each of you will be assigned to one of these lab sections for Fridays, officially for the Registrar's records. However, we cannot perform those assignments until the end of add/drop. So, I must ask that each of you come to either lab section 01 or 03 if at all possible. By doing so, I am hopeful that the course's students will be sufficiently distributed for our first lab. Later, we will more thoroughly distribute students amongs those sessions.
Aug-15: Welcome to Introduction to Computer Science I! Before our first class on Wednesday, Sep-05, read the Course Information. This document covers the course topics, expectations, structure, grading, etc.