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COMP 210F06: Principles of Computing & Programming (Fall 2006)

Instructor:	Walid Taha	Staff:	Nathan Tallent, Dan Smith, Gregory Malecha, Matt Wilson, Jen Gillenwater, Chris Warrington
Lectures:	Duncan Hall (DH) 1064	Time:	MWF 10:00-10:50 am
Labs:	Symonds II	Times:	W 2:30-3:50pm, W 7:00-8:20pm, Th 2:30-3:50 pm (Please sign up!)

Office Hours

MON	TUE	WED		THU	FRI	SAT	SUN
11:00-11:55 am	4:00-5:30 pm	11:00-11:55 am	1:00-2:00 pm	12:45-2:15 pm	11:00-11:55 am	2:00-4:00 pm	2:00-4:00 pm	9:00-11:00 pm
Walid	Matt	Walid	Nathan	Dan	Walid	Jen	Chris	Seth
DH 3103	Hanzen Upper Commons	DH 3103	DH 3063	DH 3109	DH 3103	Symonds II	Symonds II	Symonds II

• IRC Channel

Introduction

This course is an introduction to key concepts in programming and computing. The focus is on systematic methods for understanding problems and devising computations that solve these problems correctly.

No prior programming experience is assumed, so non-majors are welcome in the course. We expect students to be comfortable with high-school math. Success in the course requires curiosity about the intellectual core of computer science, self-discipline, and an interest in working with other people on increasingly larger projects.

Topics covered include functional programming, design patterns/recipes, data structures, procedural abstraction, reduction rules, use of control and state, and basic concepts in object-oriented programming. Students will learn practical skills required to write and modify programs. Labs and assignments use the Scheme programming language.

Here is a nice article about the basic approach taken in this course.

Required Text: How to Design Programs, Felleisen et al. QA76.6 .H697 2001 (Online).

DrScheme: Please download and use Version 352. To avoid compatability problems, please make sure you use this exact version.

Course Schedule

Please note that any future dates may change, and these are only guidelines.

Also, future homeworks and slides contain materials from previous years. The new material will be provided before the corresponding class.

#	Day	Date	Topic	Reading	Lectures	Problems	Due	Lab
1	Mon	Aug 28	Introduction			HW 0	W Aug 28
2	Wed	Aug 30	Numbers, expressions, variables, function definitions, applications, and errors	Ch 1+2, Ch 2 Notes	L 2	HW 1 (Solutions)	W Sep 6	Getting Started: DrScheme, Design Recipe
3	Fri	Sep 1	Programs are Function plus Variable Definitions, Conditional Expressions and Functions, and Symbolic Data	Ch 3, Ch 3 Notes	L 3
3+	Mon	Sep 4	No class (Labor Day Recess)	-	-	-	-	-
4	Wed	Sep 6	Effects and Structures	Ch 4, Ch 4 Notes, Ch 5, Ch 5 Notes, Ch 6, Ch 6 Notes	L 4	HW 2 (Solutions)	M Sep 11	Simple data and cond , Structures and Varieties
5	Fri	Sep 8	Varieties of Data	Ch 7	L 5
6	Mon	Sep 11	Syntax and Semantics of Beginner Scheme	Ch 8, Ch 8 Notes	L 6	HW 3 (Solutions)	M Sep 18
7	Wed	Sep 13	Lists, Recursive Types, and Functions that Process them	Ch 9, Ch 9 Notes	L 7			Lists
8	Fri	Sep 15	More on Processing Lists	Ch 10	L 8
9	Mon	Sep 18	Natural Numbers are a recursively-defineable subset of numbers	Ch 11	L 9	HW 4 (Solutions)	M Sep 25
10	Wed	Sep 20	Composing Functions, Revisited	Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 13 Notes	L 10			Natural Numbers and Trees Lab
11	Fri	Sep 22	More Self-referential Data Definitions	Ch 14	L 11
12	Mon	Sep 25	Mutually Referential Data Definitions	Ch 15	L 12	No HW
12+	Wed	Sep 27	First Exam (in class)	Exam 1 Solution				Mutually Recursive Data Definitions Lab
13	Fri	Sep 29	Development through Iterative Refinement	Ch 16
13+	Mon	Oct 2	Exam 1 Solution			HW 5 (Solutions)	M Oct 9
14	Wed	Oct 4	Processing Two Complex Pieces of Data	Ch 17	L 14			local and Scope Lab
15	Fri	Oct 6	Local definitions and Lexical Scope	Ch 18, Ch 18 Notes	L 15
16	Mon	Oct 9	Abstraction in functions and types	Ch 19	L 16	HW 6 (Solutions)	W Oct 18
17	Wed	Oct 11	Functions are Values	Ch 20	L 17			Abstract Functions Lab
18	Fri	Oct 13	Designing Abstractions from Examples	Ch 21	L 18
18+	Mon	Oct 16	No class (Midterm Recess)	-	-	-	-	-
19	Wed	Oct 18	Designing Abstractions with First-Class Functions	Ch 22	Old L 23	No HW		No lab this week
20	Fri	Oct 20	Mathematical Examples	Ch 23	Old L 24
21*	Mon	Oct 23	Defining Functions on the Fly (Guest lecture: Dan Smith)	Ch 24, Ch 24 Notes	L 21
22*	Wed	Oct 25	A New Form of Recursion (Guest lecture: Seth Fogarty)	Ch 25	L 22 , Extras	HW 7 (Solutions)	M Oct 30	Consuming and Producing Functions Lab
23*	Fri	Oct 27	Designing Algorithms (Guest lecture: Seth Fogarty)	Ch 26+27	L 23, Examples
24	Mon	Oct 30	Variations on a Theme	Ch 27	L 24	HW 8 (Solutions)	M Nov 6
25	Wed	Nov 1	Algorithms that Backtrack	Ch 28	L 25			Generative Recursion Lab
26	Fri	Nov 3	Vectors and the Cost of Computing	Ch 29	L 26
27	Mon	Nov 6	Accumulators	Ch 30-31	L 27	HW 9 (Solutions)	M Nov 20
28	Wed	Nov 8	Memory for Functions and assignment to Variables	Ch 34-35, Part VII Notes	L 28			Accumulators on Trees & Vectors Lab
29	Fri	Nov 10	Designing Functions with Memory and examples on Memory Usage	Ch 36,37	L 29
30	Mon	Nov 13	The Final Syntax and Semantics	Ch 38	L 30
30+	Wed	Nov 15	Second Exam (in class). Covers up to lecture 25.					set! Lab
31	Fri	Nov 17	Encapsulation	Ch 39	L 31
32	Mon	Nov 20	Mutable Structures	Ch 40	L 32	HW 10 (Solutions)	W Nov 29
33	Wed	Nov 22	Designing Functions that Change Structures	Ch 41	L 33			No lab this week
33+	Fri	Nov 24	No class (Thanksgiving Recess)	-	-	-	-	-
34	Mon	Nov 27	Cyclic Queues
35	Wed	Nov 29	Cyclic Queues			HW 11 (Solutions)	F Dec 1	Destructive operations on lists and vectors Lab
36	Fri	Dec 1	Equality	Ch 42, 43	L 36	HW 12 (Solutions)	M Dec 4
37	Mon	Dec 4	Per popular demand: Mathematical Logic		L 37
38	Wed	Dec 6	Review	Ch 54				Arithmetic Imprecision Lab
39	Fri	Dec 8	Review	Ch 54	L 39, Old Final	-
	Fri	Dec 15	Final Exam (9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.)		L 40, Vector Reduction Rules

Grading, Honor Code Policy, Processes and Procedures

Grading will be broken down approximately into homeworks (worth 40%), quizzes (worth 5%), exams (10% for first exam, and 20% for the second exam and the final), and a final project (worth 5%). It is important that your performance in each components be consistent.

Exams test your individual understanding and knowledge of the material. Collaboration during exams is not tolerated.

Mailing Lists:

• comp210F06-discussion-l@mailman.rice.edu (subscribe here):
  • This is where important announcments related to the class will be posted.
  • Students are required to sign up to this list.
  • You may use this list for open discussions relating to the course. Postings are expected to abide by standard Netiquette.
• comp210F06-teachers-l@mailman.rice.edu:
  • Any questions relating to the course can be sent to this list.
  • Specific questions about homework problems and grading can be directed here.

Questions

If you have a question about homework -- you're not sure what is expected for a given problem, you haven't received feedback from a previous assignment, or you don't understand or agree with the assessment of your work, for example -- you can raise the question with a TA in lab or on the teachers mailing list (questions of general interest may alternately be raised on the discussion mailing list). If, after doing so, you don't feel that your concerns have been addressed, you may wish to contact Dr. Taha directly.

When addressing concerns about your grade, keep in mind that while you should certainly not be marked off for a correct solution, the exact amount of partial credit to award where your solution is not correct is inherently subjective. In this case, try to defer to your grader's judgement.

Homeworks:

Homeworks help you check your understanding of the material and prepare you for the exams. You are encouraged to discuss the homework problems with the instructors and staff. Help from other students, including Comp 210F06 graduates, is also encouraged (but should be cited, naturally), although that does not include giving or receiving complete answers. All homework partners are responsible for knowing all the submitted material. If you fail to understand the homework solutions, you won't succeed on the exams.

Homeworks will generally be handed out on Mondays, and will be due before class the following Monday.

You are expected to work in groups of two.

You may change partners during the semester.

Partners should work together on all aspects of the homework -- all students are expected to contribute equally. You and your partner should hand in exactly one solution.

Late homework will not be accepted without prior arrangement or exceptional cause. "I have a lot of work in other classes" is not sufficient grounds for an exception.

We recommend that you review the homework guide as you develop your solutions. Review the submission checklist when you turn in your homework. Your work will be graded as documented on the grading page.

Reading: For each lecture, there is associated reading. Students are required to complete the reading before the class associated with this reading.

Quizzes: After each class, a quiz will be announced on the mailing list, and can be taken on WebCT. The purpose of the quiz is to give the instructor feedback on how well you understood the reading, and to provide you with a chance to ask questions about the new material. By simply taking the quiz you get 70% of the mark. The quiz is closed book, closed DrScheme, and closed notes. No collaboration is allowed. The quiz is due before 8 am the day of the next class. Responses to student questions submitted with the quizzes can be found here.

More (but possibly out-of-date) advice can be found here. We expect to add new guidelines in the next few weeks.

Journal: Each student is expected to create and maintain a journal page. It should be used to record the time, duration, and nature of work done in relation to the course. The journal must follow the form of a standard template standard template .

New entries will be added at the top of the page. Please see the sample journal for the style you should follow. NB: The dates and times are totally made up. They are not necessarily representative of actual student experences.

Other Resources:

• Practical matters:
  • DrScheme Programming Environment
• Special interest groups:
  • CSters
  • Computer Science Club
  • ... (please send in suggestions!)
• Webpages from previous semesters

Additional References:

More on CS:	The New Turing Omnibus, A. K. Dewdney	QA76 .D448 1993
	Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing, David Harel	QA76.9 .A43 H37 2004
	Computers Ltd.: What They Really Can't Do, David Harel	QA76.5 .H3575 2000
	Great Ideas in Computer Science, Alan W. Biermann	QA76 .B495 1997
	Computer Science: An Overview, J. Glenn Brookshear	QA76 .B743 1997
	Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas Hofstadter	QA9.8 .H63 1980
	Metamagical Themas, Douglas Hofstadter	Q335 .H63 1985
If you liked Scheme, you'll love these resources:	Scheme for the Complete Idiom, Ian Barland	(Online)
	Google's MapReduce	(Online)
	The Little Schemer, Friedman & Felleisen	QA76.73 .S34 F75 1996
	The Seasoned Schemer, Friedman & Felleisen	QA76.73 .S34 F77 1996
	Developing Applications with Objective Caml, Emmanuel Chailloux, Pascal Manoury, and Bruno Pagano
	The Haskell School of Expression: Learning Functional Programming Through Multimedia, Paul Hudak	QA76.62 H83 2000

Accomodations for Students with Special Needs

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me during the first two weeks of class regarding any special needs. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center and the Rice Disability Support Services.

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