Computer Science COMS S1003-001, Summer 2008
Meeting times: MW 6:15pm-9:25pm Location: 627 Seeley W. Mudd Building
Instructor
Arezu MoghadamEmail:
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Teaching Assistant
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Abe Skolnik
Email:
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Textbooks
There are two textbooks. Textbooks will be available at Columbia bookstore to purchase. Alternatively, Amazon links are provided below.
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Brookshear, J. Glenn. Computer
Science: An Overview,10th Edition. Addison-Wesley, January 2008. |
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Oualline, Steve. Practical C
Programming, 3rd Edition. O'Reilly, August 1997. |
Course structure
There are three major components to a grade in this course: assignments, midterm, and the final.
- 5 assignments, 30 points each: 150 points
- Midterm: 50 points
- Final: 100 points
In other words, all three components are extremely important, but assignments are especially significant. Class participation is also strongly urged. While there is no numerical grade attached to it, as neither participation nor attendance is strictly required.
Homework format and submission
Assignments will generally be divided into two parts: written theory questions and programming questions. You're generally allotted one week for each homework; make sure to start early so you can ask questions (or, make sure you have a lot of coffee and crossed fingers if you start the night before it's due). Assignments are due by class time on Mondays.
Consequently, there will be two means of submission: hardcopy and electronic; the first will be required for the written problems, and the latter for the programming exercises. A link to the instructions will be posted here well before the first homework is due.
Homework lateness
You are given 3 "late days" that can be used towards homework submissions during the semester. A late day is defined as exactly 24 hours, so if homework is due at 6:00pm on Monday, you could submit the homework by 6:00pm on that Tuesday by using up one of your late days.
As an example, you can submit homework 1 two days late and homework 4 one day late -- but all of the remaining assignments must be on time. Beyond the late days, no late assignments will be accepted; if you're in such a situation, submit what you have instead of getting a zero. (Please don't come to my office or email me with excuses – none of them are accepted!)
Cheating and plagiarism
One word: don't. All assignments and exams in this course are intended to be done by yourself, and with the help of the textbook, teaching assistants, the instructor, and the webboard. You're allowed to discuss problems with classmates, but only in general terms, and you must specifically avoid discussing any solutions.
Moreover, you'd be amazed how easy it is to detect plagiarism or cheating in both written and programming assignments. Cheaters don't spend tremendous amounts of time masking their copy, because that defeats the purpose and it would be simpler to do the homework themselves. Invariably, therefore, they get caught. An infraction is a zero on the assignment or exam and a referral to your academic dean. See “Academic Honesty” for more details.
You must also resist the urge to copy code from the web. Obviously, there are many Computer Science classes out there, and while I put every effort into making my assignments reasonably unique, there are likely to be similar approaches elsewhere. While I obviously can't forbid you to look at other slides or text material, any evidence of plagiarism from other sources will merit similar consequences.