COMS CS3101-6 (CVN)

Programming Languages: MATLAB


General Course Information
Fall 2011, lectures are prerecorded, one 2 hour lecture per week is required (plus a 1 hour supplemental lecture after the 6th lecture).

Class Webpage

http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~pblaer/matlab-cvn/

Course Description
Introduction to a programming language. Each section is devoted to a specific language. Intended only for those who are already fluent in at least one programming language.

Prerequisites
- Previous programming experience in (at least) one language is assumed.
- CUNIX account (not necessary if you own a copy of MATLAB).
- Access to a computer running MATLAB 7. - Understanding that this is a 3000-level course with 5 homeworks over 6 weeks.
- Though not a formal prerequisite, background in basic linear algebra is very helpful.

Instructor
Paul Blaer (pblaer@cs.columbia.edu)
Office Hours: By Appointment
Office Phone: (212) 939-7034
Location: 483 Computer Science Building (please note that access to this area is restricted, so please contact me in advance if you would like to meet in person)

Textbook
Duane Hanselman and Bruce Littlefield, Mastering MATLAB 7, Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0131430181.

MathWorks provides online documentation for MATLAB which we will also be making use of. It can be found here:
http://www.mathworks.com/access/helpdesk/help/techdoc/matlab.html

Software
The course requires that you have access to version 7 of MATLAB, preferrably R2008a or later. If you are near the Columbia campus, you can use the computing lab workstations to run MATLAB. See the class links section of the main class web page for more information on the computer labs.

If you are not near the campus and do not already have access to MATLAB version 7 or later, it is available at no cost to students under the Engineering School's site license. You can download it at http://portal.seas.colubmia.edu/matlab/.

Grading
Your course grade will be based on 5 homeworks and one final exam. Homework 1 counts for 5% of your grade, homeworks 2 through 5 count for 15% each. The final exam counts for 35%.

Course Schedule

Each student is allowed to follow the course at their own pace. Since the class has 6 lectures, you should try to complete one lecture a week. For each lecture there is a homework assignment which should be completed by the following week. I'm flexible with homework deadlines, so if you run in to a problem just let me know.

The first session runs from September 12 to October 21. All homeworks should be submitted by October 24. The final exam should be taken no later than October 29.

The second session runs from October 17 to November 25. All homeworks should be submitted by November 28. The final exam should be taken no later than December 2.

The third session runs from November 7 to December 16. All homeworks should be submitted by December 19. The final exam should be taken no later than December 23.

Homework Policy
You will have approximately one week to complete each of the 5 homework assignments.

All homeworks must be done individually. Please review the Computer Science Department's policy on academic honesty.


Paul Blaer pblaer@cs.columbia.edu
Last Modified: September 1, 2011