CS 110 Lab Spring 2011

Outline >Computer Science Lab Overview (syllabus)< Why we're learning programming with Java How to succeed

Personal Introduction Your TA: Adam Brady – – WVU Alum – Graduated May ’09 with honors – Master’s student in CS – Data Mining / Machine Learning Researcher – Geek interests: Empiricist Philosophy, Computer Science Education, Homebrewing, EVE: Online

Course Overview Hands on programming exercises – Programmers learn by doing One-on-one Assistance – Immediate feedback when you get stuck Structured time to absorb concepts – It's very hard to "cram" for CS exams

Course Overview Computer Science isn't using computers Computer Science is PROBLEM SOLVING CS Lab helps you organize your thoughts: – break down big problems in to manageable parts – solve these sub-problems using a formal language

Assignments Best 10 of 12+ In Lab Assignments – To be completed during lab – Cannot be made up – Demonstrate concepts already learned in lecture 5 quizzes, announced in advance 5 Out-of-lab projects – Larger, more complex assignments – Completed on your own (with help from me)

Grading Point system, total of 250 points 10 points per quiz (50 points total) 10 points per in-lab assignment (100 total) 20 points per out of lab project (100 total)

Outline Computer Science Lab Overview (syllabus) >Why we're learning programming with Java< How to succeed

Why Java? To those with some experience, a few notes about Java vs other languages: C is faster, but terrible for large projects “all the power of assembly language with all the ease of use of assembly language” -- unknown C++ is scales better, but you have to still manually manage memory. “C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.” -- Bjarne Stroustrup

Why Java? Python is simpler and supports garbage collection, but lacks type safety. “Python: executable pseudocode.” --comp.lang.python Lisp is simpler, faster, scales well, supports garbage collection, and is so powerful it can easily implement other languages in itself. (It’s also very, very hard to learn well.) “[Lisp] is the only computer language that is beautiful.” -- Neal Stephenson

So Why Java? Industry Acceptance – Java was designed for writing massive programs with hundreds of authors. Businesses love it. Type Safety – Java is strict about what variables can contain. You’re less likely to make accidental mistakes. Automatic Memory Management – Garbage Collection makes life easier The Java API – Thousands of pre-written “classes” you can use in your programs to do almost anything.

Outline Computer Science Lab Overview (syllabus) Why we're learning programming with Java >How to succeed<

How to Succeed Always come to lab on time Don’t hesitate to ask for help Start out-of-lab projects early Practice, practice, practice