Course Information and Introductions Intro to Computer Science CS1510 Dr. Sarah Diesburg University of Northern Iowa 1

Instructor Sarah Diesburg Office: 311 ITTC Office hours: MW 2-3pm, TTh 3-5pm, by appt. Class website: _sp15/index.htm _sp15/index.htm 2. UNI eLearning University of Northern Iowa 2

Teaching Assistants Jordan Baker –  Lab Assistant (10:00am), Grader Huy Nguyen –  Lab Assistant (8:00am) University of Northern Iowa 3

Class Schedule Lecture M W F 9:00-9:50am in 328 ITTC  Mandatory  Three lectures per week Lab  Section 1 Thurs 8:00-9:50am in 112 Wright  Section 2 Thurs 10:00am-11:50am in 339 Wright  Also mandatory  Hands-on work on projects for points  TA and I are available University of Northern Iowa 4

Today Passing along attendance sheet  For rest of lectures, please sign by your name Class objectives  What is computer science? Logistics University of Northern Iowa 5

What is computer science?? Computer science is a discipline that involves the understanding and design of computers and computational processes  And it’s a REALLY diverse discipline University of Northern Iowa 6

Wearable Computing Virtual Environments GraphicsComputer Vision Robotics Ubiquitous Computing Bioinformatics University of Northern Iowa 7

Information Security User information Assurance Digital Special Effects Databases High Performance Simulation Human Computer Interface Design University of Northern Iowa 8

What do these things have in common? They all treat the computer as only part of a bigger picture They all treat the computer as a tool! University of Northern Iowa 9

Which tool would you rather use? University of Northern Iowa 10

Just like other tools, we have to be careful they aren’t misused University of Northern Iowa 11

But how do we turn a computer from that thing on our desk… To that powerful tool that helps us solve problems? Bioinformatics University of Northern Iowa 12

Programming! Programming is the process of writing, testing, and maintaining the source code of computer programs  Collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer While this course is an introduction to computer science, it focuses on how we can program the computer to be the tool we need! University of Northern Iowa 13

A Well-Educated Computer Scientist Should be Able to... Apply the fundamental concepts and techniques of  computation,  algorithms, and  computer design …to a specific problem University of Northern Iowa 14

Our Goals This Semester Increase our problem solving skills Design good solutions to problems Test how well they are indeed solutions to the problem Provide the solution as a readable document University of Northern Iowa 15

A brief look at course logistics Take the time outside of class to thoroughly read the course syllabus. Some highlights… University of Northern Iowa 16

Why two websites? eLearning is for interaction  Submit assignments and labs, view your grades Traditional website is for notes, labs, and other downloads Demo… University of Northern Iowa 17

Prerequisites None Some of you may have programming experience, others may not  Either way is fine University of Northern Iowa 18

Required Skills Time and patience University of Northern Iowa 19

Course Material Lecture notes (posted at the class website) Textbook:  The Practice of Computing Using Python (2nd edition), by William Punch and Richard Enbody University of Northern Iowa 20

Class Grading University of Northern Iowa 21 ActivityNumberPoints Class Participation/Attendance pts each45 In-lab Work pts each130 Programming Assignments pts each275 Midterm Exams 1 and pts each300 Final pts each250 Total1000

Grading Scale 100 – 92 A 91.9 – 90 A – 88 B – 82 B 81.9 – 80B – 78C – 72C 71.9 – 70C – 68D – 62D 61.9 – 60D – 0F University of Northern Iowa 22

Your Responsibilities Understand lecture and reading materials Attend office hours for extra help, as needed Uphold academic honesty Turn in your assignments on time Check class web page and your UNI account and regularly University of Northern Iowa 23

Dos and Don’ts Do share debugging experiences Do share knowledge of tools Do acknowledge help from others Do acknowledge sources of information from books and web pages University of Northern Iowa 24

Dos and Don’ts Don’t cheat Don’t copy code from other people or websites Don’t paraphrase code from others either  E.g., changing variable names & indentations  Will be using sophisticated plagiarism checker  Don’t post code to the discussion board University of Northern Iowa 25

Course Policies Attendance mandatory There are no make-up exams for missed exams… Honor code: read your student handbook Students with disabilities  Report to Student Disability Resource Center  Bring me a letter within the first week of class University of Northern Iowa 26

To see or not to see me & TAs We are not psychics Please let us know if…  Class is too hard  You don’t have the background  Class can be improved in certain ways When in doubt, us… University of Northern Iowa 27

Survival Tips Do post messages and read the discussion board frequently  Sign up to receive s Do not post code on the discussion board  If you absolutely need someone to look at your code, contact me or the TA Web search engines are your good friends University of Northern Iowa 28

Programming Environment Python freely available online (  But get version  Do NOT get version 2 University of Northern Iowa 29

Guidelines for Success in this Course Prepare for lecture! Read the text selections before the start of lecture and complete any class prep assignment On previous course evaluations, the NUMBER ONE answer to the question “I could have improved my learning in this course by…” was some variation of “read the textbook” University of Northern Iowa 30

Guidelines for Success in this Course Be on time. Class sessions will start promptly. I will collect assignments at that time and will often start with important announcements. Write code on your own! Think of simple problems on your and solve them. If you wonder "what if," TRY IT! University of Northern Iowa 31

Guidelines for Success in this Course Start assignments early so you have time to ask questions.  Face to face questions are better than questions.  If you me the night before something is due you shouldn’t get mad if I don’t respond.  If you spend more than 15 minutes staring at the computer stuck on something, ask for help!  Make use of the office hours early! Don't wait until late in the term to seek help. University of Northern Iowa 32

Guidelines for Success in this Course You can (and should) program from home Remember, programming takes practice Make sure that your code runs in the lab  Verify that code that runs on another machine actually runs in the lab so there are no surprises at grading time University of Northern Iowa 33

Guidelines for Success in this Course Finally, remember, programming takes practice. You may not get it the first time, but keep trying, asking for help, and caring. Eventually, you might find out that you are pretty good at this whole process! University of Northern Iowa 34

Rooms you should know! ITTC 328 – Lectures ITTC 305 – The departmental office ITTC 311 – My office ITTC 335 – Student Lounge Wright 112 – Section 1 lab. Can also work in here outside of lab times. Wright 339 – Section 2 lab. Can also work in here outside of lab times. University of Northern Iowa 35

To Do Buy a class thumb drive for your labs and assignments. University of Northern Iowa 36