This is the syllabus for the 11:30 section with Bryce Wiedenbeck, and may differ slightly from that of the 10:30 section with Lila Fontes.
Please make a note of the office hour times and the Piazza link. Take advantage of them to ask a question if something I said in lecture didn't make sense, or you're stuck on homework, or for any other reason. If you want to talk in person but can't make it during office hours, you can send me an email to set up alternate time, or just drop by any time my door is open. I'm always happy to answer questions, but it's up to you to come and ask.
| 45% | Homework Assignments |
| 25% | Midterm Exam |
| 25% | Final Exam |
| 5% | Class and Lab Participation |
Written homework will typically go out Friday afternoon and be due the next Thursday. We should have around 10 homework assignments. The initial couple of homeworks will be individual assignments; after the first few weeks, you'll be able to work with a partner. You must write your solutions in LaTeX and submit .tex files using git. Resources for LaTex are here.
Extra Credit Policy. In many of the homework assignments, there will be one or two extra credit problems. These problems are completely optional -- do not feel obligated in any way to complete these problems. Extra credit will not be directly applied to your overall grade; at best, they will be used to make up some credit lost by not handing in assignments on time. Please contact me if you have questions about the extra credit policy.
Late Policy. Each student will be given 3 late days for the semester. This will encompass any reason---illness, interviews, paper deadlines, hackathons, etc. For partnered assignments, both students need to have late days to use them. If only one partner has late days remaining, you cannot use late days for the assignment. Once you use up your late days, further late assignments will not be accepted except in very unusual extreme circumstances. Even if you do not fully complete a lab assignment you should submit what you have to receive partial credit.
You do not need to notify my ahead of time to use late day(s). Instead, email me when you have pushed your completed solution.
CS41 covers material that is similar to what you saw in CS35 or CS21. However, the perspective is much different, and what you will be learning is different too. This course is much more about learning how to solve computational problems and analyze your solution(s), and less about implementing algorithms that we've gone over in class. To succeed in this course, you should consistently do the following:
Note: in the following paragraphs, "code" refers to all homework solutions, including written programs but also proofs, analysis, written reports, etc.
Academic honesty is required in all your work. Under no circumstances may you hand in work done with (or by) someone else under your own name. Your code should never be shared with anyone; you may not examine or use code belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else look at or make a copy of your code. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining solutions from students who previously took the course or code that can be found online. You may not share solutions after the due date of the assignment.
Discussing ideas and approaches to problems with others on a general level is fine (in fact, we encourage you to discuss general strategies with each other), but you should never read anyone else's code or let anyone else read your code. All code you submit must be your own with the following permissible exceptions: code distributed in class, code found in the course text book, and code worked on with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments that indicates on which parts of the assignment you received help, and what your sources were.
Failure to abide by these rules constitutes academic dishonesty and will lead to a hearing of the College Judiciary Committee. According to the Faculty Handbook: "Because plagiarism is considered to be so serious a transgression, it is the opinion of the faculty that for the first offense, failure in the course and, as appropriate, suspension for a semester or deprivation of the degree in that year is suitable; for a second offense, the penalty should normally be expulsion."
Please contact me if you have any questions about what is permissible in this course.
If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Leslie Hempling in the Office of Student Disability Services (Parrish 113) or email lhempli1@swarthmore.edu to arrange an appointment to discuss your needs. As appropriate, she will issue students with documented disabilities a formal Accommodations Letter. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, please contact her as soon as possible. For details about the accommodations process visit Student Disability Services. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged through the Office of Student Disability Services.
Writing homework solutions in LaTeX is required for this course. It is also a good skill to learn. If you plan on going to graduate school and/or publishing papers in the future, you will end up writing in latex.
For most latex files, you should be able to compile a latex file using e.g. 'pdflatex foo.tex'. As with other compilable programs like C++, you might get some compilation errors.
The following links have good latex resources and tutorials.