Course Requirements and Procedures

• Distribution of your grade: We will grade your course work using the following distribution

  Programming Assignments:	25%
  Code Lab Exercises	15%
  Lab Exercises:	15%
  Two Midterm Examinations:	25%
  Final Comprehensive Examination:	20%

• Grading procedure: Your course-grade average (on a scale of 0 - 100) will be calculated as the weighted average of your averages on programming assignments, code lab exercises, labs, midterm exams, and your final exam using the weight distribution that is listed above. Each of the four (or five) averages that are used for the weighted average is calculated as:

  number of points earned / total number of points x 100

  For example, if you earn 105 points out of a total of 140 points that are possible for you to earn on labs, your lab average would be:

  105 / 140 x 100 = 75%

  Final (4-0) grades are determined using a class curve of the course-grade averages. No special arrangements will be made for extra credit for improving grades.
• Reading assignments: Before discussion in class, you should read the associated text material. (See the tentative class outline). Come to class prepared. This will help you understand the material as it is discussed.
• Exam make-ups: Prior notice must be given to your instructor. No make-ups will be granted unless satisfactory documentation is produced to show an extenuating circumstance.
• Late programming assignments: Late assignments are penalized at 20% per calendar day that they are late. Assignment submission policies are detailed in a separate section of this document.
• Grading questions: If you have a question about a grade, you should see me within one week of the day the graded work is returned to you. You lose the right to re-grading after that.
• Incompletes: Incomplete grades (Inc) are granted rarely. Incompletes are not to be used as a shelter from potentially low grades. An incomplete grade may be reported for you only under the following circumstances (SUNY Potsdam 2008-2010 Undergraduate Catalog, p. 50):
  1. The student has requested an incomplete.
  2. Course requirements have not been completed for reasons beyond the student's control. (e.g. illness or family emergency).
  3. The student has completed the majority of the work for the class, and the student can accomplish the remaining requirements without further registration.
• Absences: Attendance is taken in class and in lab and absences are noted. You will not be penalized for a poor attendance record. However, a good record of class attendance and participation may help your final grade in borderline cases. Making up material from missed classes is your responsibility.
• Information dissemination: Class announcements, lecture-, lab-, and assignment-specific information will be available on

  http://www.cs.potsdam.edu/Classes/201/announce.html

  You should bookmark and check this page every time that you log on to one of the campus servers.
• Academic dishonesty: Students are expected follow the "SUNY Potsdam Academic Honor Code" (SUNY Potsdam 2008-2010 Undergraduate Catalog, p. 45) by doing their own work on quizzes, exams and programming projects unless specifically directed otherwise by the instructor. Copying is strictly forbidden. Students caught cheating will receive a grade of 0 for that evaluation. Repeated offenses will result in dismissal from the course and possible disciplinary sanctions by the university.

  Academic Misconduct definitions, procedures, due process, and student rights are described on pages 52-56 of the SUNY Potsdam 2008-2010 catalog.

• Disability Assistance: Anyone who has special needs that must be accommodated to fulfill the course requirements should notify the instructor and Sharon E. House, Director of Accommodative Services, 111 Sisson Hall, 267-3267. The college has resources available to assist qualified students with their academic studies.
• Food and Drink in Class and Lab: Beverages are allowed in the classroom as long you clean up after yourself and do not disturb others. In the Unix classroom, food and drink are restricted to the coffee table. UNDER -NO- CIRCUMSTANCES ARE FOOD AND BEVERAGES (EVEN GUM) ALLOWED NEAR THE COMPUTERS.
• Cellular Telephones and Pagers in Class and Lab: Along with your instructors, many students find these both distracting and rude. As a courtesy to all involved, please either turn off your cellular telephone or pager or disable the ring tone during class. If you must use the phone, please leave the classroom and go to a place that will not interrupt others' work.
• Accommodation of Religious Observances: I will make reasonable accommodation for a student's religious beliefs. Please notify me within the first week of classes about any scheduled class date that conflicts with a religious observance.
• Course Withdrawal: The last day to drop a semester course without receiving a grade is Tuesday Oct 26th.

Laboratory Procedures

• Lab instructions: Each of the labs will be available under Labs from the course home page.
  
• Making the Best Use of Lab: Each lab will be based on material that was covered in lecture and the online prelab reading. To prepare for lab:
  • Attend lectures.
  • Do the assigned written homework as we discuss the associated material in class.
  • Print and read associated prelab material.
  • Print and read the lab instructions.
• Lab Partner: For each lab, we will pair you with another student attending the lab who will be your lab partner. You and your partner work together on one lab workstation to do the laboratory exercises.
• Working through the laboratory exercises: For a given lab, you will work through the lab exercises as described in the instructions. The laboratory exercises contain checkpoints. When you reach a checkpoint, you call over one of the lab instructors who will check you and your partner off.
• Laboratory Grade: The lab component of your grade is simply the percentage of checkpoints that you complete over the semester. For example, if you complete 70 out of 80 checkpoints over the semester, your lab grade will be 70/80 = 87.5%.
• Programming Assignments: Participating in lab will help you complete your programming assignments. See Assignment Guidelines and Policies for more information about assignments.

Code Lab Assignments

Computer Use

Assignment Submission Policy and Guidelines

• You will receive a new programming assignment every one or two weeks. Programming assignments (See Assignment Descriptions from the course home page.) are to be submitted by the beginning of lecture on the due date. In general, assignments will be submitted both electronically and on paper ("hard copy"). Hard copies should be handed in at the start of class. Assignments handed in on the due date but after 10 minutes of the beginning of class (hard copy or electronically) will be counted a day late. (I have instituted this policy to discourage students from skipping class to finish an assignment.)
• Late assignments will be penalized by 20% per calendar day that they are late. Extensions that are not subject to penalty may be granted in rare cases when there are extenuating circumstances (such as serious illness or disability, a death in the family, an accident, etc.) and when these circumstances are supported by written documentation.
• Every programming assignment that you submit must have an id-box header like the one shown below.

    
          /**
            *  Name: John Doe
            *  Course: CIS 201 - Computer Science I
            *  Section: 001 or 003 or 005
            *  Assignment: 1
            */
      

• For hard-copy submission, just submit the source code file unless instructed otherwise. Do not use a folder. Staple the pages together in the upper left-hand corner. Make sure that your hard copy is secured together well and that the id-box is conspicuous. Work that we cannot identify or with missing parts will not be graded. Do not hand in the printer header sheet as part of the hard copy.
  
• You will also be required to submit your source code program files electronically on the PCs in the lab. Unless instructed otherwise, submit your solution to a programming assignment electronically by using the command

  submit 201 filename1 ... filenameN

• Work that is not submitted electronically cannot be graded and will receive a grade of zero.
• Copied or ghost-written programs will receive a grade of zero.
• If external documentation is required for the project, it must be word-processed. Handwritten documentation is not acceptable. Diagrams, of course, may be drawn by hand provided they are neat and legible.
• Since the load on the system and the printer may be very high around the submission deadline, you are urged to get your assignment finished and printed early.

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and may be changed at any time.

Week #	Week Of	Content
1	Aug 30	Introduction to CIS 201 and Introduction to Java Programming - Ch. 1
2	Sep 6	Primitive Data Types and Definite Loops- Ch. 2
3	Sep 13	Primitive Data Types and Definite Loops (continued) - Ch. 2
4	Sep 20	Introduction to Parameters and Objects - Ch. 3
5	Sep 27	Parameters and Objects (continued) - Ch. 3
6	Oct 4	Conditional Execution - Ch.4 Midterm I - Ch 1-3 - Oct 6
7	Oct 11	Fall Recess Oct 11 Conditional Execution (continued) - Ch. 4
8	Oct 18	Program Logic and Indefinite Loops - Ch. 5
9	Oct 25	Program Logic and Indefinite Loops(continued) - Ch. 5
10	Nov 1	File Processing - Ch. 6
11	Nov 8	Arrays - Ch. 7
12	Nov 15	Arrays (continued) - Ch. 7
13	Nov 22	Midterm II - Ch 4-7 - Nov 22 Thanksgiving Recess - Nov 24
14	Nov 29	Defining Your Own Classes - Ch. 8
15	Dec 6	Defining Your Own Classes (continued) - Ch. 8
16	Finals Week	Final - Monday, Dec 13, 10:15am - 12:15pm (Section 003) Final - Wednesday, Dec 15, 10:15am - 12:15pm (Section 001)

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• Web source for this document: http://www.cs.potsdam.edu/Classes/201/syllabus.html