Computer Science 261

Computer Science II

Meeting times:

• 9:00 - 9:50 MWF
• 9:30 - 10:20 Thursdays
• Thompson 322

Quick Links

Lecture schedules

• This week
• Next week
• Previous weeks

• Assignment #1 (due: Monday, Sept. 16)
• Assignment #2 (due: Monday, Sept. 23)
• assignment_#3 (due: Monday, Oct. 8)
• Assignment_#4 (Due Wednesday, Oct. 23)
• Assignment #5 (Due Monday, Nov. 4)
• Assignment #6 (Due Monday, Nov. 18)
• assignment #7 (Due Monday, Dec. 9)

Exam Reviews

• Exam 1 Review
• Exam 2 Review
• Exam 3 Review
• Final Exam Review

Textbooks:

• Dale, Joyce, and Weems:  Object-Oriented Data Structures using Java, Jones and Bartlett, 2002.  We will cover most of the textbook.
• If you have not programmed in Java before, you might find Niemeyer, Patrick, and Knudsen, Jonathan, Learning Java. O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 2000 to be a useful supplement.  It is not, however, a required textbook.
• Professor John Riegsecker will be giving a series of lectures introducing Java to students who have studied C++.  More details shortly.
• There are some Java powerpoint slides in the handouts folder (Plato -> Matthews Handouts -> CS261) for this class that I used last year in CSci 261.  You are welcome to use (and critique) them.

Instructor:

• Bob Matthews (email: matthews@ups.edu)
• Thompson 501 (In the Thompson Hall Tower)
• Extension 3561

Office hours (tentative):

• 4:00 - 5:00  PM MTThF
• Or by appointment.

Please check here for more details. Office hours are times that you can expect me to be available on a drop-in basis. Office hours will change about mid-October.  If you have a problem that may take some time, or if my office hours are not convenient for you, we can arrange an appointment to meet at some other time. Messages sent via email are welcome, and can be used to ask a question or to set up an appointment.

Evaluation:

• Three - four hour exams + a comprehensive final: 60 - 70% (The final exam will have the weight of two hour exams)
• Written and programming exercises: 30 - 40%. Programming exercises may include a sizable program.
• Exams and homework are generally returned within a week.
• You are responsible for reading and lecture material in the course.  While I do not take roll, regular attendance is a good idea.  I will be reading the class role on a fairly regular basis, but that is in an effort to get to know your names.  I have a terrible time with names.

Notes:

Programming exercises will be graded on style and documentation as well as correctness. Programs must include header documentation as well as adequate internal documentation unless otherwise specified. Late assignments will be accepted (with an increasing penalty) until the graded exercise is returned to the class. All assignments turned in must represent individual effort: work done by a committee cannot be accepted except where a group effort is a clearly stated part of the assignment. All students in Computer Science classes at the University of Puget Sound are responsible for the material contained in the document on academic honesty published by the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and included in the Academic Handbook (Logger).

A minimum grade of 50% on exams and 50% on homework assignments is a necessary (but not necessarily sufficient) condition for a passing grade.

Finally, the last date for withdrawing from this class with an automatic W is Monday, Sept. 24 In the event that we do not have an hour exam before that date, I will assign a WP grade to any formal withdrawals (i.e., completed using the necessary form and submitted to the register's office) up to a week after the day that the first hour exam is returned to the class. Of course, should you find yourself in difficulty at any point in the semester, please make arrangements to meet with me as quickly as possible.

Some notes on prerequisites:  The prerequisites for this course are:

• CSci 161
  • I will assume that you know how to write programs (generally in Java, though some will have come through a course using C++).  In particular, I will assume a working familiarity with basic data and control structures, objects and methods, and data representation.  I will assume that you have done some sorting and searching in an array.
  • We will begin the semester with a review of the material from 161.
• Math 121 or Math 158
  • I will assume that you know the definition of a limit, the notion of a derivative, and that you have used l'Hopital's rule for evaluating limits.  We need this for a discussion on asymptotic behavior.