CS 112 -- Introduction to CS II (in Java) -- Summer II, 2020
Prerequisites
CS 111 or programming proficiency in some language, plus an interest in working hard to develop your skills as programmers!
Course
Description
This course will introduce you to advanced programming techniques in Java.
It has five goals :
- Introduce you to programming in the Java platform, and reinforce concepts (such as
recursion) introduced in CS 111. We will also continue to develop
your ability to plan, write, and debug programs which satisfy
a specification, and which can be understood easily (and maintained) by humans.
- Provide you with a "cookbook" of the most important data structures
used in advanced programming;
- Introduce you to the study of algorithms, both as they relate to the data
structures being considered, and as a separate object of study;
- Take the first steps in developing your ability to analyze the efficiency
(running time) of algorithms, from two (increasingly less abstract) points
of view:
- Analyze the mathematical characteristics of the algorithm (e.g., analyzing the number of "basic operations" as a function of size of input)
- Analyze the empirical characteristics of the program by running experiments (e.g.,
actually counting the number of "basic operations");
- Introduce you to the "science" of computing -- how do computer scientists think?
The overall goal is to provide you with a firm foundation for further study in computer science.
Course Materials and Handouts
We have no single textbook for the class; instead we will use various online resources and I will provide my Powerpoint slides as PDF files on the web site. In most cases, you will have something to read, or view, before the lecture.
However, for the first 2-3 weeks of the course, where we will be learning Java, I suggest using the following website, which contains tutorial lessons, with executable code snippets (linked from the class web site):
Learning Java Online
In addition one of the following two texts is suggested as a resource for learning Java
if the course lecture slides are not sufficient:
The first is a classic and concise introduction to the language:
Java in a Nutshell, by Evans and Flanagan.
Author:
Benjamin J Evans, David Flanagan
ISBN:
9781449370824
Publication Date:
07/22/2014
Publisher:
O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
You may order this from Amazon (I recommend getting the Kindle version and the Amazon Cloud Reader) or find previous editions online (the parts we use will be unchanged in the various editions). I will be referencing both of these resources as we go through the first week of the course.
The second is a beautiful online textbook of Java, which contains much more explanation and examples than the first suggestion. Use whichever one suits you! Here is the link:
Introduction to Programming Using Java, Seventh Edition, by David Eck.
Finally, a third resource is the following online tutorial in Java:
LearningJavaOnline
You do not need to look at all three of these, but choose whichever one suits you, just refer to
the lecture slides, or find additional resources (say, YouTube videos)!
Other reference material will be provided on the web site, and anything else may be found using Google (your best friend when programming in Java!).
Topics
A detailed
week-by-week roadmap, keyed to readings, handouts, and assignments, will be
maintained on the course web page.
Policies
Lectures
- You are responsible for all the material covered in lecture and in the readings.
I will clarify what material is most important before tests, however, it is
important that you do all the readings and review your class notes periodically.
- Class attendence is very important. I know that in lockdown this is challenging, but
please do attempt to attend the Zoom lectures and contribute.
Homework
Assignments
- Homeworks are extremely important, as you can not learn these concepts (and
especially you can not learn the programming techniques) by simply reading
a description of them---you MUST get your hands dirty and learn by manipulating
the concepts.
- Homeworks will consist of Part A problems ("pencil and paper problems" not involving explicit programming) to exercise your abstract understanding of the material, and Part B problems, involving Java programming. Generally Part A will be worth 20 points and Part B 80 points. Solutions will be provided for the Part A problems but not for the Part B problems. We are happy, of course, to discuss your Part B solutions at any time.
- There will be about about seven homework assignments, three the first two weeks, and one
each week thereafter. Please see the Topics
link on the web page for the ongoing schedule of assignments.
Tests
- The Final Exam date is the last day of class. There is no midterm exam.
Grades
- 40% Final Exam (cumulative)
- 60% Homeworks
ALSO: In order to receive a passing grade of C towards the concentration (or for transfer credit), you must achieve a passing grade in both the homeworks (at least 50% of assignments) and tests (at least 50% on the final).
These percentages are tentative and may be changed at my discretion at any
time.
I will drop the lowest homework assignment on which you achieved at least 50% of the points. Therefore,
you should attempt all homeworks: if you simply do not hand in a homework, you will receive a 0.
Miscellaneous
- There will be no incompletes in this class except for reasons of dire
illness near the end of a semester in which all previous work has been
completed satisfactorily.
- You can not redo any assignment, or do extra work after the semester is
over to improve your grade, as this arrangement would then by fairness have to
be extended to the rest of the class (an impossible situation).
- I have zero tolerance for any kind of academic misconduct (plagiarism, cheating
on exams), and be assured that I will instantly report violations of the Academic
Code to the Academic Conduct Committee. I am a past member and chairman of
this committee. Please read the following section carefully. Also note that
we intend make use of sophisticated plagiarism-checking programs for submitted
code.
Policy on Academic
Conduct
Collaboration Policy
Collaboration policy for this class is as follows.
- You are strongly encouraged to
collaborate with one another in studying the online, textbooks, and lecture material.
- As long as it satisfies the following conditions, collaboration on the homework assignments is encouraged and will not reduce your grade:
- Before discussing each homework problem with anyone
else, you must give it an honest half-hour of serious thought.
- You may discuss ideas and approaches with other students in the class, but not share actual code. In other words,
the code you write must be entirely your own, which you must write and debug
without looking at other people's code. Don't permit others to copy your code.
You must also acknowledge
clearly
in the appropriate portion of your solutions (e.g., in the comments of your
code) people with whom you discussed
ideas for that portion.
- You may get help from TFs and Java tutors in the lab for specific
problems with writing and
debugging your code. Don't expect them to do it for you,
however.
- If you get really stuck with a bug (defined roughly as over an
hour of frustration), you are allowed to get help from a
friend as long as you acknowledge that help clearly in your
solutions (e.g., in the comments of your code).
- You may not work with people outside this class (but come and talk to
us if you have a tutor), seek on-line solutions, get someone
else to do it for you, etc.
- You are not permitted to collaborate on exams.
The last point is particularly important: if you don't make an honest effort
on the homework but always get ideas from others, your exam score will reflect
it.
Violations of Collaboration Policy
Violations of collaboration policy fall into two categories: ones that are acknowledged at the time they occur
(for example, in clearly marked comments in your code) and ones that are unacknowledged.
Acknowledged violations (e.g., using someone else's code for a method you didn't know how to write
yourself, and stating clearly in your code that this is not your own work) will result in an appropriate
reduction in the grade, but will not be considered cheating.
Unacknowledged violations of the collaboration policy--for example, not
stating the names of your collaborators, or any other attempt to
represent the work of another as your own--will result in an automatic
failing grade and will be reported to the Academic Conduct Committee
(ACC). The ACC often suspends
or expels students deemed guilty of plagiarism or other forms of
cheating. I have served on the ACC and
have seen it happen. I will assume that you understand the CAS Academic
Conduct Code (read it if you
haven't).
If you are uncertain as to whether a particular kind of interaction with someone else constitutes illegal
collaboration or academic dishonesty, please ask me before taking any action that might violate the rules;
if you can't reach me in time, then at the very least include a clear explanation of what happened in your
homework write-up to avoid being treated as a cheater. Citing your sources is usually the easiest way out of
trouble.
BU HUB Learning Outcomes
This class satisfies Quantitative Reasoning II. This course follows CS 111 (which satisfies QR I) and is the second course in the CS majors. It develops a serious level of analytical and programming skill in quantative and computational reasoning. Students will demonstrate their conceptual and theoretical understanding of advanced numberical and symbolic algorithms, and display their results through text and visual outputs. They will interprete a variety of quantitative and computational models of computing devices and algorithms, such as flowcharts and pseudo-code for algorithms, and schematic diagrams of data structures and components of computer systems. They will recognize the limitations of computers and algorithmic techniques and understand the risks of using these extremely complicated programs to perform essential tasks in our culture.