Here you can find the course news, reproduced from the individual
outlines.
Tuesday, November 21, 2000:
Monday, November 20, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- Tomorrow's stuff (may not be available until tonight)
- As you can probably tell, I'm not here today. Mr. Walker will cover
class. I'll be back tomorrow.
- Don't forget, the lab on searching
is due Wednesday.
Friday, November 17, 2000:
- I've decided not to add any more homework stress to your lives. Hence,
any remaining homeworks will be based on labs.
- The searching lab is due
next Wednesday.
- Since I didn't end up giving separate lab writeups as assignments,
I've updated the grading scale. Homework is still worth 30%, and
includes the lab writeups. Class participation is still worth 10%.
I'll probably give you a chance to grade each other on class
participation :-)
- I'll be gone on Monday. Mr. Walker will run a lab on sorting. I'll
email you about the readings for Monday and Tuesday. I'd appreciate
it if you do each reading on time.
- Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, November 15, 2000:
Tuesday, November 14, 2000:
- Tomorrow's reading:
Searching
- This week we move on to some common algorithms that solve
some basic problems that occur frequently.
- A few things that I forgot to mention about
Exam 2:
- In spite of all my complaints, many of you did very well. Congratulations.
My complaints were intended to help you do better in the future.
- If you can't get an answer, it helps if you write something about your
approach, the error messages you're getting, and what you think they
mean.
- A number of you turned in some very weird answers to some problems.
That in itself isn't all that concerning; sometimes we come up with
different answers. However, I was concerned when I saw two weird answers
that were similar (and very different from every other answer).
- At least one of you seems to have turned in faked output. Note that
Grinnell's academic honesty policy explicitly forbids using fake data
on an experiment.
- Yes, I really hate being a policeman.
- Jake Omvig will tell us something about Thursday's cool convo.
(Sorry, no extra credit for this convo.)
- Next Monday at noon, Dr. Staicut will give a talk about Internet and
Networks in Romania. Come learn about technology in other countries!
Tuesday, November 14, 2000:
- Tomorrow's reading:
Searching
- This week we move on to some common algorithms that solve
some basic problems that occur frequently.
- A few things that I forgot to mention about
Exam 2:
- In spite of all my complaints, many of you did very well. Congratulations.
My complaints were intended to help you do better in the future.
- If you can't get an answer, it helps if you write something about your
approach, the error messages you're getting, and what you think they
mean.
- A number of you turned in some very weird answers to some problems.
That in itself isn't all that concerning; sometimes we come up with
different answers. However, I was concerned when I saw two weird answers
that were similar (and very different from every other answer).
- At least one of you seems to have turned in faked output. Note that
Grinnell's academic honesty policy explicitly forbids using fake data
on an experiment.
- Yes, I really hate being a policeman.
- Jake Omvig will tell us something about Thursday's cool convo.
(Sorry, no extra credit for this convo.)
- Next Monday at noon, Dr. Staicut will give a talk about Internet and
Networks in Romania. Come learn about technology in other countries!
Monday, November 13, 2000:
- Exam 2 returned.
- I've written up some
notes on that exam.
Please read those notes!
- We'll spend much of today's class going over the exam.
- Yes, I'll give you time to read over my comments.
- Please don't discuss your grade with others.
- I'm still working on exam 1.
- I was up until midnight on Saturday and 1am on Sunday/Monday
grading exam 2.
- I'm guessing that it will take until Wednesday or Friday for
exam 1.
- I've written a
contract guaranteeing a
minimum grade.
- I will create two forms of exam 3. You may take only one.
- One will be a closed book test held
in class. You will have class time (and, if necessary, lunch time)
to complete the exam.
- The other will be one of my standard take-home exam.
- We should think about when the next take-home exam (and in-class exam)
occur.
- Many of you have asked what to do next semester, particularly as its
preregistration time.
- I encourage those of you who did well on this exam to go on to 152.
- I encourage first and second years who did well on the exam to consider
CS majors. (We have a surprising number of dual majors.)
- I encourage first-year women in the first category to consider doing
summer research with me. I'll try to contact you individually.
- I encourage all of you to come talk to me if you want to talk about
any of this stuff.
- Our grader, Greg Fuller, would like the URLs of your homework
4s. Send email to
fuller@grinnell.edu
Friday, November 10, 2000:
Wednesday, November 8, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- I hope you folks have recovered from staying up late last night. I gave
my 9am class sympathy, but I'd like you folks to try to work.
- I notice that for many of you, attendance is becoming much more sporadic.
I expect you to show up to class!
- I'll remind you about the deal I made (only applicable for those who attend).
Tuesday, November 7, 2000:
Monday, November 6, 2000:
- Today's work:
- How did Friday's class go?
- I got back to 120 email messages. I have not yet gone through them all.
If you send me email, expect a response later today or this evening.
- On Thursday, the Math/CS Journal club presents a talk by Ole Nelson on
the Game of Life on a Toriod. Should be cool.
- Exam 2 is due now. I'll give you
a few minutes at class to print it out, but that's it.
- If you couldn't turn it in on time, you should use it as the lowest
grade exam that you drop.
- I am willing to talk to you after class.
- I know that some of you cheated on the exam. Grinnell requires that
I do my best to track you down and report you to CAS. Thanks for
making my job that much less pleasant.
- Homework 3 should be ready later this week.
Friday, November 3, 2000:
- Today's work:
- Don't forget that exam 2 is due on
Monday.
- You may not ask Mr. Walker for help.
- You may ask Mr. Emmons for help.
- You may not ask anyone else for help.
- I hope you have a good weekend.
Wednesday, November 1, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- I'll be gone from tomorrow afternoon through Sunday evening. Mr. Walker
will take class on Friday.
- I don't know if I'll have email access. If I do, I'll do my best
to answer questions I receive.
- Are there any final questions on exam 2?
- I've heard that it's much more reasonable than exam 1.
Tuesday, October 31, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- Are there questions on exam 2?
- In case you hadn't noticed, I've started marking the preconditions for
each procedure and I expect you to do the same.
- If the procedure explicitly checks the precondition, mark it as
[Verified] or [Checked].
- If the procedure does not explicitly check the precondition, mark
it as
[Unverified] or [Unchecked]
- I've also tried to make it clear that there are many different things
you might say about postconditions (and perhaps you should make it a\
point to document default postconditions).
- Make it a practice to document your procedures with the six Ps
- Procedure name
- Paramters
- Purpose
- Produces (return value)
- Preconditions
- Postconditions
- I've noticed that many of you print the labs and readings. Next
semester (when I've actually managed to put all the stuff together),
should I simply hand out printed copies to conserve paper (I'll print
two-up and double sided)?
- Happy Halloween!
Monday, October 30, 2000:
Friday, October 27, 2000:
- Today's lab:
Procedures as values
- We'll continue with this topic next week.
- Exam 2 is ready.
- It is due a week from Monday.
- I will be away from Friday to Sunday next week, so get started
early!
- I'll reserve time at the beginning of class on Monday, Tuesday, and
Wednesday to answer questions.
- I've tried to make it easier (or at least less time consuming) than
the last exam.
- I'm still working on grading. Sorry.
- My normal convo offer goes for yesterday's convo. (3 points e.c.).
- It also goes for next week's showing of Yiddl in the Middle.
- Homework 4 is due.
- Please post your solutions to
http://blackboard.grinnell.edu.
- You have until 8pm today to get your solutions in. I'll try to
be available this afternoon (probably 2-whenever) for help.
- My mother won't be able to show up in class until next Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 25, 2000:
- Are there any final questions on hw4?
- Reminder: I won't be available tomorrow.
- Today's class will be primarily lecture-based.
Tuesday, October 24, 2000:
Monday, October 23, 2000:
- Today's reading:
Local bindings and recursion
- Today's lab:
Local bindings and recursion
- I hope to have another reading ready tonight. I'll send out email
when/if I do.
- I've delayed grading homework 3
since not all of you turned it in before break. I'll distribute an
answer key tomorrow and will not accept any more assignments after I
distribute that key.
- I decided to spend much of break in work avoidance mode, so I don't
have your homeworks graded yet. The 151 exam is at the top of the stack
and the 151 homework is next, so you should have the exam by Wednesday.
- Are there questions on homework 4?
No classes. No news.
Friday, October 13, 2000:
- Reading: Files
- Lab: Files
- Homework 3 is due by the end of
the day today.
- Homework 4 is now ready.
- I'll distribute the second exam on Friday, October 27th. It will
be due the following Friday.
- As you've discovered on homework 3, you now know enough Scheme to
write some fairly significant programs. In fact, most of the Scheme
programs I write use about the amount of Scheme you know. What will
we do for the rest of the semester?
- Learn a few more key abilities (e.g., using files)
- Learn more elegant ways to do what we already know how to do
- Learn some good solutions to common problems
- Work on finding ways to find errors
Wednesday, October 11, 2000:
- Don't forget Convo.
- I've taken a look at the schedule and have decided that I'd rather give
you the exam after break.
- Sorry for all the problems with CGI. You've encountered problems with
our computers being unfriendly and unwilling to tell you when you get
something slightly wrong.
- If a filename is wrong (even by one letter), the CGI script won't
work.
- If the Scheme code is wrong, the CGI script won't work.
- If you look at the computer strangely, the CGI script won't work.
- We'll continue with The More CGI Lab
today.
- Are there questions on homework 3?
- I've dropped the Web part, given our in-class difficulties.
- It really helps if you carefully document the purposes and
parameters of your procedures before you write (or at least
before you use) those procedures. Example:
findPerson.
- It really helps if you choose reasonable names for your procedures
and parameters.
- The
datees.ss
file is available. Once you make a copy, you can include it in
your program with
Tuesday, October 10, 2000:
- Today's lab: More CGI
- Thursday's convocation: Will Talbert, Noyce Visiting Professor speaks
on Studying the Origin of the Elements Using Radioactive Ion
Beams. 11:00 in Harris.
- Why do they put Physicists in Harris?
- Extra credit on the next exam for attending
- This past weekend, I went to a marriage celebration for folks I knew
in college (at the University of Chicago, another liberal arts
institution). Almost everyone I know went into "IT" (even though they
were economics, history, philosophy, ... majors).
- Don't forget that your sample 10 entries for Vivek's Dating Service
are due now.
Monday, October 9, 2000:
- Today's lab: CGI basics
- I'm old and boring. I really prefer that the email I receive come from
a name that I can recognize and not "One fascinating calorie" or whatever.
- Are there questions on Homework 3?
- Remember that you need to get your sample participants to me tomorrow.
- I know that there were some questions on the format of the stuff.
- I'm shooting for having the next exam ready on Wednesday.
- I won't have the first exam graded until after break.
- If you haven't gotten it to me yet, you need to talk to me today!
- We now have three extra tutors for 151. They will be working on
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. The tutors are Anne
Feltovich, Greg Fuller, and Ming Gu.
- You may not ask for help on exams.
Friday, October 6, 2000:
Wednesday, October 4, 2000:
- I should have a reading on CGI scripts ready by tomorrow evening. I'd
like you to try to read it for Friday's class. I'll email the class
when it's ready.
- Homework 3 is ready. Start early.
- I'll take questions next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
- As you may have seen, the trustees have invited a business consultant
to campus tomorrow. I'm one of the faculty meeting with the consultant.
As part of the process, I expect him to ask some questions, and I'd like
to take a little bit of class time to have you reflect on those questions.
- What makes Grinnell great?
- What are our core values?
- What are we passionate about?
- What do we do better than anyone else?
- This morning did not go well, so I'll write the lab "on the fly"
during class. Sorry.
Tuesday, October 3, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- Are there questions on yesterday's lab?
- I've rearranged the course syllabus slightly (once again).
- For tomorrow, think about criteria that would make someone a
``good match'' for VLYBDS.
Monday, October 2, 2000:
- Reading: Local
bindings with
let.
- Lab: Local
bindings with
let.
- As I look at our current status, I've decided to leave the second exam
until after break. (I'll distribute it before break, and we can discuss
when the best due date is.)
- As you might guess, your next homework assignment will involve
Vivek's "Love Your Body" Dating Service, so you should work
on making progress.
- We may do a quick review of HTML tomorrow.
Friday, September 29, 2000:
- Exam 1 is due today.
- I probably won't return it next week, although I may make an answer
key available.
- I hear that the phrase ``this is the hardest exam I've ever taken''
does in fact apply to this exam.
- Think about the project over the weekend (in particular, think about
how you might look up values in our ``database'').
- Enjoy the cookies and fruit once lab starts.
Wednesday, September 27, 2000:
- Are there any final questions on exam 1?
- Do not use
display or read on the exam.
- If you email me questions, please title the email
QUESTION on 151 Exam.
- If you haven't started already, start soon.
- We'll do parts of number 6 of the association list lab today.
- Come visit me in my office this afternoon and
tomorrow (just not during convocation).
- We'll probably continue with the CGI scripting application into next
week.
- How have people felt about this week's "lecture, group programming,
casual lab assignment" schedule?
Tuesday, September 26, 2000:
- Are there questions on the exam?
- Don't beat your head against the wall for any problem; if you're
experiencing difficulties, come see me.
- We'll talk about parts of yesterday's assignment today.
- Those of you who want to use the new, Web-based plan alternative, send
email to heckr@grinnell.edu.
Monday, September 25, 2000:
- Are there any questions on
exam 1?
- I'll also ask at the beginning of class on Tuesday and Wednesday.
- I'll be in my office most of Thursday.
- Just so you know, ``The best thing about Friday was having
151 cancelled'' is not a joy-inspiring comment.
- We're going to put off vectors for a little while.
- This week we're going to work on writing CGI scripts.
- Today's class will have a little bit different format. No reading;
no precise lab examples. Just some mixed discussion and exercises.
Friday, September 22, 2000:
Wednesday, September 20, 2000:
- Lab: Association lists
- Reading for Friday: Vectors
- The reading won't be ready until this afternoon.
- A reminder: There is almost always a link to the current lab at the
top of the current day's outline.
- Another reminder: You can certaionly come to see me when you need help
- I haven't had many visitors, so I'm not sure if you're all getting
the material well or ...
- I'll be in the office until about 2:45 today (I'm picking up my
son after school) and most of the day tomorrow.
- As I hinted at in
the reading on association lists,
there will be a quiz today.
Tuesday, September 19, 2000:
- Today's lab: Pairs
- Reading for tomorrow:
Association lists
- A few of you asked whether you should finish yesterday's lab outside
of class. In general, the policy is that you should finish labs
outside of class. I'll do my best to tell you when we have extra
in-class time for labs.
- Please email me when you find that a page is not available (after
trying www.math.grin.edu instead of www.cs.grinnell.edu).
- No homework this week. Please spend the time you would have spent
on homework on finishing up the labs.
- You will receive a take-home exam on Friday. What fun!
- This weekend is the Planned Parenthood booksale in Des Moines. Go
see a huge hall full of books!
Monday, September 18, 2000:
- Today's lab: Preconditions and postconditions
- Tomorrow's reading:
Pairs and pair structures
- Even though I promised you a quiz for today, I've decided against
holding one.
- Don't forget today's brown-bag lunch.
- Tutors are available for CSC151.
- No stigma attached. About a third of the CSC152 students have
tutors (at least when I teach it).
- Talk to Katherine McClelland in the Math Lab.
Friday, September 15, 2000:
- Today's reading: Recursion with numbers
- Today's lab: Recursion with numbers
- Monday's reading: Preconditions and
Postconditions
- Due today: homework 2
- Monday's brown-bag lunch seems interesting. I encourage you to attend.
- This weekend is the science student research poster session. Come and
see interesting summer and academic-year research.
- Today is the last day to drop a course. Please talk to me if you plan
to drop 151.
- It's probably time to reflect on how the class is going.
- Are the introductory announcements helpful?
- Are you feeling comfortable with the pace?
- What kinds of sessions do you prefer?
- What can I do to help you get through the material?
Wednesday, September 13, 2000:
Tuesday, September 12, 2000:
- Today's stuff:
- Don't forget, homework 1 is due
now.
- I know some of you had problems with blackboard, so we'll try again.
- Use your userid rather than your student id (whoops) as the login.
- Be sure to change your password!
- How long did it take?
- Please turn in only one homework per group
- Homework 2 is now ready.
- It involves only the completion of today's lab.
- Read More recursion for
tomorrow.
- As I may have mentioned, I'm the computer science representative for
the Phase II planning committee. I have a few questions.
- How do you feel about lectures in this room? Is note-taking okay?
- Do you need open lab times during the day?
Monday, September 11, 2000:
- Today's work:
- Reminder: Entrepreneur's talk, 4:15, South Lounge
- Are there any questions on homework 1?
- I sent out some email last night on
today's reading. If you
didn't get that email, please drop me a note (including your preferred
address for receiving email).
- Wo hoo! I've written another quiz for today. I will gather up your
quizzes after you've taken them.
- We'll continue today's lab tomorrow.
Friday, September 8, 2000:
- Today's reading: Conditionals
- Today's lab: Conditionals
- Reading for Monday: Recursion
basics (Not yet ready; look for it tomorrow.)
- I'm working with computing services to handle the problems
accessing www.cs.grinnell.edu from ResNet. For now, you might
instead use www.math.grin.edu.
- You might also ask the help desk for assistance setting your DNS
server so that it includes newton.math.grin.edu (132.161.33.70).
- To turn in the homework.
- Go to
http://blackboard.grinnell.edu
- Select this course.
- When prompted to log in, use your normal account as the name
Use a variant of your student ID number as password. Returning
students use the last seven digits of student ID as password.
New students use trailing non-zero digits. [Due to stupidity in
the design of the system, you may be required to log in twice.]
- Click on "Student Tools"
- Click on "Student Drop Box"
- Click on the "Browse" button to select a file.
- Type in something useful, like "Homework 1 from Sam and Max"
- Click on "Send File to Instructor"
- Pray
- Grinnell Entrepreneurs is sponsoring a talk at 4:15 Monday, September
11th in South Lounge. The talk, entitled From a startup to
millions, Grinnell style will docus on issues in starting up a
company with close references to ASI Sign Systems, his own company. Mr.
Latimer brings much valuable insight and perspective from personal
experience. Mr. Latimer is the founder and President of ASI Sign
Systems. Mr. Latimer used to work for the college and he quit in 1985
to start a business of his own in Grinnell. The company specializes
in making signs. For eg: all the signs in the Fine Arts Building are
made by his company. The company has now grown far beyond Grinnell
and is one of the leading ones in the Midwest with offices at various
locations in the midwest.
Wednesday, September 6, 2000:
Tuesday, September 5, 2000:
- Handouts:
- Lab:
- Readings:
- I was sorry to see so few of you at yesterday's brown-bag lunch. It
was actually quite interesting; there were videos of old GUI applications
that seem more advanced than most things available today.
- Quiz:
a. Take out a piece of paper
b. Write your name at the top
c. On the paper, write Scheme code for extracting the A from
(do (you (deserve an) (A)))
d. Raise your hand when you're done
Monday, September 4, 2000:
- Labs
- Readings
- I should have your first homework assignment ready tomorrow. It will be
a short assignment due Friday.
- Don't forget today's brown bag lunch film.
- I'm still behind in getting readings ready, so you have another free
afternoon/night. However, I would like you to finish the labs.
Friday, September 1, 2000:
- Today's readings
- Today's lab
- No reading or homework for the weekend!
- But please finish this lab if you don't do so in class.
- I note that not all of you have set your version of DrScheme to
use Graphical Full Scheme. Please do so at the beginning of lab.
- Hint: It's under the Language menu.
- Monday at noon is the CS brown bag lunch. We'll have a video by
Alan Kay, one of the key developers of the modern graphical user
interface.
Wednesday, August 30, 2000:
- Today's readings
- Today's lab
- Friday's reading is not yet ready. Check the Web site tomorrow, or wait
until the beginning of Friday's class.
- The graphics cards are now in and should be installed by Friday.
- I should be in the office from about 1:30 to 4:30 today.
- We'll start today's class with a quiz.
- Any HTML questions?
Tuesday, August 29, 2000:
- Assignment:
- We still don't have the new graphics cards. If it's any comfort,
the machine in my office has the same problems.
- I'll have normal office hours today (1:30 to 3ish). However, I already
have someone who has signed up for about 1:30 to 1:45.
- Reminder: Grinnell classes meet on labor day.
Monday, August 28, 2000:
- Assignment:
- If you haven't done so already, please fill out the
introductory survey.
- My preliminary
responses to your questions are now available.
My
responses to the CS152 survey are also available.
You can even
learn about some of my undergraduate grades.
- Thanks to those of you who reminded me to consider multicultural
issues in my teaching style. I hope that most of you can deal
with my somewhat informal style.
- For those of you who are concerned: most of you are at the beginning
level, having used computers primarily for word processing, games,
and sometimes surfing the 'net.
- I was impressed that at least one of you read
my CV and
at least one of you read my list of
CDs I've
listened to recently.
- Every Monday at noon, the department hosts a brown-bag film festival
at noon. See interesting talks by great computer scientists. (Okay,
sometimes you see mediocre talks by great computer scientists, but then
we all make sarcastic comments.) I'm pretty sure that you can pick
up a bag lunch if you're on meal plan.
- If you've talked to students in the other section of 151, you may have
noted that the two sections are following a different schedule (with
some difference in topics). Each faculty member teaches 151 differently.
We're starting Scheme a little bit after the other section, but we'll
catch up after a few weeks.
- My wife managed to break a toe yesterday, so I won't be in my office
during office hours today.
Friday, August 25, 2000:
- Assignments:
- Handouts:
- Make sure to complete the introductory
survey for Monday's class
- There are always a few students who forget,
and I really hate to embarass them in class).
- It helps me if you fill out the survey sooner rather than later. I'll
be reading about 50 surveys this weekend.