Overview

• Preliminaries.
  • Admin.
  • Attendance.
  • Upcoming work.
  • Notes from the surveys.
  • Extra credit.
• About the course.
• Common parts of an algorithm.
• Getting started with Linux.
• Some administrative details (if there's time).

Preliminaries

Admin

• Don't forget that we have class on Tuesday!
• I have about 60 introductory surveys to read and respond to between my two primary classes. It takes me about fifteen minutes per survey. Hence, it may take me a few days to get to yours. (I have tried to skim for questions.)
• If you have not already done so, please grab
  • a regular playing card
  • two blank playing cards,
  • a Sharpie (you may have share)
  • a set of lab instructions.
• Did anyone see the bands in Gardner last night?
• We will stop with about twenty minutes left in class for you to do the lab.
• There are a set of quick notes on administrative details at the end of today's outline. We won't cover them in class, and you should have seen most of them in your readings for today.

Attendance

• No formal attendance today.
• Please write your name on one side of one of the blank playing cards.
  If you want to draw on same side, too, that's fine. Please leave the other side blank.
  • I'll collect them during class.
• Please say your name when you answer or ask questions.

Upcoming Work

• HW 2 will be assigned Wednesday and due next Tuesday.
• Readings for Tuesday:
  • The DrRacket Programming Environment
  • Beginning Scheme
  • How Scheme Evaluates Expressions v. 1

Some Comments in Response to the Surveys

• I'll email you a link to the summary of lessons learned
• I've put some more information in the FAQ. Feel free to peruse it (or not).
• A few of you didn't follow instructions (e.g., in terms of the title of the email messages, where to put your answers, or how many messages to send). In many cases, I asked you to resubmit.
• Many of you noted that the survey is a way to ensure that you read the syllabus (which you probably wouldn't be inclined to do otherwise because I am a bit verbose).
  
  • Note I also ask you to do the survey so that I can see what your questions are and attempt to answer them.
  • In addition, I believe that my responses to your surveys make it clear that I am accessible.
  • The survey also gives me a list of things that I might want to address in class, such as the comments that follow.
• For clarity: I prefer that you address me as "Sam" rather than "Professor Rebelsky". I hate to be addressed in the generic.
• Don't forget that evening tutors are a resource. Students who have previously taken CSC 151 can also serve as a resource.
• Don't forget to cite. URLs suffice for citations so that it's not a burden.
• "I have very little background with computers" is a common response. Don't worry about it. Every year we graduate CS majors who felt the same way when they started. (And no, I don't expect all of you to become CS majors.)
• There's a difference between outlines (prepared in advance) and eboards (recording what happened).
• I heard concerns about workload from a few students (including some upper-level students). If you're spending more than ten hours per week outside of class, something is wrong, and we should talk.
  • One of the best ways to work less long is to ask for help early
• Remember that we have daily work in addition to the weekly assignments.
• I'm not on IRC so much any more. I should probably remove comments on IRC from the syllabus.
• A few of you noted that study groups are a good way to prepare for class.
  That's a great idea (for almost any class).

Extra Credit Opportunities

Academic

• CS Extras Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in Science 3821. Adam Arsenault on his internship at the Free Software Foundation.

Peer Support

• Football Games (???)
• Women's Volleyball home matches (???)
• Men's Tennis home matches (???)
• Women's Tennis home matches (???)

Other Fun Things

• Apply for a KDIC radio show (and it's okay to say the name, not the initials)
  • Then Sam will give EC if people listen to your show

About the course

Goals

• To teach you fundamental ideas in computer science
  • Algorithms
  • Data structures
  • The use of Abstraction in problem solving
• To teach you some basic programming skills that you can use in other situations.
• To build your problem-solving skills
• And beyond
  • How to work with others
  • Thinking on your feet

Structure

• "Flipped classroom"
• We are better off with you doing than me talking
• Work on labs in class
• Weekly homeworks to expand how you think about stuff

Common parts of an algorithm

• Find the other people with the same card that you have.
• Introduce yourselves.
• Share pens to fill out your blank cards with your names.
• Question 1: How could we have made the process of putting people into card groups more efficient?
  • Choose areas of the room
  • Call out each card in turn
  • ...
• Question 2: What did and didn't we understand about the reading on algorithms?
  • What is this thing you call a variable? [9]
    • A word that has an associated value.
    • "Your dominant hand"
    • A name for something you use in the algorithm so that it's easier to refer to that thing.
  • What is the difference between parameters and inputs? [7]
    • They are the same
    • Example is the "the jar" in our "how to open a jar" routine.
• Question 3: What are examples of each part of an algorithm from the sandwich exercise?
• Gather your playing cards and name cards for the mentors to collect

Getting started with Linux