Responses to Questions and Comments from Introductory Survey

You may also want to look at my responses from 99F semester, my responses from 2000S semester, and my responses from CSC151 this semester.

• Personal
  • What's this I hear about the 'Kindler, Gentler, Sam'?
  • If you were a major applicance, what appliance would you be and why?
  • Has William Lloyd shot anyone with a garden hoselately?
  • Why do you only wear red suspenders?
• Professional
  • Why are you here at Grinnell?
  • How long have you been at Grinnell?
  • Where where you before here?
  • What kinds of grades did you get in your CS courses?
• The Course
  • What are we expected to do to be exceptional enough to get an A in this course?

Personal

What's this I hear about the 'Kindler, Gentler, Sam'?

I'll admit that I have no idea. I think that you'll find that I'm kind and sympathetic, but (as you seem to have heard), I have high expectations of my students and assign a lot of work.

If you were a major applicance, what appliance would you be and why?

Hmmm ... this looks to be a semester of interesting questions. Although we can probably now claim that computers are now "major applicances", I certainly wouldn't want to be a computer; they seem to frustrate people too much. Perhaps an oven, because I like cooking, but I'll admit that I'm not really sure.

Has William Lloyd shot anyone with a garden hoselately?

Yes. Me. Jonathan (his brother). He does seem to prefer his Super Soaker (probably a registered trademark), though.

Why do you only wear red suspenders?

I don't. The first day of class, I wore maroon suspenders. Today, I'm wearing striped suspenders of mulitple hues. But I like my wide red suspenders because they add a touch of color to my otherwise drab wardrobe.

Professional

Why are you here at Grinnell?

Because it's (more-or-less) the perfect job for me. I like teaching in the liberal arts context. I like the students and my colleagues. I find Grinnell's balance of research and teaching expectations appropriate. There are a few things that have started to annoy me about the college, but I prefer not to put those in a web page right now.

How long have you been at Grinnell?

I'm starting my fourth year at Grinnell.

Where where you before here?

I was a visitor (that is, in a non-tenure-track position) at Dartmouth college for about four years. During much of that time, my wife was in the Maine-Dartmouth family practice residency program, conveniently located only five hours from Dartmouth. Before I taught at Dartmouth, I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. During my time at Dartmouth, I also did some Web consulting.

What kinds of grades did you get in your CS courses?

Do you really expect me to remember? Fortunately, I dug up a few old copies of my transcript when I was cleaning my office. So, let's see.

AUT 83 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  105  INTRO COMPUTER PROG-1 (HONORS) 100  A

WIN 84 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  106  INTRO COMPUTER PROGRAMMING-2   100  A

SPR 84 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  107  INTRO COMPUTER PROGRAMMING-3   100  A

SUM 84 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  109  COMPUTER GRAPHICS              100  A

AUT 84 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  120  DATA STRUCTURES                100  A
  COMSCI  280  THEORY OF COMPUTATION-1        100  A-

WIN 85 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  210  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE        100  A
  COMSCI  270  THEORY OF ALGORITHMS           100  A
  COMSCI  281  THEORY OF COMPUTATION-2        100  A

SPR 87 UNDERGRADUATE
  COMSCI  282  AUTOMATA THEORY                100  B+
  COMSCI  291 APL AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS       100  B

Hmm ... that's a little bit better than I remembered. In graduate school, I got more of a mixture of A's, B's, and R's (the equivalent of P; I took advantage of that option more times than I should have).

Oh, if it's any comfort, I had three C's during my undergraduate days, in (1) Greek Thought and Literature, (2) Generaly Physics Honors, second quarter, and (3) Science, Culture, and Society in Western Civilization. Sleeping through the midterm in Physics helped contribute to that low grade. I'm not sure about the other two courses. I also took one incomplete (in the third quarter of Basic Algebra), which prevented me from making dean's list.

The Course

What are we expected to do to be exceptional enough to get an A in this course?

It's hard to quantify precisely. You have to go beyond the regular work for the course. Typically, that means identifying extra credit and pursuing it. I'll occasionally suggest extra credit work.