Syllabus

This is an approximate syllabus, and is likely to change. More readings will be added at a later date, as will the specifics of the case studies (every Friday) and individual classes.

Week One: Introduction and Java

• Readings
  • Humphrey, Chapters 1-3
  • Bentley (PP), Column 1, "Cracking the Oyster"
  • Flanagan, Chapter 3
  • Winograd, Introduction
  • Kapor, "A Software Design Manifesto", Chapter 1 of Winograd.

• Class 1: Friday, August 29
  • Introduction to the course
  • Introduction to software design
  • Introduction to object design
  • Introduction to Java
    • History
    • Local compilers
    • "Hello world"
  • Assignment one given.

• Class 2: Monday, September 1
  • Java: Classes and objects

• Class 3: Wednesday, September 3
  • Java: Documentation
  • Java: Constructors and Destructors
  • Assignment one due.
  • Assignment two given.

• Class 4: Friday, September 5
  • Case study
  • Java: Control structures

Week Two: More Java

• Class 5: Monday, September 8
  • Java: Inheritance

• Class 6: Wednesday, September 10
  • Java: Model and References

• Thursday, September 11
  • Assignment two due.

• Class 7: Friday, September 13
  • Java: Exceptions
  • Case study

Week Three: Tools/rcs

• Readings

• Class 8: Monday, September 15
  • Java: I/O
  • Java: Event-based programming

• Class 9: Wednesday, September 17
  • Java: Protection
  • Java: Applets vs. Applications

• Class 10: Friday, September 19
  • Project management with rcs
  • Case study
  • We may have prospective students visiting

Week Four: Tools

• Readings
  • manual pages for rcsintro, ci, co, and rcs
  • Chapter 7 of Flanagan
  • man page for make

• Class 11: Monday, September 22
  • Introduction to rcs

• Class 12: Wednesday, September 24
  • More on rcs

• Class 13: Friday, September 26
  • Discussion of projects

Week Five: Greedy Algorithms

• Readings
  • Bentley (PP), Column 2, "Aha! Algorithms"
  • Bentley (PP), Column 7, "Algorithm Design Techniques"
  • Handout on greedy algorithms.

• Class 14: Monday, September 29
  • Program management with make
  • Case study on Java Security

• Class 15: Wednesday, October 1
  • Why work on algorithms
  • Introduction to greedy algorithms

• Class 16: Friday, October 3
  • Huffman coding

Week Six: Algorithms, Continued

• Readings
  • Bentley (PP), Column 4, "Writing Correct Programs"

• Class 17: Monday, October 6
  • Huffman coding
  • Case study on Therac-25

• Class 18: Wednesday, October 8
  • Example: stamp minimization
  • Dynamic Proramming

• Class 19: Friday, October 10
  • Assertions, Preconditions, and Postconditions
  • Case study: Pentium chip

Week Seven: Estimating Size and Time

• Readings
  • Bentley (MPP), Column 3, "Confessions of a Coder"
  • Bentley (PP), Column 13, "A Spelling Checker"
  • Bentley (PP), Column 6, "The Back of the Envelope"
  • Bentley (MPP), Column 7, "The Envelope is Back"

• Class 20: Monday, October 13
  • Proving programs correct
  • We may have prospective students visiting

• Class 21: Wednesday, October 15
  • Back-of-the-envelope calculations

• Class 22: Friday, October 17
  • Coding practices
  • Case study: Planes crash into mountains

• Break from October 18 through October 26

Week Eight: Human Factors

• Readings
  • Winograd

• Class 23: Monday, October 27

• Class 24: Wednesday, October 29

• Class 25: Friday, October 31
  • Case study: Appel (1985), summarized in Bentley (PP), Column 5, "Perspective on Performance".

Week Nine: Efficiency

• Readings
  • Bentley (PP), Column 5, "Perspective on Performance"
  • Bentley (PP), Column 8, "Code Tuning"
  • Bentley (PP), Column 9, "Squeezing Space"
  • Bentley (MPP), Column 1, "Profilers"

• Class 26: Monday, November 3
  • An overview of performance issues
  • We may have prospective students visiting

• Class 27: Wednesday, November 5
  • Performance issues, continued
  • Timing

• Class 28: Friday, November 7
  • Profiling programs
  • Case study

Week Ten: Miscellaneous Topics

• Class 29: Monday, November 10
  • Efficiency and Timing, Continued

• Class 30: Wednesday, November 12
  • Human Factors, Revisited

• Class 31: Friday, November 14
  • Case study on Viruses

Week Eleven: Regular Expressions

• Class 32: Monday, November 17
  • Profiling, Revisited

• Class 33: Wednesday, November 19
  • Regular Expressions

• Class 34: Friday, November 21
  • Using Regular Expressions
  • Case study

Week Twelve: Miscellaneous

• Class 35: Monday, November 24
  • Using Regular Expressions

• Class 36: Wednesday, November 26
  • Status Reports

• Thanksgiving Holiday from November 27 through November 30

Week Thirteen: Algorithms and Data Structures

• Class 37: Monday, December 1
  • Associative Arrays

• Class 38: Wednesday, December 3
  • Topological Sort

• Class 39: Friday, December 5
  • Case study
  • Course Wrapup

Week Fourteen: Project Reports

• Class 40: Monday, December 8
  • Project presentation: NiceMail
  • Project presentation: BlitzMail

• Class 41: Wednesday, December 10
  • Project presentation: Steganography
  • Project presentation: Web Whiteboard

• Class 42: Friday, December 12
  • Project presentation: Fantasy Football
  • Project presentation: Crime Spree

• Final held at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 18