Introduction

Welcome to one of the Spring 2016 sections of Grinnell College's CSC 151, Functional Problem Solving, which is described relatively briefly in the official blurb. My own take on this course is that we'll be starting to develop your knowledge of computer science and algorithmic problem solving. We will be using Scheme as our development language, which gives us the abililty to use functional approaches (as well as imperative and object-oriented approaches). As in all Grinnell classes, we'll also be working on general skills, from group work to "thinking on your feet".

In both sections of the course, we will be emphasizing media computation — the application of algorithmic problem solving techniques to media. We will particularly emphasize algorithms for creating and manipulating images.

CSC 151 requires no prior knowledge of computer science or computer programming. We'll teach you everything we want you to know. It's okay if you have some experience (although at times it may put you at a disadvantage - we do things differently), but it's clearly not necessary.

In an attempt to provide up-to-date information, and to spare a few trees, I am making this as much of a "paperless" course as I can. Hence, materials will be in a course web. If you are puzzled by the organization of the Course Web, browse a bit and then ask me. If you find that you want paper copies of pages, please read the notes on printing copies. If you find that you are regularly printing pages, let me know and I can provide them for you.

Important Warnings

Warning! Experience shows that CSC 151 exercises different parts of your brain than other courses, even than math courses. In general, such exercise is a good thing - one of the key points of a liberal arts education is that it exercises different parts of your brain. However, it may take a bit of time to get these new parts of your brain into shape. Expect a few difficult times, but have confidence that you can get through them and that you'll come out of the course with much more knowledge.

Warning! Computers are sentient, stupid, and malicious. When things go wrong, don't blame yourself. Ask me, a tutor, or the class mentor for help.

Warning! We are using some cutting-edge software, which means that things will occasionally crash for no good reason.

Warning! In addition to teaching three courses this semester (one of which is significantly restructured), I am serving as chair of the department and as CS learning coordinator. I have instituted a wellness schedule: Except on weeks in which I have an exam to grade, I am limiting myself to two hours of evening work and five hours of weekend work.

Warning! Nationwide, computer science is one of the highest reporters of academic honesty issues. Please make sure that you understand both the CS department's policy on academic honesty and the course policy on academic honesty.

Basics

Meets: MTWF 3:00-3:50 (afternoon section) in Science 3813. Optional review sessions with SamR, Thursdays, 10:00-10:50, Science 3813. Optional review sessions hosted by the class mentors TBD.

Instructor: Samuel A. Rebelsky [rebelsky], Science 3824. 641-269-4410 (office). 641-990-2947 (cell; text hours are 8am to 10pm).
Office hours: MTWF 10:00-11:00, Tu 1:00-2:00. I also tend to follow an open door policy: Feel free to stop by when my door is open or to make an appointment for another time.

Class Mentors: Afternoon section: Sarah Trop, Evan Bruns (MW), Zachary Segall (TF), and Renn Jervis (apprentice).

Grading (subject to change):

• Class participation: 10%;
• Regular homework: 10%
• Lab writeups: 10%
• Project: 10%
• Weekly quizzes: 10%
• Exams (4 graded exams plus optional final): 45%
  • Date for optional final to be determined by the registrar.
• Best of individual work (average quiz grade, average exam grade, final): 5%

The final examination for this course is optional. It can be used as a makeup for one examination. I will count the final examination only if it is higher than your lowest examination, and it will replace the grade for that examination. I have not yet received information from the registrar on the available times for our final examination.

I will drop the grade on one quiz (the quiz with the lowest grade).

More information on grading can be found in the grading policies page.

Labs: Computer science 151 is taught in a collaborative workshop style. Each day, you'll work on laboratory problems with other students in the class. We may also start or end each class session with a short lecture/discussion. Most labs will require short writeups, which you will normally do with your lab partner.

Extra Credit: I will often offer one unit of extra credit for attending a specified academic event (e.g., a computer science talk or College convocation) or for supporting your classmates in their public endeavors (e.g., attending a concert, dance recital, or sporting event). Each category is capped at four units of extra credit, which count as one point toward your final grade. So, if you attend four academic events and four peer support events, you will receive an additional two points toward your final grade. For any activity you wish to credit this way, you must send me a short (one paragraph) note about the activity within two days of the activity.

Tutoring: The CS department makes tutors for CSC 151 (and other courses) available from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoons and from 7:00-10:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday evenings. We also have individual and small group tutors available for students who feel that they would benefit from that extra support. We generally do not assign individual tutors until after the first exam and are likely to encourage students to work with personal tutors in pairs or triplets rather than individually.

Good-Faith Grade Guarantee: Because I realize that computer science may require a transition in the way you think, and different students adapt to that transition at different rates, in CSC 151 I reward effort as well as outcome. Hence, students who make a "good faith" effort in this class will pass the class, with at least a C+. A good-faith effort includes missing no more than two classes, turning in every homework assignment and at least 95% of the laboratory writeups, and spending the requisite time on each examination. A good-faith effort also includes following the course policies.

Class Software: For this course, we will be using DrRacket and The GNU Image Manipulation Program, along with some locally written extensions. It will be hard to run the software outside of the Computer Science department's network (or the Math/Stats department's network). We recommend that you work in our labs for the ability to get help. Since some students have reasons to work away from our lab, we also provide a virtual machine that you can run on most computers. There are also some other options. Talk to me for more information.

Appropriate Use of Technology: A key aspect of Grinnell's culture of self-governance is that we treat each other with respect. Because this course includes considerations of appropriate uses of technology, using technology to harass or denigrate other people is completely unacceptable and therefore grounds for immediate failure in this class.

Printing Pages: Most of the pages in the course web are designed for viewing onscreen. However, I know that there can be value for printing pages and marking them up; you learn a lot when you read actively. If you do decide to print, you should consider printing the document double-sided and two-up (that is, two pages side-by-side on one physical page) so as to conserve paper. When I distribute documents, I will do my best to distribute them in this form.

Optional Books and Other Readings

Kelsey, Richard, Clinger, William, and Rees, Jonathan, eds. (1998). Revised5 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme February 20, 1998.

The concise and complete definition of the last concise version of the Scheme programming language. (The sixth revised version is the latest version, but it's is not so concise.) You won't need to understand all of it, but you may find it helpful.

Dybvig, R. Kent. The Scheme Programming Language, Fourth Edition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Available online at <http://www.scheme.com/tspl4/>.

A longer and more readable reference on the Scheme programming language.

Rebelsky, Samuel (2015). The CS151 2015S Course Web.

The hypertext that you are currently reading. Many of these materials (particularly those under Readings and Labs are required. You should make it a point to load the page of the day at the beginning of each class to check announcements and such.