EBoard 01: Getting Started
This class will be recorded! Its use will be limited to members
of the class. Please do not share with others.
Approximate overview
- Lots of administrative stuff, including attendance
- What is “computer science”?
- An activity, more or less
- Debrief on activity
Administrative stuff
General Notes
- Happy first day of Black History month!
- Hi, I’m Sam (or SamR). Our class mentors are Stella and Ben.
- They will introduce themselves.
- Stella: 3rd or so time mentoring. Suffered through only one
class with Sam.
- Ben: Suffered through one class with Sam.
- Mentors … Help you understand the class material, introduce
you to the (amazing) cs community. Help during class. Run
mentor/review sessions.
- The class Web site is at
https://rebelsky.cs.grinnell.edu/Courses/CSC151/2021SpT1/.
- Sam: Don’t forget to put that in the chat.
- The class Web site is (always) a work in progress.
- CSC-151 is an introductory course in computer science.
- You can succeed (and even excel) with no prior experience.
- We approach material differently than many other intro courses;
prior experience may help, but it may also hinder. For example,
we will not let you re-assign variables. (Don’t worry if you
don’t know what that means.)
- CSC-151 is a community. We come from multiple cultures and backgrounds.
Treat each other with respect and learn to appreciate what each person
can contribute.
- We will return to this issue and the associated learning outcomes
throughout the semester.
- We are using Microsoft Teams for this class. You can (should?) use Teams
for other communication, too.
- I’d like to see your face during class (as much as Teams allows),
but do not require it.
- The ellipses button (three dots) at the top lets you set a background.
- I do not pay attention to the chat during class, but may read it at
some point. (You can use it for snarky comments about my teaching,
greetings to each other, comments about pets that wander onscreen,
etc.)
- Feel free to raise your hand using the Teams “raise hand” feature.
I probably won’t notice, but our mentors will and will tell me.
- I type our online class notes in a format called “markdown”. You should
find it relatively readable. It permits me to make nice Web pages.
- Sam: Don’t forget to show off today’s eboard.
- Good evidence that taking your own notes helps you learn.
Upcoming Activities
Guidelines
- Attend (or watch recording within a day or so) and record a one-paragraph
reflection asap afterwards.
- Only those activities I list count.
- But you can suggest others.
- Links will appear in the Announcements channel.
- Unless otherwise specified, these each earn one token.
Events
- 5pm Thursday, CS Extra: Henry Walker on Personal Robots in CSC-161. (+1 token)
- Noon, next Monday, Town Hall: President Harris on strategic plans. (+1 token)
Upcoming work
Attendance
- Sam will (attempt to) call you by first name.
- You will respond with
- “Hi, my name is FIRST NAME.
- (Optional pronouns.)
- If you must call me by last name, please call me Mr./Ms./Mx. LAST NAME.
- When I hear the word “snow”, I think about …
- This term, I am excited about ….
- (Optional question for me. You’ll also have another chance later.)
Excited About
- Creating a second brain.
- Socializing.
- TAing for classes you don’t know.
- Learning in a more stable environment.
- Refreshing knowledge / helping people.
- Graduating
- Trying something new
- Two STEM classes [+1]
- Taking a different class
- Being on campus [+2]
- Focused on interests
- Classes
- Exploring new things
- Polar vortex
- Learning comp sci [+6]
- Early modern
- The joy of CS professors.
- Taking a class with a dorm mate
- Working in-person with other students; study groups
- S2!
- Creating fire hazards (it smells a lot like christmas)
- Exploring campus
- Understanding siblings
- Spending the Lunar new year in China
- Sucking up to my CS faculty
- Connecting to math, particularly graph theory
- Returning to school
- Meeting musicians / playing music
Q&A
Are the books required?
No. Not at all. Almost no one buys them ever.
Do you have a favorite programming language?
No. It depends on what I’m trying to do. But I like Scheme a lot.
It allows you to write clean, elegant code.
Why Scheme/Racket in 151?
Simple syntax.
(Quite) different than other languages.
Small. “There are fewer words in the Scheme definition than there
are procedures in the Java library”.
Permits the functional model which is a great way of thinking.
(It bends your brain.)
What makes it different/similar to other programming languages.
It depends on which languages you compare it to.
We don’t normally do assignment or loops.
Functions can be parameters.
What is your greatest achievement?
My children.
What is your greatest achievement as a comp sci person?
Our graduates.
What are incorrect expectations about CS?
It’s primarily about programming.
Favorite music albums?
Astral Weeks by Van Morrison.
The Modern Lovers.
The Velvet Underground and Nico.
Biggest mistake in CSC 151?
Letting me teach it.
Which drinking fountain is best?
NOT the eye wash stations.
I prefer to use the filtered bottle fillers.
Recommended CS classes?
CSC-207. It’s where you become a real computer scientist.
It’s fun. You learn a wide range of things. You do a lot
of non-programming CS stuff.
What do CS students go to industry instead of grad school?
Money.
You can do cool things with an undergrad degree.
What is computer science?
- Computer science is the study of algorithms and data
structures
- Computer scientists study instructions and ways to organize
information.
- We study instructions by writing instructions to accomplish
certain tasks. (Organizing or searching information.)
- We study instructions by analyzing their efficacy.
- We study instructions by writing systems that implement those
instructions (e.g., hardware or languages).
- We study instructions by considering their effects on society.
- Most of this class will be writing and thinking about sets of
instructions.
Exercise
- In order to keep my wondefully round shape, I need to make a
sandwich.
- You’ve seen the ingredients.
- Assume that I don’t understand instructions all that well and
will probably misunderstand anything ambiguous.
- I do know objects.
- Teach me to make a sandwich.
More small groups! Such fun.