This page represents my attempts to answer some questions that students have asked (in the first assignment, in office hours, via email, etc.)
Note that there may be some repetition on this page.
Last updated: 2022-01-25 at approximately 9:00 a.m.
I see that the course is “Functional Problem Solving ‘with lab’”. When is the lab?
The lab is mixed in with the the regular course. There is no separate lab session. However, you should know that this course meets three days per week and you are expected to show up all three days.
How difficult is the course?
That’s a hard question to answer. Computer science is a different way of thinking. Some folks find it natural. Some folks find it nearly impossible. I see at least a factor of ten difference in the amount of time students take on some assignments (e.g., some students can complete an assignment in two hours, others will struggle to complete the same assignment in twenty hours). I’ve found no good ways to predict how difficult someone will find the course. I’m not alone in these experiences; faculty nationwide observe the same tenfold difference.
Of course, time spent is only one issue. Often, the people who seem to need to spend more time understand the material at least as well as people who spend less time.
How can I excel in the course?
Different students find different ways to excel. In general, one excels in my courses by taking an active approach to the material - read carefully, make lists of questions, ask questions in class, answer my questions, seek help when confused, discuss material with colleagues, and so on and so forth.
But I find students also excel when they engage enough with the material that they find natural ways to exceed my expectations - by finding new approaches, by doing creative things, by extending ideas.
I’ve heard that this is intended as a “weed out” course. Is that really the case? (2022-01-25)
I’ve always tried to make CSC-151 a “fertilize” course; I love CS and want to develop students’ interterest in the field. I’m always happy when I convince a student to switch (potential) majors to CS.
But I don’t make it an easy course. My goal is to challenge you.
And if it’s supposed to be a weed-out course, it fails. We have lots and lots of students go on to CSC-161.
I see that we’re doing both exams (SoLAs) and quizzes outside of class. Does that mean they are open book? (2022-01-25)
You may use DrRacket, the Course Web site, and the Racket documentation for quizzes and exams. You should not use other people or the broader Internet.
How do you enforce the limitation on what materials we use on exams (SoLAs) and quizzes? (2022-01-25)
I don’t. Believe it or not, I trust you to follow those guidelines.
Does the department have a course in which we learn to manage larger projects, with tens of thousands of lines of code? (2022-01-25)
Traditionally, CSC-324, Software Design and Development, covers those issues. (You may not always end up with such a project, but you discuss the mechanisms for doing so.)
We are supposed to cite any peers we collaborate with on coursework. For the citations, is it simply “I worked with this person” to attribute credit to them, or is there a specific citation format we are supposed to use? (2022-01-25)
I prefer “I worked with this person on this part of the assignment.” Variants are certainly acceptable. I care that you cite, not that you cite in a particular format.
How do we download DrRacket, the IDE we will use for this class? (2022-01-25)
I generally prefer that you work in MathLAN, not least because it means you can get help from evening tutors, random CS majors, and each other. But if you want DrRacket on your computer, you can get it from https://download.racket-lang.org.
How do quizzes count toward our grades? (2022-01-25)
Quizzes will be individual learning assessments, so they count toward the LA grades.