Skip to main content

Class news

This information is copied from the daily outlines.

Class 42 (Friday, 8 December 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Please attend Friday’ sclass.

Upcoming work

  • Final Wednesday morning.

Friday PSA

  • It may have been a stressful week.
  • As you decompress, please do so responsibly.

Class 41 (Wednesday, 6 December 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Please attend Friday’ sclass.

Upcoming work

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Pub-free quiz, TONIGHT.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Musical this weekend.
  • More music stuff.

Class 40 (Monday, 4 December 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Add/Drop period has started. I’m letting CSC 322 over-enroll to 24.

Upcoming work

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • NEW CS Table Tuesday: Exotic PLs

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Pub-free quiz, Wednesday

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Newtown film on Tueday.

Other good things

  • Musical this weekend.
  • More music stuff.

Class 39 (Friday, 1 December 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Warning! Our Chair is visiting class this week.
  • Cut/Close/Balance period finishes on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
    • You may start Add/Drop on Monday the 4th.

Upcoming work

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • NEW CS Table Tuesday: Exotic PLs

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Swim meet this coming weekend.
  • Chamber Ensembles Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
  • One Acts this weekend.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Mental Health Campus Resource Fair. Friday at 4pm in JRC 209.
  • NEW Newtown film on Tueday.

Other good things

  • Festival of trees at Drake THIS afternoon
  • Jazz Ensemble Concert TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m.
  • YGB Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
  • Collegium Concert Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Class 38 (Wednesday, 29 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Warning! Our Chair is visiting class this week.
  • Cut/Close/Balance period finishes on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
    • You may start Add/Drop on Monday the 4th.

Upcoming work

  • Homework 9 due tonight.
  • Homework 10 due next Wednesday.
  • Final is in-class on the morning of Wednesday, December 13.

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • CS Extras Thursday: Anya’s Advisor.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Swim meet this coming weekend.
  • Chamber Ensembles Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
  • One Acts this weekend.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Mental Health Campus Resource Fair. Friday at 4pm in JRC 209.

Other good things

  • Jazz Ensemble Concert Friday at 7:30 p.m.
  • YGB Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
  • Collegium Concert Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
  • Festival of trees at Drake Friday afternoon

Class 37 (Monday, 27 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Warning! Our Chair is visiting class this week.
  • I hope you had a great Turkey break. I did not complete exam grading. (I think it’s currently third in my work queue.)

Upcoming work

  • Homework 9 due Wednesday.
  • Only one more homework after that one! (Dynamic programming.)
  • Final is in-class.

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • CS Table Tuesday (unknown topic)
  • CS Extras Thursday (unknown topic)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Swim meet this coming weekend.
  • Chamber Ensembles Sunday at 4:00 p.m.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Forum: A Community Responds — A Bias/Hate Incident Raising Issues of Free Speech and Inclusivity. Tuesday, 11 a.m., Sebring-Lewis.
  • Mental Health Campus Resource Fair. Friday at 4pm in JRC 209.

Other good things

  • Jazz Ensemble Concert Friday at 7:30 p.m.
  • Collegium Concert Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Class 36 (Wednesday, 22 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Have a good Thanksgiving.
  • Warning! Weinman will be visiting class after Turkey break.

Upcoming work

  • Homework 9 due Wednesday.
  • Only one more homework after that one! (Dynamic programming.)

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Forum: A Community Responds — A Bias/Hate Incident Raising Issues of Free Speech and Inclusivity. Tuesday, 11 a.m., Sebring-Lewis.

Other good things

  • Have a good Thanksgiving.

Class 35 (Monday, 20 November 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 returned. We’ll discuss it on Wednesday.
    • Please submit your epilogue if you haven ot done so already.
    • Lots of issues on problem 2.
  • I hope to return exam 1 on Wednesday.
  • “There’s not a lot of time, how will I improve my grade if I’m not doing as well as I think I should be.”
    • We’ll figure something out.

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • Community hour panel on gun regulations, tomorrow.
  • CS table on “the gig economy” tomorrow.

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Harp concert Tuesday night.

Class 34 (Friday, 17 November 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 due TONIGHT at 4:00 p.m.
  • Read the rest of Skiena 6, unless you’ve done so already.
  • My plan is to grade exam 2 and finish grading exam 1 over the weekend.
  • “There’s not a lot of time, how will I improve my grade if I’m not doing as well as I think I should be.”
    • We’ll figure something out.

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Pub-Free Quiz (after Turkey break?)
  • Swim and dive meet, Saturday

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • “The First Time I Walked on the Moon”. Thursday 7:30, Friday 7:30, Saturday 2:00, Saturday 7:30, Sunday 2:00.
  • Voice recitals Friday at 4:15 (Henderson) and 7:00 (Manuel)
  • Jingle Bell Holidays in Grinnell tonight
  • Orchestra Saturday at 2pm
  • Singers and Oratoria Sunday at 2pm

Class 33 (Wednesday, 15 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • The due date of Exam 2 has been pushed to Friday.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 due Friday at 4:00 p.m.
  • Read Skiena the rest of Skiena 6 for Friday.

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • Convocation Thursday at 11 a.m. in JRC 101. “Work’s Provocative Future: Which Graduates Will Thrive?”

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Not-Pub Quiz, TONIGHT
  • Swim and dive meet, Saturday

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • “The First Time I Walked on the Moon”. Thursday 7:30, Friday 7:30, Saturday 2:00, Saturday 7:30, Sunday 2:00.
  • Fresh Flutes Thursday
  • Voice recitals Friday at 4:15 (Henderson) and 7:00 (Manuel)
  • Orchestra Saturday at 2pm
  • Women’s Basketball vs. Emmaus Wed at 5:00 p.m.
  • Men’s Basketball vs. Emmaus Wed at 7:00 p.m.

Class 32 (Monday, 13 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I expect that most upper-level CS classes will fill this semester. You help the department better consider stress points and how to address them if you register earlier, rather than later.
  • Prof. French noted that Kruskal’s algorithm serves as second purpose: It allows you to count the number of conntected components in a graph.
  • The due date of Exam 2 has been pushed to Friday.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 due Friday at 4:00 p.m.
  • Read Skiena 6.1-6.4 for Wednesday (or Friday).

Extra Credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • CS Table, Tomorrow
  • Convocation Thursday at 11 a.m. in JRC 101. “Work’s Provocative Future: Which Graduates Will Thrive?”

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Not-Pub Quiz, Wednesday
  • Swim meet, Saturday

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • “The First Time I Walked on the Moon”. Thursday 7:30, Friday 7:30, Saturday 2:00, Saturday 7:30, Sunday 2:00.
  • Fresh Flutes Thursday
  • Voice recitals Friday at 4:15 (Henderson) and 7:00 (Manuel)
  • Orchestra Saturday at 2pm
  • Women’s Basketball vs. Emmaus Wed at 5:00 p.m.
  • Men’s Basketball vs. Emmaus Wed at 7:00 p.m.
  • Swimming and Diving Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Class 31 (Friday, 10 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I expect that most upper-level CS classes will fill this semester. You help the department better consider stress points and how to address them if you register earlier, rather than later.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 prologue due TONIGHT.
  • Exam 2 due Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Not-Pub Quiz, Next Wednesday
  • VR club Sundays at 8pm in DLAB.
  • VR club open house Saturday 6-8pm in DLAB.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • NM Voice tonight at 7:30 p.m.
  • Showvember tonight
  • Drag tomorrow

Class 30 (Wednesday, 8 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I expect that most upper-level CS classes will fill this semester. You help the department better consider stress points and how to address them if you register earlier, rather than later.
  • Some interesting courses to consider
    • CSC 161 is an awesome course. I’m told it’s very different than
      1. (For some, that’s a positive. For others, that’s a negative.)
    • Wilson short course: Human Centered Design for Global Social Transformation
    • Wilson short course: Leadership in a Future of Automation and Income Inequality.
    • ENG 295-01. Lighting the Page: Digital Methods in Literary Studies. (ENG-120 prereq)
    • HIS 295-01. Digital Methods in Historical Studies. (HIS-100 prereq)

Upcoming work

  • Exam 2 due next Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Not-Pub Quiz, TONIGHT
  • VR club Sundays at 8pm in DLAB.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 29 (Monday, 6 November 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Sorry about the temrporarily broken Web site. The Bootstrap style I used changed unexpectedly. (I hear it broke many of the Course webs in the department.)
  • Sorry that I could not be in class on Friday.
  • I expect that most upper-level CS classes will fill this semester. You help the department better consider stress points and how to address them if you register earlier, rather than later.
  • No, grading is not done. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday were booked. I spent six hours grading, but that’s not enough.
    • Weekdays are booked 8:30-5:00 (and it’s preregistration)
    • Tonight: Write draft of your exam. Write 151 project description. (Skip concert.)
    • Tuesday: CSC 151 exam grading.
    • Wednesday: CSC 151 exam grading.
    • Thursday: (Maybe) CSC 301 exam grading.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 8 due next Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. (All written problems!)

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • Leyla McCalla Trio, Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m. Herrick
  • Animated Films, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 11:00 a.m., Faulconer
  • CS Table (Computer-Aided Gerrymandering), Tuesday, Nov. 7, noon, Day Dining Room
  • Crip Technoscience, Disabled People as Makers and Knowers, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 4:15 p.m., JRC 101.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • VR club Sundays at 8pm in ???.
  • Not-Pub Quiz?

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 28 (Friday, 3 November 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 8 due next Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. (All written problems!)

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • RTS Friday at 9 p.m.
  • VR club Sundays at 8pm in ???.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 27 (Wednesday, 1 November 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • Rebirth Brass Band, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Herrick.
  • Convocation, Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in JRC 101. Some Econ thing.
  • CS Extras, Thursday at 4:15 p.m.: “Building your own programming language and other reasons to go to graduate school”

Extra credit (Peer)

  • RTS Friday at 9 p.m.
  • Pub Quiz TONIGHT at 9 p.m. in Bob’s.
  • VR club Sundays at 8pm in ???.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 26 (Monday, 30 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Although grading was in the queue for the weekend, paperwork interfered.
  • Do any of you consider yourselves competent Javascript programmers?

Upcoming work

  • Read Appendix B4 (Graphs) of CLRS for Wednesday.
  • Assignment 7 due Wednesday at 10:30 p.m.

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday at noon: TBD
  • Rebirth Brass Band, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Herrick.
  • CS Extras, Thursday at 4:15 p: “Building your own programming language and other reasons to go to graduate school”

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 25 (Friday, 27 October 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

  • Read Appendix B4 (Graphs) of CLRS for Monday.
  • Assignment 7 due Wednesday at 10:30 p.m.

Extra credit (Academic/Artistic)

  • Protest Bot workshop, Friday 4pm in Burling 1st.
  • Rebirth Brass Band Wednesday 7:30 p.m. in Herrick.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Scarlet and Black Swim and Dive Meeting Saturday 9am-1pm.
    (One hour suffices.)
  • Tailgate Saturday on the Grassy Knoll.

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Grinnell Singers Sunday at 2pm.
  • American Football Saturday.
  • European (and beyond) Football Saturday.

Friday PSA

Class 24 (Wednesday, 25 October 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Saving Brinton, Talk at 2pm TODAY in Harris.
  • Saving Brinton, Wednesday at 7pm TODAY in the Strand.
  • Gates Lecture, TONIGHT at 7:00 p.m. in JRC 101.
  • Convocation Thursday (11 am in JRC 101).
  • Strange Escape Room Challenge.
  • Protest BOT workshop, Friday 4pm in Burling 1st.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Scarlet and Black Swim and Dive Meeting Saturday. (One hour suffices.)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Grinnell Singers Sunday at 2pm.

Class 23 (Monday, 23 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I hope you had a wonderful fall break.
  • I was less efficient in grading than I had hoped. You get snacks instead of exams. Sorry.
  • The topic for this week is new to CSC 301 for this year and is part of a broader reorganization of the CS curriculum.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • They Call Me Q, Tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Harris Concert Hall.
  • MASSS talk on text analysis with R Tuesday at 11 a.m. somewhere in Math.
  • Saving Brinton, Wednesday at 7pm in the Strand.
  • Gates Lecture, Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in JRC 101. Professor Sylvester Johnson, Director of the Humanities, Virginia Tech, talk will examine the twentieth-century roots of contemporary national security responses targeting American Muslims as state enemies.
  • Convocation Thursday (11 am in JRC 101).
  • Protest BOT workshop, Friday 4pm in Burling 1st.

    Bots are small automated programs that index websites, edit Wikipedia entries, spam users, scrape data from pages, launch denial of service attacks, and other assorted activities, both mundane and nefarious. On Twitter bots are mostly spam, but occasionally, they’re creative endeavors. Mark Sample will lead participants in the creation of bots that can “reveal the injustice and inequality of the world and imagine alternatives. … that question how, when, who and why.”

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 22 (Friday, 13 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I’m working on getting you all of your work back to you after break.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 6 due Wednesday after break at 10:30 p.m.
  • For Monday after break, read Jon Bentley. 1983. Programming pearls: Writing correct programs. _Commun. ACM__ 26, 12 (December 1983), 1040-1045. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/358476.358484

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Extras Thursday, UofI

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Have a great break.

Class 21 (Wednesday, 11 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I’ve done the first read through of Monday’s surveys. There is not clear consensus. Many people like the chance to think through problems. Many would like me to lecture more on the more difficult concepts. A few would like to code more in class.
  • I was disappointed that none of you attended the CS Extra on Careers in Computing. (Yes, I realize that it’s a busy time.)
  • I have not yet met with all the people involved in the issue we discussed on Monday. When I’ve done so, I’ll do my best to get exams back to you promptly. (Note that I have not yet paired exams with people.)

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 6 due Wednesday after break at 10:30 p.m.
  • Read Skiena 3.9 (War Story: String ‘em up)

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Extras Thursday, UofI

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

Class 20 (Monday, 9 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Quick mid-semester survey.
    • I focus on “talk about a problem in small groups, then as a large group”, but we also have other possible approaches, some of which we’ve used.
      • [1] The current approach is working well.
      • [2] Sam should talk less; let us present our results.
      • [3] Less small group work, lecture more.
      • [4] Less small group work, lecture more (and use slides).
    • Other than getting grading done, what is something that I can do to improve the class?

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table Tuesday, GHC
  • CS Extras Thursday, ???
  • Something Fish

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Volleyball vs. Beloit, Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m..

Class 19 (Friday, 6 October 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table Tuesday, GHC
  • CS Extras Thursday, ???
  • Something Fish

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Neverland players.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Any “successor to 10/10” event.

Other good things

  • Volleyball vs. Beloit, Friday at 7:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. St. Norbert, Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
  • Volleyball vs. Lake Forest, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Ripon, Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
  • Football, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Class 18 (Wednesday, 4 October 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Cool talk Wednesday; Mary Beth Tinker
  • CS Extras, Thursday: Grad school

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Neverland players.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Thursday night movie.

Other good things

  • Volleyball vs. Beloit, Friday at 7:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. St. Norbert, Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
  • Volleyball vs. Lake Forest, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Ripon, Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
  • Football, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Class 17 (Monday, 2 October 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I spent 20 hours grading this past weekend. All of it went to CSC 151. I’m sorry. Given how little time I have during the day on weekdays, it looks like I won’t get exam 1 back to you until next Monday.
  • I’ve therefore rearranged the schedule a bit.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Any of the Grinnell Prize events
  • CS Table, Tuesday: Tapia
  • Cool talk Wednesday; Mary Beth Tinker
  • CS Extras, Thursday: Grad school

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Volleyball vs. Knox Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
  • Men’s Soccer Wednesday at 4:30 vs. Cornell
  • Volleyball vs. Beloit, Friday at 7:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. St. Norbert, Saturday at 9:00 a.m.
  • Volleyball vs. Lake Forest, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Ripon, Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
  • Football, Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Class 16 (Friday, 29 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Yes, I do intend to return exam 1 on Monday. We’ll discuss the exam on Monday in any case
  • I was sorry to see so few of you at convocation yesterday.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Any of the Grinnell Prize events
  • CS Table, Tuesday: Tapia
  • CS Extras, Thursday: Grad school

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Women’s tennis Sunday at noon at high school
  • Volleyball next Tuesday
  • Take care of yourselves this weekend

Class 15 (Wednesday, 27 September 2017)

News / Etc.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 1 due TODAY at 5:00 p.m.
    • If you attend the Google talk at 4:00 p.m., you may have until 7:00 p.m.
  • Assignment 5 due next Wednesday at 10:30 p.m.

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Google tech interview session, Today, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
  • Convocation, Thursday
  • CS Table, Tuesday: Tapia

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Other good things

  • Women’s soccer today at 4:30 p.m.
  • Volleyball today at 7:00 p.m.

Class 14 (Monday, 25 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I hope you had fun without me and enjoyed seeing a different model of teaching.
  • I have not gotten grading done. If there are particular things you think might be a problem, ask questions.

Upcoming work

  • Exam 1 due Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.
  • The next assignment will be distributed on Wednesday.

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday: ???
  • Google Stuff, Tuesday
  • Convocation, Thursday

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Class 13 (Friday, 22 September 2017)

Class 12 (Wednesday, 20 September 2017)

Class 11 (Monday, 18 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • As seems to be the norm, my weekend failed to produce as much work time as I needed, and work took longer. I remain behind on grading.
  • We’ll be discussing Red/Black trees on Wednesday and Friday.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 4, due 10:30 p.m. Wednesday
    • Implement hash tables in Scheme.
    • Reflect on how to implement sets.
  • Exam 1 to be distributed Wednesday.

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday, Hacktivism
  • CS Extras, Thursday, 4:15 p.m., 3821, Study Abroad in CS
  • One of the Happy Kareoke Fun Time activities
    • Musical, Friday 9pm, Gardner.
    • Workshop: Burn your fear. Saturday, 2pm. The Wall. Email [improv] to sign up.
    • Workshop: Creating through improv. Sunday, 2pm. The Wall. Email [improv] to sign up.
    • Musical, Sunday, 7pm, Gardner

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

Class 10 (Friday, 15 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Note: I expect that you follow GNU style guidelines when you submit C code to me. If you don’t know those guidelines, you can find them on the Interweb.
  • Note: You should be using gdb or lldb. I do not want to see code with lots of printfs.
    • Actually, I expect that you would ever use printf for tracing output. Use fprintf (stderr, ...)

Upcoming work

  • Read Skiena Chapter 3 for Monday.
  • Assignment 4, due 10:30 p.m. Next Wednesday
    • Implement hash tables in Scheme.
    • Reflect on how to implement sets.

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday, Hacktivism

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Elephantitus, this weekend.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Brazillian Jiu Jitsu Club, Saturday (2017-09-16) 5 PM to 6:30 PM in the Bear Multipurpose Dance Studio

Other good things

  • Take care of yourselves and those around you.

Friday PSA

  • Don’t feel pressure. The choices you make can/should be your own.
  • Consent is absolutely, positively, necessary.
  • Embrace self-gov!

Class 9 (Wednesday, 13 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Today’s class may be sketchier than normal because I lost thirty minutes of prep/reflection time due to fire alarms.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 3, due 10:30 p.m. TONIGHT
    • Code via email
    • Printed under door
  • Assignment 4, due 10:30 p.m. Next Wednesday
    • Implement hash tables in Scheme.
    • Reflect on how to implement sets.

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Extras, Thursday, Klinge Map Group on Cauldron
  • CS Table, Tuesday, ???

Extra credit (Peer)

???

Extra Credit (Misc)

???

Other good things

Class 8 (Monday, 11 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • As the poet says, “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”.
    • I did not get grading done this weekend.

Upcoming work

  • Assignment 3, due 10:30 pm Wednesday
    • Code via email
    • Printed under door

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday, Machine Ethics
  • CS Extras, Thursday, Klinge Map Group on Cauldron

Extra credit (Peer)

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Time Management Workshop, Tuesday, 11am, JRC 226.
  • Host a prospective student [ohc]

Other good things

Class 7 (Friday, 8 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • We are now 1/7 of the way through CSC 301. After today’s class, we’ll be 1/6 of the way through CSC 301.
  • I hope to get homework back to you on Monday. (Probably only one of the two, but we’ll see.)

Upcoming work

  • Reading for Monday: Review the Master theorem in CLRS 4.
  • Assignment 3, due 10:30 pm next Wednesday

Extra credit (Academic)

  • CS Table, Tuesday, Machine Ethics

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Sign up for CS picnic (but only if you plan to attend). (You can reflect on the sign-up process or on the picnic itself.)

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Host a prospective student [ohc]

Other good things

  • Women’s Tennis vs. Coe, TODAY at 4:30 p.m., High School
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Lake Forest, Saturday at 9 am High School
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Beloit, Saturday at 3 pm High School
  • Les Duke Cross Country Meet, Saturday at 9 a.m., Country Club
  • Men’s Soccer vs. North Central College, Saturday at 1:00 p.m., Springer Field
  • Women’s Soccer vs. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Sunday at 1:00 p.m., Springer Field

Class 6 (Wednesday, 6 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I may take attendance.

Upcoming work

  • Reading for Friday: CLRS 4.
  • Assignment 2, due 10:30 pm TONIGHT.
    • Papers under my door.
  • Assignment 3, due 10:30 pm next Wednesday

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Convocation, Thurday at 11:00 a.m. in JRC 101: The Des Moines Agricultural Corridor.
    • Why you should attend every convocation.
  • Rosenfield symposium, this week. (Lots of different events)
    • Jason Reblando, photographer and author, describing “New Deal Utopias,” at 4 p.m. TODAY in JRC 101.
    • Alan Durning of Sightline Institute, stressing “The Power of Small: How Building Small Means Living Large,” 7:30 p.m. TODAY in JRC 101
    • Shu-Yang Lin, re:architect at Public Digital Innovation Space, presenting “Democracy from the Future: Taiwan” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 in JRC 101.
    • Tom Vilsack, former Iowa Governer, “Food as a Political Movement that Unites but Does Not Divide” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 in JRC 101.

Extra credit (Peer)

  • ???

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Host a prospective student

Other good things

  • Women’s Soccer vs. Central, TODAY at 5:00 p.m., Springer Field
  • Les Duke Cross Country Meet, Saturday at 9 a.m., Country Club
  • Women’s Tennis vs. Beloit and Lake Forest, Saturday at 9 am Fieldhouse
  • Men’s Soccer vs. North Central College, Saturday at 1:00 p.m., Springer Field
  • Women’s Soccer vs. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Sunday at 1:00 p.m., Springer Field

Class 5 (Monday, 4 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • The Web site is still under development. Let me know about broken links and such. (But please do try reloading the page.)
  • Piazza is useful.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Rosenfield symposium, this week. (Lots of different events)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • ???

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Community Hour (Dialogues Across Difference), Tuesday at 11 a.m. in JRC 209.
  • CLS Kick-Off Event, Tuesday at 11 a.m. in “North Campus Grove”.

Class 4 (Friday, 1 September 2017)

News / Etc.

  • The Web site is still under development. Expect some significant changes to the topics, but not to the timing of homework assignments and examinations.
  • Check in: Daily note-taking responsibilities.
  • I know that many other computer scientists, including textbook authors, write things like “f(n) = O(g(n))”. I expect you to be more careful. if O(g(n)) is a set of functions and f(n) is a function, we know that they can’t be equal. Use the “element-of” operation, which I may denote in text as “in”.

Upcoming work

  • Read CLRS 3 for Monday.
  • Assignment 2, due 10:30 pm next Wednesday.

Some preliminary notes on HW1

  1. Good practice is to include instructions for running your code (typically, in a README file), a log of your code running, or both.

  2. When you submit code, I really do want you to send me tarballs of directories named with your userid or userids. That way, I don’t end up with twenty-four directories named things like “Assignment 1”.

  3. I did expect you to document what your own heuristic was.

  4. I did expect you to think a bit about what the results said and how you presented them. Consider, for example, the following excerpt from the output of one of your programs.

    Round= 7
Random distance=345.81228057523197
diagonal distance=332.1423102983489
custom distance=332.1423102983489
closest distance=33.24154027718932

That’s strange, isn’t it? Are you confident that the output is correct? Wouldn’t you like to know what the points are?

  1. We should talk a bit about the time required for this assignment and the difficulty of the assignment. Some of you said that this was a hard assignment. I had intended to be a simple assignment.

    Here’s my thinking:

    Nothing in it is conceptually complex or novel. In part 1, you are re-implementing a data structure you should know in a language you should know. In part 2, you were writing procedures to reorder a list or vector of values. You should have done that dozens of times by now.

    The hard element of part 1 was likely refreshing your Scheme knowledge. The hard element of part 2 was likely picking the right language. If you did not pick an easy-to-use language, I expect that the problem was harder.

    A colleague suggests that I didn’t consider carefully enough how the different components of each would increase the complexity.

  2. Quick: How many calls to list-index are there in the following code if the element we are searching for is the tenth element of the list?

; Code taken from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13562200/find-the-index-of-element-in-list
(define list-index
  (lambda (e lst)
    (if (null? lst)
        -1
        (if (eq? (car lst) e)
            0
            (if (= (list-index e (cdr lst)) -1) 
                -1
                (+ 1 (list-index e (cdr lst))))))))

Extra credit (Academic)

  • The Big Sick, Tonight, Harris.
  • Rosenfield symposium, next week. (Lots of different events)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Try out for Ritalin Test Squad! RTS is having a joint audition with IC this weekend from 12-3 in The Wall (Bucksbaum 154). People can email [improv] or [lfimprov] for more information or if they want to get emails about our shows, open practices, and events.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Community Hour (Dialogues Across Difference), Tuesday at 11 a.m. in JRC 209.
  • CLS Kick-Off Event, Tuesday at 11 a.m. in “North Campus Grove”.

Class 3 (Wednesday, 30 August 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Sorry that I could not be in class today. I had an unexpected personal commitment.
  • The Web site is still under development. Expect some significant changes to the topics, but not to the timing of homework assignments and examinations.
  • I will check in on daily note-taking responsibilities on Friday.
  • We now have a Piazza site (thanks AV).
  • Be responsible for your classroom. Make sure that your work area is as good or better than you found it. At the end of class
    • Pick up and discard your trash.
    • Return your playing card to me.
    • Push in your chair.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Rosenfield Internship Talks, Thursday at 11 a.m. in JRC 101.
  • CS Extras, Thursday 4pm, Contracts.
  • Writers@Grinnell Reading, Thurday at 6 p.m. in the Pioneer Bookshop.
  • Rosenfield symposium, next week. (Lots of different events)

Extra credit (Peer)

  • Try out for Ritalin Test Squad! RTS is having a joint audition with IC this weekend from 12-3 in The Wall (Bucksbaum 154). People can email [improv] or [lfimprov] for more information or if they want to get emails about our shows, open practices, and events.

Extra Credit (Misc)

  • Community Hour (Dialogues Across Difference), Tuesday at 11 a.m. in JRC 209.
  • CLS Kick-Off Event, Tuesday at 11 a.m. in North Campus Grove.

Good things to do

  • Ag Days in Grinnell, Thursday the 31st.

    The Grinnell Lions Club is sponsoring Ag Appreciation Day, Thursday, August 31 from 3 to 7 pm. Vintage tractors, demonstrations, family fun, tractor parade, food & games, and live music by Route 66 from 4-6pm. Bring the family! Free admission. Ag Day was started over twenty years ago as a way to bring farm families, agribusiness, and community members together to recognize and celebrate all forms of agriculture and agribusiness as a major economic force in the greater Grinnell area.

Class 2 (Monday, 28 August 2017)

News / Etc.

  • I will once again take quick attendance.
  • Thank you! to the students who started assignment 1 early and have been sending along questions.
  • If you have not yet signed the department’s academic honesty policy, please do so now.
  • The Web site is still under development. Expect some significant changes to the topics, but not to the timing of homework assignments and examinations.
  • I will check in on daily note-taking responsibilities on Wednesday.
  • We now have a Piazza site (thanks AV).
  • Be responsible for your classroom. Make sure that your work area is as good or better than you found it. At the end of class
    • Pick up and discard your trash.
    • Return your playing card to me.
    • Push in your chair.

Upcoming work

Extra credit (Academic)

  • Community time: Healing from Hate, Tuesday, 11am, JRC 101.
  • CS Table, Tuesday noon, topic tbd, Whale room.
  • CS Extras, Thursday 4pm, Contracts.

Extra credit (Peer)

None yet

Good things to do

  • Ag days Thursday.

Class 1 (Friday, 25 August 2017)

News / Etc.

  • Welcome back! I look forward to having an excellent semester with you all.
  • I will take quick attendance.
  • I expect all of you to sign the department’s academic honesty policy.
  • As is typical for the start of the semester, the course Web site is in rougher shape than I would like. Expect it to take form over the next few weeks.
  • I will be using the white board more than in other classes, particularly since I will be drawing data structures. Do you want to share daily note-taking responsibilities?
  • Friday PSA.

Upcoming Work

  • Read chapter 1 of Skiena by Monday.
  • Assignment 1, due 10:30 pm Wednesday

Extra Credit

  • CS Table, Tuesday, topic tbd.
  • CS Extras, Thursday, Contracts.

Good things to do

  • Ag days next Thursday.

Accessibility statement. Check accessibility with WAVE.

Copyright © Samuel A. Rebelsky. Selected materials are design elements are due to other members of the Grinnell CS department and are used with permission.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

This website was built using Jekyll, Twitter Bootstrap, and the Bootswatch Cosmo Theme.