Welcome to the Spring 2010 session of Grinnell College's CSC 323,
Software Design. This course serves many purposes: It
helps you develop your group work skills, it makes you a better
programmer, it exposes you to a variety of perspectives on the
construction of software, and it gives you a particularly hands-on
perspective on computer science.
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.
Warning! Computers are sentient, stupid, and malicious.
When things go wrong, don't blame yourself. Ask me for help.
Meets: TuTh 1:15-3:05, Science 3819
Instructor:
Samuel A. Rebelsky
(rebelsky@grinnell.edu),
Science 3824. Office hours: MTuWF 11:00-11:50.
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. Check my
schedule
for more details.
Grading (subject to change):
- Reading responses: 20%
- Class participation: 20%
- Final: 30%
- Final project: 30%
Late Assignments:
My experience shows that students who turn in work late learn
significantly less than students who turn material in on time.
(I'm not sure about cause and effect.) Hence, I strongly discourage
late assignments. Unless prior arrangements have been made, assignments
are due within five minutes of the start of class. After that they are
considered late. Late assignments are penalized one letter grade per
day late (or fraction thereof).
Because I am concerned about your health and well being, I will waive
the late penalty if (1) you start the assignment at least three days
in advance of the due date; (2) you get to sleep by midnight the night
before the assignment is due; (3) you expend a reasonable amount of
effort to complete the assignment by midnight; (4) you turn in a form
attesting to facts (1), (2), and (3) when the assignment is due; and (5)
you talk to me ASAP about any problems you've had on the assignment.
Extra Credit:
Throughout the term, I may suggest forms of extra credit.
Rather than relying on traditional textbooks, I've chosen a few classics
(or near-classics) that practicing programmers often keep at hand. We will
also refer to a number of Web resources, which will be announced as the
semester progresses.
Kent Beck; Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, 2nd Edition; Addison-Wesley.
There are many software design strategies. XP is one of the agile programming strategies
which acknowledge that software design involves much more of a moving target than does traditional engineering. This book serves as a basic manifesto for XP.
Brett D. McLaughlin, Gary Pollice, & David West: Head First
Object-Oriented Analysis & Design. O'Reilly.
A fun and interesting introduction to OOAD.
Oram & Wilson (Eds.) Beautiful Code. O'Reilly.
A collection of short articles on interesting programs. We'll try to
read at least one for each class session.
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