CSC 151.01, Class 42: Wrap Up

• Sit where you would like (within reason).
• Feel free to take Chocolate Candy, a Clementine, and/or an oatmeal Creme pie.

Overview

• Preliminaries
  • Notes and news
  • Upcoming work
  • Extra credit
  • Questions
• Project presentations
• The subject matter(s) of the course
• Course evaluation
• Concluding comments
• Final Friday PSA
• Comments on the final (optional)

News / Etc.

• Don’t forget that epilogues are due tonight!
• I don’t have office hours next week, but I should be in my office at assorted times on Monday and Tuesday. I’ll also be in 3815 from 9-noon on Wednesday.

Upcoming work

• Cover sheets for exam 4 due NOW!
• Epilogues due TONIGHT!
• Optional final during finals week (Wed 2pm, Thu 9am, or Fri 9am).

Extra credit (Peer)

• Musical: Next to Normal Friday at 7:30, Saturday and Sunday at 2:30. Arrive early and put your name on a waiting list.

Extra credit (Misc)

Other good things

• Stay healthy and sane during finals week.

Questions

When will we get our grades?

Monday, I plan.

Presentations

The subject matter(s) of the course

Problem solving

• Draw it out.
• Break a big problem down into smaller problems.
• Work in a pair (or group): It’s helpful to bounce ideas off of someone else.
• Work the algorithm by hand, or try to observe the solution in action, so as to understand what it’s doing.
• Understand the problem well before trying to develop a solution.

The core of computer science: Algorithms and data structures

• Core algorithms
  • filter
  • sort - merge, insertion, selection
  • search - linear and binary
• Core data structures
  • lists
  • queues
  • trees
  • binary search trees
  • files - persistent data
• Algorithms and data structures interact. The data structure limits your operations but also encourages you to think in different ways.
• Recursion: Solve problems by breaking them down into smaller versions of the same problem.
• Core components of algorithms
  • Built-in operations and types
  • Sequence operations
  • Make choices - conditionals
  • Repeat operations - map, recursion
  • Input and output
  • Name values
  • “That one other thing.”

Functional programming

• Higher-order procedures - functions as first class values
  • map
  • section, l-s, r-s -> Fill in some parameters of a procedure to create a new procedure.
  • apply
  • compose
  • filter
  • …
• Anonymous procedures (in Scheme, use lambda to do that)
• “Pure” procedures - Don’t modify their input (or the world around them); always return the same value given the same input.
  • Contrast with (a) the things that end in !, (b) random, read, that give different values with the same input

Program and software design

• Documentation
• Debugging
• Make your code readable to others (format, variable names)

Scheme

• (P (a ren) (the (s ((((((is)))))))))
• lambda for procedure (and anonymous procedure definition)

Data science

• Clean data.
• Files.
• Use helpers

General thinking skills

• Responding to unexpected Q’s. (This situation.)
• Problem solving (beyond CS)
• Ask for help, don’t hit your head against the board (too much)
• Work with others
• Take a break from your work; trust your subconscious.
  • Know when to walk away

And beyond

• “Uh” and “um” always works as answers, as long as you can figure out what they stand for.
• There’s more to life then
• Have fun
• You have amazing peers, support them in their activites (or just in themselves)
• Take care of yourselves and others; you’re worth it
• Don’t swear.

Course evaluation

Concluding comments

Final Friday PSA

Comments on the final