91.101 Computing I or equivalent. C programming and UNIX skills.
 
A personal commitment to excel in school.

You should be able to maneuver around the UNIX environment. You should be able to program - without too much difficulty - the first 72 programming problems given in Computing I. The only four exceptions to this are problems 61-64 which are a bit more challenging. If you have not completed these assignments, I think you should work on them before class begins. The following link provides you with a document that contains the programs: Simple C Programming Problems. If class has started and you do not have them done, you should plan to work your way through them systematically as we proceed through the class. You need to be able to demonstrate to me that you can do these programming assignments without too much trouble. You can do this.

You should be able to score fairly high on the 91.101 Computing I final exam.  You should take the test. For any question that you cannot do, please seek immediate help. There is time for you to get this all straight. The following link provides you with the Computing I final: Computing I Final. You need to show me that you can handle these questions with relative ease. You can do this.

You need the ability to follow the flow of execution of a C program. You need to understand when an address is passed to a function. You need to be able to walk through a program and fill out its associated memory template. If you cannot do this for a variety of small programs you should get immediate help. The variety of programs should include functions being called, arrays being passed, recursive functions being called, space being malloced, and structures being passed.

Data Structures - An Advanced Approach Using C, by Esakov and Weiss
          This book is a gem. Short, sweet, and chock full of example code.  Esakov and Weiss have given you a chance to read a pile of small case studies in C. Embedded in these case studies are opportunities for you  to see how other people write code. You should learn each of them. I hope we have time to do many of them in this course.

Coping with College, by Alice L. Hamachek
           A small guide to success in college. Pick this book up frequently.
         
The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White (This book is available free on-line. It would be good for you to have your own copy.)
    

Reading Types in C Using the Right Left Walk Method, by Jim Canning, William Moloney, Demetrio Rey, and Ali Rafiemyhr
The No. 1 Skill Teens Need for College, off of Netscape News.
The Perils of Java Schools, by Joel Spolsky
Motivating Students to Become Responsible for Learning, Part I, by J. Dirk Nelson
Get it Write: Which or That?

This course covers all eight chapters of Esakov and Weiss's data structures book. Students will learn how polymorphic data structures are implemented. Ideally, all case studies of example C code found in Esakov's book will be discussed. Students will obtain a much clearer view of pointers, pointers to functions, and recursion. Beyond this, students will be given ample opportunity to practice reading for detail and discovering within themselves that they can achieve much more academically than they have to date. One of our goals is to have all students emerge as very confident C programmers that have an appreciation of basic data structures and algorithms. The topics covered in this course will be: a review of C Programming, recursion, data abstraction, sorting, divide and conquer, big O notation, using pointers to functions and pointers to data to implement polymorphic data types, linked lists, hashing, circularly linked lists, doubly-linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, tree traversal, binary search trees, AVL trees, n-ary trees, heaps, graphs, and sets.

Class attendance is mandatory. Two points for those who come to class and sign the attendance sheet. Zero points if you miss class. If you come in late you run the risk of earning only 1 attendance point.

I encourage all of you to do all the work. All work should be handed in on time. For each assignment there are due dates. Work handed in after the due date will be discounted. Very late work will be further discounted.  No credit will be given for work that is received after the last call date has been announced.  It is better to hand your work in late than never.  It is not good to get a reputation of frequently handing in late work. Keep up. You can do it. Find your rhythm. Have ankle sway.

You should do all of your work by yourself. You should not copy your classmate's homework. You should not copy a classmate's solution to a programming problem. You can receive a hint or two but you should fully understand how to do the work after you receive the hint. When you hand in your work you are declaring that (1) you did your own work and (2) you thoroughly understand how the code works and (3) you will be able to either recreate it or discuss it on an examination. You can do these things. Lapses in honesty lead to trouble. It is better to get your work in late and have it be your own than it is to copy a classmate's solution and hand in it under your own name. Lapses in honesty, when discovered, break an unspoken trust.  Don't do it. You break this trust even when you provide the answer to a classmate. You are robbing your classmate of the opportunity for accomplishment.

If you give or receive a noticeable amount of help from another person or from the internet you should state that on the document you hand in.

Pay attention to the quality of the work you hand in. It is not just about getting the right answer. When your reader (me) reviews your work, the reader should think to himself that this work was done with pride. Your work should be respectful and courteous to your reader. Your work is telling the reader a story. It should be clear. Your spelling matters. Your indentation matters. Your tidiness matters. Your grammar matters. It all matters. Cross-outs and scribbles should be kept at a minimum or eliminated completely. Your typing or penmanship should not be cramped. Your work should not looked rushed. Work that is deemed discourteous, disrespectful, messy, and/or rushed will be discounted. Work that contains spelling errors, fundamental grammatical errors, and/or awkwardly phrased concepts will be discounted. Do not over capitalize. Do not misspell. A single assignment that spans multiple pages should be stapled in the upper left hand corner. The staple should be angled diagonally. Multiple assignments should not be stapled together when they are handed in.

Reading a textbook for detail is an important academic activity. It is the skill most of you need to practice. You can improve. Significant and swift improvement will result with daily practice. You need to pride yourself on reading slowly and thoroughly. Do not pride yourself on how fast you read. Make sure you understand what the author is saying. Help yourself out by diagramming the material. Create a set of useful doodles. Doodles come in all sizes and shapes. They are timelines, they are stick figures, they are tables, they are graphs, they are summary notes, and they are pictures with circles and labelled arcs. It takes time to create doodles, but the activity of doodling what you read is rewarding and beneficial. When you read you should make a note of the important terms. You should write the terms on a piece of paper. Doodle and write what you read. The mere act of writing what you've read will strengthen your understanding of the material. You should go to a classroom with a white board and diagram what you have read on the board. Do so with a friend. Try to verbally explain what you've read to yourself.  As you read you should make a list of possible questions that could appear on a future exam. You should build your own test and then take it at a later time. Test yourself before you get tested.

It is never enough to read the material just once. It may take you many readings of the same material. Slow, but sure, wins the race. Take notes as you read.

Our textbook contains 360 pages spread across eight chapters. The semester contains 108 calendar days. If you average four pages of reading per day you can cover the book. How long does it take to read and fully understand four pages? Sometimes this can go quite fast. Sometimes it moves a bit more slowly. Commit yourself to reading, on average, four pages per day from our textbook. If you skip a day, then you will need to read eight pages the next day. Remember, reading means understanding. Understanding means doodling and verbalizing.

In our case, the pages are filled with C programs. You need to walk through this code mentally. You need to create meaningful doodles. How does the code work? Can you explain it? Can you replicate it? You need to get the code to work. You need to type it in. You need to debug it when there is trouble. How do you know how the code works? Get out those #2 pencils. Get out that blank white paper. Draw it out. Follow the flow. Do not just type it in and hope for the best. Typing it in and hoping for the best is a failed strategy. Know what is going on. This can not be done at the last minute. You are not in a rush. This is not a sprint. It is a marathon. You need endurance.

When you read, you should have a dictionary nearby.

I am from the old school. Your programming skills can be sharpened through practice. You must write lots of programs. You must practice.  We are trying to have you build a base of knowledge that will serve you well. The goal is for you to become confident, solid programmers. I do not believe this is difficult. I see this as a significant time investment. I see this as worthwhile. You can do it.

Your enrollment in the course is a statement that you are commited to learning the material. I am committed to explaining it to you. Sustain and strengthen this commitment as we move forward together. Even if you find the material somewhat dry. Stay involved. Stay committed. We need to build your base. Care about your base. View the case studies as mini-adventures. Figure out how they do their job.

The time commitment is substantial. This is a four credit course that meets four times per week. Most experts suggest that you commit to studying 2-3 hours outside of class for every hour you spend inside the classroom. Since this is a programming class and programming requires time, I am inclined to use 3 hours. This means that you should be studying 91.102 Computing II material 12 hours per week outside of our classroom. This studying should be away from distractions. Reading in the hallway of Olsen Hall or on a park bench is not the goal. Reading on your bed is not the goal. Find a way to be efficient and focussed with your reading.

All of this takes time. Lots of time. If you are taking an overload of classes or if you are working 15-30 hours per week or if you are commuting a long distance then time will be difficult to come by. Assess your own situation. Can you give this course the time it requires? The material is not difficult, but it requires your attention to details. If you get off to a slow start it will get rough. You need to invest your time wisely. Friday nights, Saturdays, Sundays, and spring vacation week offer you important blocks of consecutive hours. Use them. My expectation is that you are using them to study. Get out of the dorm and get over to Olsen Hall or get yourself into the library. You can do all of this work, but it requires that you sit yourself down in a chair for multiple consecutive hours. You can do it and if you do, you will feel rewarded. This is not a good course to cobble together 20 minutes here and then another 15 minutes there. We are not trying to do the minimum to get by. We are trying to emerge as confident scholars who have accomplished something. We are on a mission to become strong. You can do it. We are not here to settle for less. You are not just trying to collect 4 college credits.

Most of your learning occurs outside of the classroom. It is what you are doing then that really matters. Never mistake activity for achievement. Who said that?

There are no shortcuts.

Your grade will be determined from points earned in all activities including: attendance, homeworks, in-class tests, portfolio's produced, programming assignments, quality of all work handed in, and the final exam.

Be positive. Try. If you are struggling, try. You may need to go back and remove some of that accumulated academic rust. You can do it. Your body language screams, it never whispers.

You should take Alice Hamachek's advice regarding classroom demeanor. Do not arrive late. Come to class early, fifteen minutes early if possible. Do not consistently arrive late. Do not wear a hat or baseball cap in the  classroom. Do not have your laptop turned on. Do not have speaker wires hanging from your ears.  Do not have your head on your desk. Apply these suggestions to all of your classes.