Computer Science II: CS 211 Spring 2002 Department of Computer Science George Mason University

Description

Pre-requisite: C or better in CS 112.
Who should take this course: CS 211 is intended for Computer Science majors and students in mathematical, scientific and engineering majors.
Goals: Study data abstraction using a class, dynamic memory allocation, generic functions and classes, recursion, data structures for stack, queue and binary tree, and algorithms for searching and sorting. Apply these principles in programming projects.
Writing-intensive course: You will be asked to write a total of 3500 words for the whole course. The reports will be graded, marked, and returned to you if necessary for revision.

Grading policy

The approximate grade distribution is as follows.

4 programming projects (40%)
Programming labs (5-10%)
2 midterm examinations (20-30% together)
Final examination (20%)

A section instructor may also include quizzes, homeworks, instructor's evaluation etc. A section instructor will decide the exact distribution and the basis for his evaluation. This evaluation may include additional programming, hour tests, class attendance. Extra credit programming points will not carry over to exam grade points or vice-versa.

You must pass the final with a "C" or better to get a "C" or above in the course.

Coursework

Lab: You are required to register for a lab section attached to your course section. Lab time will be your opportunity to:

become accustomed to the GMU computing environment
learn how to use the sumbit program to submit labs/projects
gain an introduction and ask questions about labs and programming assignments

Reading: You are responsible for reading and understanding the material in the textbook. However, we will not necessarily cover all of it in class. If you do not understand something in the textbook, there will be opportunity to ask questions in class, or during office hours of the instructor, TA or UPA.
Time: You are expected to attend all classes and labs. At least 20 hours per week outside of class is probably needed for you to complete the course work.

Communications

We will use WebCt and e-mail for communication with you. You are responsible for checking regularly for notices from your instructor and TA. You should not post any code or major portions of pseudo-code on the WebCt.

You must obtain a mason account if you do not have one. If you registered before the start of the semester, the WebCt account has already been created for you. If you had an account before, then you can use your earlier password. In the other case, your password is the last four digits on your GMU ID.
If you are adding the class, please send an email to Dr Maddox for opening the account.

Address for Class WebCt Bulletin Board: WebCt

UPA assignment for monitoring WebCt is as follows.

         Monday:    Minh Do          mdo2@gmu.edu
         Tuesday:   Greg Butterfield gbutterf@gmu.edu
         Wednesday: Bryan Topsher    btopsche@gmu.edu
         Thursday:  Greg Butterfield gbutterf@gmu.edu
         Friday:    Minh Do          mdo2@gmu.edu
                    Valerie Smith    vsmith@gmu.edu
         Saturday:  Valerie Smith    vsmith@gmu.edu
                    Bryan Topscher   btopsche@gmu.edu
         Sunday:    Greg Butterfield gbutterf@gmu.edu
                    Valerie Smith    vsmith@gmu.edu

TEXTBOOK

Required text
- Data Structures and Other Objects Using C++ , Main and Savitch, Second Edition
Recommended texts
- Just enough Unix , P. Andersen.
- Problem Solving with C++ , Savitch (cs112 textbook)
- C++ Primer , by Lippmane and Lajoie
- C++ FAQs , Cline and Lomow
- Unix for the Impatient , Abrahams and Larson

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Syllabus & Schedule


         Ch. 1: Program specification, design & analysis
         Ch. 2: Abstract data types and C++ classes
         Ch. 3: Container classes
         First midterm (4th week)
         Ch. 4: Pointers and dynamic arrays
         Ch. 5: Linked lists
         Ch. 6: Templates
         Ch. 7: Stacks
         Ch. 8: Queues
         Second midterm (9th week)
         Ch. 9: Recursion  
         Ch. 10: Trees
         Ch. 12.1, 13.1-2: Searching and sorting

CAVEAT: Syllabus is subject to change to fit the needs of the class.

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Programming policies

A lab/project should follow the coding style given on page 775 of the textbook.
In addition, a lab/project should have the following.
- A class should be in a namespace with your name.
Help from instructor/ta/upa.
- You should bring a hard copy of the complete program.
- - You must have a specific question. In other words, you must ask about a compilation error or a run-time error or an incorrect result.
  - When you do not have a specific question, you will be guided to identify the problem.
  - You will not be given the complete answer to the question. However, you will be guided to find the answer.
- If there are other students waiting in line, you will be helped from 5-10 minutes depending on the length of the line.
A 750-850 word report is required with each project. The 750-850 word count does not include code. The report should have the following sections.
- Specification.
- Design.
- Implementation.
- Conclusions.
A lab/project will have the following grade distribution.
- Algorithms: 40%. (Each project will have a separate breakup)
- Correctness (compilation and running): 20%.
- Program documentation: 10%.
- Coding style: 10%.
- report: 20%.
A lab/project has to be individual effort. There should be no code sharing or discussion of solutions with anyone except the instructor/ta/upa. You should not incorporate code written by others, such as can be found on the Internet or any book. (See the department's Honor Code statement.) Honor Code violations will be reported to the Honor Court.
You may develop a lab/project using any computer system. However, the submitted lab/project must run properly on osf1.gmu.edu using the g++ compiler on osf1.
Substantial incompatibilities may exist between different compilers. It is your responsibility to make sure that your lab/project runs properly on osf1.gmu.edu using g++ compiler on osf1 prior to the due date so that you can submit it in a timely fasion. No extensions will be given as a result of compiler incompatibilities.
The first lab for all sections is due on Monday, Jan 28 by 11:59 pm. The remaining labs/projects for all sections are due on Saturday by 11:59 pm. If your lab is on a holiday, you should contact the TA during his office hours or attend another lab section, if possible.
The due date for a project will be posted with the project. You will have approximately 3 weeks for each project.
- You have to submit your lab/project electronically using the submit program on mason.gmu.edu . Electronic submission instructions are here. The submit program keeps only the latest version of a submission.
- It is important that you do not touch your programs after your final submission. If there are submission problems, consideration for credit will only be given if it can be verified that the programs were not changed after the submission.
- You are expected to backup your program. Failure to do this may result in your getting a zero on a program instead of partial credit if last minute problems occur.
- If you have submitted a lab/project and you want to re-submit it, you must notify the TA prior to the due date. Once your lab/project has been graded, it will not be regraded.
- A hardcopy of each project and a report on the project should be given to the TA in the following lab class. If the next lab class is a holiday, the hardcopy and the report should be in the TA's mailbox by 5:00 PM next school day.
- Accidently deleting your program, having problems connecting, etc., will not be accepted as excuses.
- Requests for extension will only be considered for situations that can be documented and involve a large portion of that time period.
- Late lab submissions will have the following penalty.
  - 12:00 PM Sat - 11:59 PM Sun: 10%.
  - 12:00 PM Sun - 11:59 PM Mon: 20%.
  A lab will not be accepted after 11:59 PM Monday.
- A late project will be penalized 10% per day.
You will be given credit only for code that works. You should code and test functions as you write them. Do not code the whole thing and then try to get it to work.
Once grades are posted, students have 1 week to contest the grade--beyond that the grade will not be changed.

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Software

If you plan to program at home, it is recommended that you download the cygwin environment from RedHat. The URL is sources.redhat.com.cygwin. Follow the install link. If you are running linux on your computer, you can down-load the current release of GNU GCC from http://gcc.gnu.org/.
On Unix systems, please use g++ rather than cxx. cxx is a DEC product not available on the Sun workstations on which your programs will be compiled and run by the TA.

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Programming projects.

Project 1 Due: Sat, Feb 16, 11:59 PM.
Project 2 Due: Sat, Mar 16, 11:59 PM.
Project 3 Due: Sat, April 6, 11:59 PM.
Project 4 Due: Sat, May 4, 11:59 PM.

Programming labs.

Lab 1 Due Mon, Jan 28, 11:59 PM.
Lab 2 Due Sat, Feb 2, 11:59 PM.
Lab 3 Due Sat, Feb 9, 11:59 PM.
Lab 4 Due Sat, Feb 23, 11:59 PM.
Lab 5 Due Sat, Mar 2, 11:59 PM.
Lab 6 Due Sat, Mar 9, 11:59 PM.
Lab 7 Due Sat, Mar 23, 11:59 PM.
Lab 8 Due Sat, Mar 30, 11:59 PM.
Lab 9 Due Sat, Apr 13, 11:59 PM.
Lab 10 Due Sat, Apr 20, 11:59 PM.

Section 1 : Tue/Thu 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM, ENT 178
Instructor : Prof. Tamara Maddox
Office: 437 ST 2; Phone :703-993-3471; Email: tmaddox@cs.gmu.edu
Office hours: Tue/Thu 12:00 AM - 1:30 PM.

Exam dates

Midterm 1: Feb 14.
Midterm 2: Mar 28.(tentative)
Final: May 9 Thurs, 10:30 AM - 1:15 PM.

Teaching assistant

        Name:         Krishna Palati
	Email:        kpalati@gmu.edu
	Office hours: Thu 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM, 435 ST 2