COMP 1405/1005 B Introduction to Computer Science I Winter 2023

Calendar Description: Introduction to computer science and programming. Topics include: algorithm design; control structures; variables and types; linear collections; functions; debugging and testing.       Special attention is given to procedural programming in a modern language, computational thinking     skills, and problem decomposition.

Textbooks and Other Resources: There is one required textbook, also freely available online.

● Sweigart, A. (2017). Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition.

https://automatetheboringstuff.com/

Objectives: The goal of this course is to introduce you to programming and computational thinking. A student who completes all of the material in the course will learn about algorithms, be able to apply          problem solving techniques to a wide range of problems, differentiate different types of data, and be able to solve problems using the Python programming language. While this course uses Python, the concepts  taught throughout this course can apply to many different programming languages.

Topics Covered: If a student attends every lecture and completes every assignment and tutorial, then by the end of this course that student should be able to:

● Design and express simple algorithm using flowcharts and pseudocode

● Implement simple algorithms using the Python 3 programming language

● Create expressions with arithmetic, logical, and comparative operations

● Create branching and repeating control structures, with and without nesting

● Explain variable assignment, primitive data types, and the basics of computer memory

● Trace simple algorithms and programs without the aid of a computer

● Design and implement functions and explain function scope and recursio

● Create, access, and manipulate linear, multidimensional, and associative collections

● Implement some basic sorting algorithms (i.e., selection sort, bubble sort, merge sort)

● Implement some basic searching algorithms (i.e., linear search, binary search)

● Describe some simple approaches to debugging, test case design, and error handling

2. Assessments

Grading: Your grade in this course is made up of various parts. There will be weekly tutorials (beginning the week of January 16th), the best 8 of 11 weekly assignments (beginning the week of January 16th), 2 quizzes (open for the 48-hour periods beginning February 16th and March 23rd, respectively), and a final examination (scheduled by  the  school  registrar).  There  will  be no extra credit assignments. Your  final  grades will  be  calculated  as following:

Tutorials (10x1%). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10%

Assignments (Best 8 of 11 x5%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40%

Quizzes (Online Asynchronous, 2x15%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%

Final Exam (Scheduled by Registrar). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%

Assignments: Completing assignments is mandatory. You will be uploading your submissions to Brightspace. The assignment component of your final grade is computed using only the best eight of the scores you receive on your assignments.  Due  to  this built-in flexibility, the instructor will not grant exemptions for assignments under any circumstances. You are expected to work on your assignments consistently upon release, and upload your progress to the submission periodically (ideally, at least once every 48 hours). As you are expected to submit periodically and consistently, technical issues near the submission deadline will not be considered for exemptions. If you are experiencing extenuating circumstances requiring additional accommodations (for example: ongoing medical issues), you may petition the Associate Dean’s office. Assignments are all due on Fridays at 11:59PM EST,  and you  can not expect to receive support following this deadline, but  assignments will be accepted without penalty until Sundays at 11:59PM.

Tutorials: Completing the tutorial material is mandatory to receive the grades and makeups will not be provided; however, attendance to the tutorial session itself is recommended to receive TA assistance, but is not required. If you are attending the tutorial, you should be attending the tutorial section in which you are registered, unless you  have  made  special  arrangements with  the instructor. If you are struggling with the material, attendance is

highly recommended.

Quizzes: Quiz  participation  is mandatory. Quizzes will be conducted online using Brightspace. Quizzes can be completed any time within the 48-hour period. During the days that the quiz is running, no lectures will be held - you may use the regularly scheduled time to complete the quiz, if you choose, although no additional support can be provided during this time; you will not be able to communicate with the TAs or instructor, so please plan ahead.

3. Important Course Policies

Plagiarism Policy: A  separate plagiarism policy document which  describes  what  might  be  considered  an academic  offence  in  this  course  can  be  found  on  the  course  website.  Students must read this document thoroughly and must agree to adhere to this policy and all policies stated in this course outline before course resources will be made available.

For information about up-to-date penalties regarding academic integrity violations, refer to the following resource:

https://science.carleton.ca/students/academic-integrity/

Communication Policy: In  order  to  reduce the volume of emails and expedite responses, the only emails that should  be  sent to  the  instructor,  teaching  assistants,  or  lab  coordinators  should require confidentiality or is personal in nature, and be handled via direct email from a Carleton email address.

Students  are  expected  to check their Carleton email addresses daily for announcements. Reminders  for upcoming  assignment  deadlines  will  be  handled  using  the  default  Brightspace  notifications  system,  so  if you require reminders, check that your Brightspace settings will send notifications.

Students  should  only expect responses within 3 business days during business hours (8:30AM - 5:30PM, Monday - Friday). Plan ahead - questions asked over the weekends may go unanswered until the following week.

To make sure communication is handled in a timely manner, follow these guidelines:

1.    Any email communication must include your name, student ID, and course code and must be sent from an official Carleton email address.

2. Assignment questions should first be dealt with by discussing with a TA during office hours or via the Brightspace forums

3. Course material assistance can be handled via Brightspace forums or, if time allows, during instructor office hours.

4. For technical issues, first  look on the Brightspace forums or the course resources, then check the SCS technical support page,  then  inquire  with  teaching  assistants  who  may  forward  your  concern  to  the instructor.

5. Students must behave in a professional manner in all communications. Any communication that is seen as abusive, discourteous, or unprofessional may be moderated, ignored, or reported to the university for disciplinary action.

Grade Disputes: It  is your responsibility to  ensure  that  quiz,  tutorial,  and  assignment  marks  posted  to Brightspace are accurate and correct within one week of the date the marks were released. Concerns must first be communicated  to  the  teaching  assistant that  graded the assessment, then if the result is unsatisfactory, can be forwarded to the instructor. After one week, no further consideration will be offered and marks will not be changed.

Office Hours: TA Office hours are available to help with material, assignment disputes, or assignment clarification. TA office hours schedules will be posted and made available to the course website. If you require additional support with the course material, you may request office hours with the instructor following the instructions posted to the course website. While I encourage requesting office hours to get the support you need early, please understand that availability is limited and not all requests may be fulfilled.

4. Important Considerations

1. Assignments are technically due on Fridays by 11:59PM EST, although a grace period is provided which allows submissions without penalty until Sundays at 11:59PM EST, at which point submissions will be cut off. You should not expect to receive additional support during this grace period.

2. Verifying the correctness of assignment submissions is your responsibility.

a.    You are expected to submit regularly as you work on the assignment.

b.    You are expected to download and test your submission to make sure it is both complete and correct. If your submission is missing files, or if your code can not be run, or if your code can not be opened and read for marking purposes, you may receive a grade of zero.

c.    You are expected to verify all submission requirements (eg. file types, file names) are met. If files are named incorrectly or packaged incorrectly, you may be penalised up to receiving a zero.

d.    You  are  expected  to  submit  long before the final deadline; any submissions submitted even one minute following the grace period cut-off (Sundays at 11:59PM EST) will receive a zero.

3. You can expect to spend at least eight (8) hours per week on this course, in addition to lecture time.

4. You are required to have a laptop. Every student that has been enrolled in a 1000-level (i.e., first year) course offered by the School of Computer Science after the 2020/2021 school year is required to have a laptop.   This   includes   COMP1001,   COMP1005,   and   COMP1006.   For   more   information,   please  visit https://carleton.ca/scs/scs-laptop-requirement/ and       then       review       the       requirements       at https://carleton.ca/scs/scs-laptop-requirement/laptop-specs/.

5. Questions should be posed on official course discussion boards. As per the communication policy, all email communication should be kept to a minimum and utilised only if the nature is private or personal.

6. All materials created for this course remain the intellectual property of the instructor. These materials  are  intended  for  the  personal  and  non-transferable  use  of students  registered in the current offering of the course. Reposting, reproducing, or redistributing any course materials, in part or in whole, without the written consent of the instructor is strictly prohibited.

5. Course Modality

All lectures in this course will be held in-person, and in-person attendance is expected. For your convenience and in case of illness, all lectures will be attempted to be streamed and recorded via Zoom, but quality of the stream      and recording can not be guaranteed. The links to the Zoom meeting will be available on the course website. There  is always the risk of technical issues occurring with these lectures, and students should make an effort to attend       in-person if they are comfortable and capable. Please note that recordings may take up to one week (7 days) to post, and should not be relied upon as a consistent alternative to attendance.

Please note that by participating in these lectures, either online or in-person, that you may be included in these recordings. When attending on Zoom, Zoom will always notify meeting participants that a meeting is being recorded. It is not possible to disable this notification.

These recordings will only be available to the members ofthis class, and I ask that everyone be respectful and not allow others to view the recordings. At the end of the course, the recordings will be deleted.

Please note that recordings are protected by copyright. The recordings are for your educational use, and you are not permitted to publish to third party sites. If you have concerns about being recorded, please email the        instructor directly so we can discuss these.

Please note that modality may change if necessary - for example, courses may be pre-recorded or online-only if the instructor falls ill.

6. Special Considerations

It is important to remember that COVID-19 is still present in Ottawa. The situation can change at any time and the risks of new variants and outbreaks are very real.

There are a number of actions you can take to lower your risk and the risk you pose to those around you including being vaccinated, wearing a mask, staying home when you’re sick, washing your hands and maintaining proper      respiratory and cough etiquette.