This is a first programming course for Computer Science majors with a focus on object-oriented programming. The goal of the course is to develop skills such as program design and testing as well as the implementation of programs using a graphical IDE. All programming will be done in Java and Processing. Processing will be used as a visual tool to teach basic language features and we will switch to Java later this semester.
The course Piazza page and ELMS are the sources for course information. TA office hours, additional resources and essential course information will appear on Piazza, and all course-related questions will also be answered on Piazza to ensure all students have equal access to the information. We will add you to the course Piazza page.
Corequisite: MATH140
Credits: 4
Visit this link for details.
This is a very demanding course. You will need to complete up to 7 projects and up to 8 graded labs. The dues for the projects and the graded labs are 11:00 PM on the day they are due. They are to be submitted electronically according to instructions given with the assignments. Late submissions will be strictly penalized. Exceptional circumstances will be considered only if discussed with the instructor before the assignment is due. Late submissions will have points deducted as follows:
You can submit your work multiple times to the submit server. For the projects that uses Processing, the latest submission will be graded, and for the projects that uses Eclipse, the best scoring submission will be graded. Do not wait until the assignment due. We strongly encourage you to submit multiple times before the due date/time.
Project descriptions and starter files will be posted in ELMS. Later, we may use the Grace cluster and a source code repository. We will announce once we complete setting up your accounts. (You will learn in a discussion how to check out the starter files and how to submit projects.)
Your work for every project must satisfy a minimum set of requirements called Good Faith Attempt (GFA) requirements. Each project will define its own GFA criteria and deadline. If your last ontime/late submission for a project does not meet the GFA requirements for the project, you will have to submit an updated version of your work (called GFA version) that satisfies the requirements). If you fail to submit a GFA version, you will not pass the course (automatic grade of F).
If you start a project on time, and look for assistance (if required) you should have no problems satisfying the Good Faith Attempt. The Good Faith Attempt guarantees you have the skills necessary for upper-level courses. Note that you will NOT receive any extra points for completing the GFA. The grade you obtain in the project will be based on your ontime/late submission.
Your grades will be computed according the following weights:
Evaluation Components | Points |
Projects | 250 pts |
Graded Labs | 50 pts |
Quizzes (up to 5) | 120 pts |
Mid-Term Exam 1 (February 24 (Wednesday)) | 120 pts |
Mid-Term Exam 2 (March 31 (Wednesday)) | 120 pts |
Mid-Term Exam 3 (April 28 (Wednesday)) | 120 pts |
Final Exam (May 14 (Friday), 4:00pm - 6:00pm) | 220 pts |
Max. Points Possible | 1000 Points |
Note that academic dishonesty includes not only cheating, fabrication,
and plagiarism, but also includes helping other students commit acts of
academic dishonesty by allowing them to obtain copies of your work. In
short, all submitted work must be your own. Cases of academic dishonesty
will be pursued to the fullest extent possible as stipulated by the
Office of Student
Conduct.
It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. If the student is found to be responsible of academic dishonesty, the typical sanction results in a special grade "XF", indicating that the course was failed due to academic dishonesty. If you have any doubt as to whether an act of yours might constitute academic dishonesty, please contact your TA or the course coordinator.
The CS Department takes academic integrity seriously. Information on how the CS Department views and handle academic integrity matters can be found at Academic Integrity.
On any graded project or lab, you are NOT allowed to collaborate or
exchange code. We compare each student's code with every other
student's code to check for similarities. Every semester, we catch students that
engage in cheating and we
have to take them to the Honor Council.
Online-Posting of Your
Project/Lab Implementations is NOT
Allowed. NEVER post your assignments' implementation online
where they can be seen by others. Making your code accessible to others can lead
to academic
integrity violations. Even if the course is over, do not make your
code available to others.
We encourage students to talk about course material and help each other out in group chats. However, this does NOT include graded assignments. Talking about release tests is NOT okay.
There have been a couple instances in the past where students have posted pictures/source files of their code, or earlier sections have given away exam questions to later sections. Not only did this lower the curve for the earlier section because the later one will do better, the WHOLE group chat had to pay a visit to the Honor Council. It was an extremely ugly business.
You may post your project code to private Github (or similar service) repository, only after the semester ends. The Honor Council can retroactively give an XF (even to students who have already graduated) if your code is then used by another student to cheat. So just be careful. Posting graded code to a public repo will give you a free ticket to the Honor Council.
Creating collaborative study guides on Google docs is OK. Encouraged, even. Just do this before the exam, and don't bring the study guide to the exam. Don't add exam questions to the study guide after the early section's midterm.
The following are a few examples of academic integrity violations:
Additional information can be found in the sections titled "Academic Integrity" and "Code of Student Conduct" available at Course Related Policies.
For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, visit http://www.shc.umd.edu.
In case academic accommodations are needed, you must provide a letter of accommodation from the Office of Accessibility and Disability Services (ADS) within the first week of the semester. For details, see the section titled "Accessibility" available at Course Related Policies.
The university allows for self-documentation for some absences. Lectures will
be asynchronous but quizzes/exams will be synchronous.
If you need to miss a quiz due to your illness (or other reasons),
you shall make
a reasonable attempt to report at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled quiz
day.
Send me an
email if you have a medical problem. All other planned,
execusable absences (e.g., attending a conference supported by the department)must
be reported using the absence
report
feature in the grade server).
You will submit a self-signed note
attesting to the date of your illness (or other reasons). Each note must
contain an acknowledgment by the student that the information provided
is true and correct. Providing false information to University officials
is prohibited under Part 9(i) of the Code of Student Conduct (V-1.00(B)
University of Maryland Code of Student Conduct) and may result in
disciplinary action.
Missing an exam for reasons such as illness, religious observance, participation in
required university activities, or family or personal emergency (such as a serious
automobile accident or close relative's funeral) will be excused so long as the
absence is requested in writing at least 2 days in advance and the student includes
documentation that shows the absence qualifies as excused; a self-signed
note is not sufficient as exams
are Major Scheduled Grading Events. For this class, such events are the
final exam and the three midterms, which will be given synchronously.
For medical absences, you must furnish documentation from the health care
professional who treated you. The documentation must verify dates of treatment,
clearly recommend the student to be off from all school work and indicate the time
frame that the student was unable to meet academic responsibilities. In addition, it
must contain the name and phone number of the medical service provider to be used if
verification is needed. No diagnostic information will ever be requested. Note that
simply being seen by a health care professional does not constitute an excused
absence; it must be clear that you were unable to perform your academic duties.
For additional details, see the section
titled "Attendance, Absences, or Missed Assignments" available
at Course
Related Policies
The department and faculty take student feedback seriously. At the end of the course visit https://www.courseevalum.umd.edu/ to complete your course evaluations.
All course materials are copyright UMCP, Department of Computer Science © 2021. All rights reserved. Students are permitted to use course materials for their own personal use only. Course materials may not be distributed publicly or provided to others (excepting other students in the course), in any way or format.
Although every effort has been made to be complete and accurate, unforeseen circumstances arising during the semester could require the adjustment of any material given here. Consequently, given due notice to students, the instructor reserves the right to change any information on this syllabus or in other course materials.