Course Syllabus 
Spring 2008

 CpSc 130: Introduction to Programming and Information Systems  
(sections 1, 2 and 3)
 

Instructor: Dr. David Dailey

Meeting Times:

Section 01:

9:00  - 9:50 a.m. MWF (Period 2)

Section 02:

9:30  - 10:45 a.m. TTh  (Period B)

Section 03:

11:00  - 12:15 p.m. TTh (Period C)

Meeting place: 224 ATSH

Instructor's Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m..; Tuesday  and Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.., or by appointment.

Instructor's Office location: ATSH 248

Instructor's e-mail addressdavid.dailey@sru.edu

Assessment: The connection of course outcomes, with departmental outcomes and ultimately with university outcomes is discussed at some length at http://cs.sru.edu/~whit/assessment/. See course description and other material at the end of the document.

Prerequisites: ASD 110

Supplementary Text: Essentials for Design: JavaScript Comprehensive by Michael Brooks (publ. Pearson/Prentice Hall).

Required reading materials: Class web page found at http://srufaculty.sru.edu/david.dailey/cs130/index.htm

Computing labs: The class will primarily use equipment provided in Eisenberg 103; but other machines on campus are available and may be used as well. If a student chooses to work from home or other locations, it is the student's responsibility to figure out what software and equipment to use and how to submit assignments from those locations.

 

Software used:

Microsoft Windows
Web-browsers: recent versions of Internet Explorer and other browsers.
Allaire HomeSite.
Adobe Photoshop
The above software applications will be available for student use in the computing lab.
Use of E-mail software (Eudora, Pine, or other) is also required.

Method of determining final grade: Assignments: 40%; quizzes and exams: 60% (a total of three, including a final exam, each worth 20%).

Final exam: (based on http://www.sru.edu/pages/5647.asp)

Section 01 - (Period 2): Wednesday Dec, 10, 8:00 am - 10:00 am  in 224 ATSH
Section 02 - (Period B): Thursday Dec. 11, 8:00 am - 10:00 am  in 224 ATSH
Section 03 - (Period C): Tuesday Dec 9, 10:30am - 12:30 pm,
  in 224 ATSH

Attendance policy: Regular attendance is expected. Excessive absences will have an effect on your grade. If a prolonged illness should cause you to miss several class periods, please call the instructor to discuss withdrawal from the class. If you do miss class, it is your responsibility to study assigned reading for that time period and to arrange to get class notes from other students.

Late work: The grade on an assignment will be dropped by 10% for each week it is late.  Any work submitted late must have the word (LATE) in parentheses following your last name in the subject line of the email. If it does not, it will not be scored.

Make-up exams: It is the student's responsibility a) to notify the instructor beforehand if he or she must miss an exam due to illness, or family emergency and b) to take the initiative in finding a time suitable to the instructor that the exam (or a substitute) may be made-up.

Academic Integrity: All academic work for this course must consist of your own work. See the University's statement on Academic Integrity in the Undergraduate Catalog (2003-04, pages 52 - 53). Though it remains the student's responsibility to read and understand the University's expectations here, I wish to emphasize the following excerpts from that statement:

"Academic dishonesty may take many forms. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, the following: (...)

The fact that this course is in Computer Science does not lessen the student's responsibility to make sure that work submitted for a grade is his or her own work. Again, from the University's statement on Academic Integrity:

Assignments and tasks: The nature of each assignment will be explained in class. Details concerning some assignments will be offered at the class web-site. Any uncertainties students may have about an assignment should be raised at the time the assignment is made. Students are required to use e-mail for most assignments and to properly place assignments in their class web folders. Failure to follow instructions on assignments may result in a grade of zero for affected assignments. 

Homework assignments are to be completed individually by each student. Students may be called upon to explain their work to the instructor and should be consistently and adequately prepared to do so.

Tentative Schedule of Topics (The instructor reserves the right to change the topics covered or the order in which they are covered at his/her discretion.)

Assignments shown are examples only. Refer to lecture notes and/or course web-site for details of actual assignments..

Week 1 -- Aug. 25 - 29:   Course introduction. Web browsing. A glimpse of JavaScript, introduction to web-authoring. Overview of types of software. Lab exercises.

Assignment 1: Log into your Windows account. Use a web-browser to find the class home page.
Send email to instructor verifying success (or describing problems) in completing the above.
Week 2 -- Sept. 2 - 5: Introduction to HTML: writing html, basics of a web page. Type attributes, paragraphs, links, alignment, etc. In-class exercises.

Assignment 2: Create a simple web page as explained in class.

Week 3 --Sept. 8 - 12: More HTML: Images, tables; Copyright,  permissions, ethics, and the law Supplemental reading: Brooks -- Chapter 12. Week 4 --Sept. 15 - 19:   More on images. Creating graphics, resizing, image file formats.

Week 5 --Sept. 22 - 26:  Getting started with JavaScript; introduction to programming: alert and variables.

approximate time for Quiz 1: covering material  from lecture and web-based topics.
Supplemental reading: Brooks Chapters 1 and 2.
Week 6 -- Sept. 29 - Oct. 3 Introduction to functions, arguments (imagine no possessions) Supplemental reading:  Brooks Chapter 7 Week 7 -- Oct. 8 - 10 Forms and functions (is the form of a function similar to the function of a form?) Supplemental reading: Brooks -- Chapter 12. Week 8 -- Oct. 13 - 17:  Forms, functions and events. (On seeing the sun, Gilgamesh sneezed.) Supplemental reading: Brooks Chapter 8.

Week 9 -- Oct. 20 - 24: 

Conditionals; if, else (who, what, huh??),  random numbers, Supplemental reading: Brooks Chapter 6 Weeks 10 & 11 -- Oct. 27 - Nov. 7: Introduction to loops, (crimson and clover) approximate time for Quiz 2: Fundamentals of JavaScript, covering material from lecture and web-based topics. Week 12 -- Nov. 10 - 14:  Arrays. (Verbing a bundle, vs. reverbing a bunch)

Weeks 13-15 -- Nov 17 - Dec. 8:  Selected topics: Dynamic HTML and rewriting pages, the document object model, ethics and social issues, artificial intelligence.

Supplemental reading:  Brook Chapter 11.


The following ties all rubrics together with a grand hypertextual rubric manifold of indeterminate topological complexity. Taken from I:\Computer_Science\All Faculty\CourseOutcomes07\130Outcome.htm alternatively linked to at http://classwork.sru.edu/Computer_Science/All%20Faculty/CourseOutcomes07
Computer Science Department
Course Competency Plan

COURSE: CpSc 130 - Introduction to Programming and Information Systems

Catalog Description: An introductory course devoted to programming and to a description of hardware and software concepts. Programming concepts covered include top-down program development using pseudocode, algebraic notation, standard control structures, and arrays in an appropriate programming language. Other topics include binary representation, storage, and general architecture and functioning of a computer system. Prerequisite: ASSD 110. (3 credits)

Course Outcomes: This course and its outcomes support the Information Technology and Information Systems Learning Outcomes of Problem Solving and Critical Thinking (PS&CT), Communication and Interpersonal Skills (C&IS), and Ethical and Professional Responsibilities (E&PR). These Information Technology and Information Systems Learning Outcomes are tied directly to the University Wide Outcomes of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication, and Values and Ethics.

 

Objectives Strategies Assessment Methods
The student will be able to:
  1. Describe information systems and their components. [IT: PS&CT a | IS: PS&CT c]
  2. Identify the components of the software development life cycle. [IT: PS&CT b | IS: PS&CT b]
  3. Identify the constructs of the chosen programming language that are used for sequential, conditional, and iterative programming as well as modular constructs. [IT: PS&CT d, e | IS: PS&CT c]
  4. Write documented, structured programs that utilize sequential, conditional, and iterative programming constructs. [IT: PS&CT e; C&IS a | IS: PS&CT c; C&IS a]
  5. Recognize the ethical, legal, and social implications of information processing. [both: E&PR b]
Together, the students and the professor will:
  1. Discuss in detail information systems and software development.
  2. Discuss in detail the constructs of the chosen programming language as related to information systems; this discussion will include the syntax and semantics of the constructs.
  3. Read a current information systems text and a text in the selected programming language.
  4. Study and trace the execution of example programs that illustrate the constructs being discussed.
  5. Use the Internet to obtain information and communicate electronically
The student will:
  1. Answer questions related to program development and information systems.
  2. Plan, code, test and debug programming assignments.
  3. Use the Internet for aiding in the completion of assignments when possible.
  4. Complete examination questions that assess programming skills and the practical aspects of information systems; the assessment of programming is not done simply through programming assignments.
  5. Course Embedded: PS&CT through programming assignment, C&IS through documentation, and E&PR at professor's discretion.

 

This is an Enhancement Course in the Science, Technology and Mathematics area of the Liberal Studies Program.