You will need to bring your charged laptop to the lab.
There will be about eleven lab assignments of equal weight which are usually due within one week. Lab assignments consist of written and programming problems (using the Python programming language). Lab assignments will be submitted individually, but you are welcome to work in pairs and collaborate with your colleagues during the labs, respecting Academic Integrity policy. Lab assignments will be posted on the labs page.
Late Cards:
At the beginning of the semester you receive four late cards, each of
which may be used for one 24-hour extension on any one lab
problem deadline (note that one lab assignment usually consist of 3-4 problems). If you submit your lab after the deadline, you will
automatically use a late card. Both members of the pair will use late
cards in case pair work is late. Only one late card per assignment
can be used.
You do not need to tell your instructor or TAs that you're using a
late card. We will notice based on your submission time and
automatically deduct a late card. Late work submitted when late card
quota is exhausted or submitted after 24-hour extension granted by a
late card will not be given credit.
Zybook Readings (Individual)
The textbook for this class is an online interactive Zybook textbook.
The course material will be reinforced through required Zybook readings
(including activites) that will be before (almost) every class.
Zybook readings are posted on the course schedule and are due by 11:59pm the day before class. These have to be completed individually.
Late/missed zybook assignments won't receive credit; you
should still complete them at your earliest possibility to make sure
you're prepared to read the subsequent chapters.
Help Sessions
During the week there will also be optional help sessions led by the
TAs. You are welcome to come to the help session and work on your lab
assignment even if you don't have immediate questions.
Most students in previous semesters found it very helpful for their learning to attend the help sessions.
Quizzes
About every 2-3 weeks there will be closed-book/closed-notes quizzes
given during the first 20 minutes of your lab section. Arrive to lab
on time to have adequate time to complete your quiz. Quizzes are
announced on the course schedule. The quizzes will cover reading and
lecture topics. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped. Make-up quizzes
won't be offered, if you cannot be present for a quiz then you'll need
to count that quiz as the lowest score.
Exams:
There will be
one written midterm exam during a lab session and one comprehensive
written final exam during the time assigned by the Registrar. The
midterm and the final exam will be closed-book and closed-notes, but
you are allowed to bring a help sheet to each exam (one
letter page double-sided); you will need to submit the help sheet with
your exam.
Use of Electronic Devices:
You will need to use your laptop to work in the lab, and access to a
laptop or desktop computer to complete the programming exercises at
home. If you don't have a laptop to bring, you'll be paired up with
someone who has one. Not owning a laptop will not jeopardize your
progress or grade in this class.
Standard meeting courtesy rules apply to class meeting times: cell
phone notifications should be switched off; cellphones, tablet and
laptop computers should be put away, and no unauthorized technology
use should occur during lectures and labs. The rare instances in
which we may need to use laptops, tablets and/or smartphones will be
explicitly arranged by the instructor. By default, use of tablets,
phones, laptops and similar devices is not allowed in lectures (even
when used for benign purpose such as taking notes and photos, these
devices are distracting in a big class such as ours). While in class,
you should be 100% committed to learning the subject.
Computer Emergencies:
Technical problems are part of life and life with computers, and you
should assume they will occur. Schedule your time and your work to
allow for this sort of problem and still get your work done well and
on time. Store your files on external storage such as Tulane Box or
Google Drive, to allow to retrieve them should your personal machine
become unavailable. Always save intermediate results of your work
under different names, just like gamers periodically save the state of
their game. This way, even if a small change in your program renders
it unusable few minutes before submission deadline, you will always
have a good backup. Give yourself ample time to upload labs and
complete Zybook exercises; avoid doing it moments before the deadline.
Please don't request and don't expect accommodations related to tech
emergencies. In case of troubles with Zybook, write directly to Zybook
support, they're great! Instructors and TAs will not be resolving
Zybook problems and will not give extensions associated
with Zybook or browser problems.
Success Strategies
Academic Integrity:
All students are expected to read and abide by the principles clearly
explained in the university's academic responsibility policy. The
Code of Academic Conduct applies to all students, full-time, and
part-time, in Tulane University. Tulane University expects and
requires behavior compatible with its high standards of
scholarship. By accepting admission to the university, a student
accepts its regulations (i.e.,
the Code
of Academic Conduct and
the Code
of Student Conduct and acknowledges the right of the university to
take disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion, for
conduct judged unsatisfactory or disruptive.
You are encouraged to discuss rough ideas and thoughts about a homework assignment with your other classmates, but you have to write up your solution on your own, or with your partner, if you are working with a partner. You are not allowed to read, copy, or rewrite the solutions or code written by others (in this or previous terms, or from the web). Code produced by others can be used only in special circumstances, when it extends (not replaces) your work beyond the requirements of the assignment. In all such cases, when you need to use a snippet of code or a third-party library, you need to first check with the instructor or the TA if it is ok to do so, to clearly mark third-party code in your code, to respect copyright, and to provide a working hyperlink to the source.
Incidents of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Associate Dean of Newcomb-Tulane College. If several people are involved in sharing solutions then all parties (e.g., the copier and the copiee) will be held equally responsible. In cases of pair programming, each programming team should consist of two people, team submissions from three or more people will be considered plagiarism. Cheating on an exam will result in a failing grade for the course.
Electronic checkers will be used to detect plagiarism in submitted assignments. In the submitted assignments you are responsible for showing that you have a thorough understanding of what you submit as your own work. This includes commenting and testing programming assignments. You may be asked to explain in person your thorough understanding of your submission to the instructor before credit is given.
Academic dishonesty is a serious offense. Everyone should watch for
and actively oppose all cases of dishonesty. If you have doubts, check
with the instructor who will be happy to help you be a good citizen of Tulane
University.
Pair Programming:
The pair programming strategy is widely adopted by software
development companies. For the first half of the course you will have
to work in pairs to experience this great way to learn, produce
excellent programs and keep up with the schedule. In general,
programs written in pairs are known to have better designs and fewer
errors than programs produced by developers working alone.
If you work with a partner on a lab assignment, you must work with the
same partner for the entire lab assignment that week (you can switch
partners between different lab assignments). You and your partner will
each submit their own solution for each problem. If you hand in as
pairs, the solutions must be identical, otherwise we will grade them
individually. However, both students must submit a "Note" indicating
that you worked in a pair, and who your partner was. You should also
put the name of your partner in the comments in the code. If you work
with a partner, you must work together in front of one computer for
every problem that you complete together. While you are working, the
computer screen should be visible to both people. One person should
type, while the other person observes, critiques and plans what to do
next. You must switch roles periodically (about every 20-30
minutes). You may think about the problems individually and make minor
bug fixes, but your solution overall should be a true joint
(collaborative) effort. Splitting up the work is not
permitted. Both pair members must work on each problem together.
A detailed pair programming guide is available on the Resources page.
Participation and Professionalism:
This class is one of your first professional environments, so we will
define and practice high quality behavior. Behaviors that are of low
quality, such being unprepared, distracting your colleagues, shirking
your own or group work, or other less desirable behaviors, lay the
groundwork for mediocrity. Our intent is to help you lay the
groundwork for excellence, and so your professional demeanor is
crucial to your success in this class. In other words, you are
expected to take charge of your own learning and behave as you
would in your dream job.
Regular attendance in class and in the lab session is mandatory. In
order to succeed in this course, you must make it your priority to
come to every class session. You are allowed a maximum of four days
of absence during the semester (including regular class meetings and
labs). This is similar to sick days at work; you can use days of
absence when you're sick, travel to a conference/sports trip/family
function/interview etc. You do not need to notify me about such
absences or ask to be excused. When you take one of your four days of
absence, your absence is considered automatically excused.
Manipulating attendance sheets, such as signing for somebody else, will be viewed and treated as academic dishonesty.
To help maintain a focused environment for all students, you are expected to stay in the classroom while class is in session, and you may leave the classroom only in the event of emergency, health issue, or when arranged with the instructor/TA. Unfounded leaving of the classroom will be treated as unexcused absence. You are also expected to come to class on time. Repeated tardiness will be counted toward an absence. More than four absences are considered excessive; each excessive and unexcused absence will cause a 0.25pt deduction from your final course score. After more than 8 registered unexcused absences, the final grade for this course will be F.
Making up the material of a missed lecture is the responsibility
of the student. If you missed a class, follow the reading schedule and
complete the reading for the missed class; get in touch with your
classmates to figure out what else you might have missed; resolve
questions that you may have about new material with your TAs and
instructor ASAP. Please follow these steps! We won't be able to
respond to emails such as "I got sick, please let me know what I
missed".
Managing Knowledge Gaps:
Your instructor and TAs will not judge or think lesser of anyone who
admits lack of knowledge in any area. Ask questions and request
clarifications when necessary, even if you think you might be the only
person in class who needs it (chances are high that you're not).
The grading scale is as follows:
| 100-93 | 92-90 | 89-87 | 86-83 | 82-80 | 79-77 | 76-73 | 72-70 | 69-60 | 59-0 |
| A | A- | B+ | B | B- | C+ | C | C- | D | F |
Attendance and participation will affect the final grade as described in the Participation section.
Discretionary bonus points during final grading will be added for significant Participation and Altruism (e.g., answering your peers' questions), suggesting new ideas, interesting computing resources, videos, talks, etc.
Regrade Requests:
If your grade is less than 100% of points and you have questions why
points were deducted, please see the TA during help hours as soon as
possible but no later than two weeks after the graded assignment or
exam was returned. Timely resolution of all questions will help you
avoid making the same mistake in another assignment! Late regrade
requests will not be considered. Please note that review of the grade
will consider the exam/homework as a whole, and as a result your grade
is just as likely to go down as it is to go up.
Special Circumstances
Emergencies:
In extremely difficult personal situations, such as major illness or
injury requiring hospitalization, being witness or victim of a crime,
death in the family, if you need to reschedule your exam, you should
inform both your instructor and your academic advisor prior to the
absence if possible, but no later than the first class period after
the excused absence, and provide formal documentation justifying your
extenuating circumstance in order to schedule your make-up exam within
a week after you return. Exams missed without documented excuse won't
receive credit. There won't be make-up lab assignments, quizzes,
Zybook exercises, etc. For these assignments in such extreme
circumstances, contact the instructor prior to the due date to get a
deadline extension.
Non-Emergencies:
Sports, performance, conference, and job interview trips, common
infections (including cold/flu/strep/staph/stomach and digestion
problems) and other common illnesses (even if you have a doctor's note),
and similar circumstances are not considered an emergency. No make-up
work or deadline extensions will be provided in such cases; the course
rules already include mechanisms (late cards, dropping lowest grades)
to mitigate their effect on the grade. Please take the possibility of such
problems into account when you plan your work.
Falling Behind:
A professional who finds themselves not knowing how to perform a part
of their job wouldn't just sit and do nothing for a week. Likewise, if
you are having a tough semester and discover you have fallen behind,
please visit with your professor and TA sooner rather than later. We
will be very happy to work with you and help you catch up.
Special Accommodations:
If you have a physical, mental or learning disability, either hidden
or visible, or another special need which may require classroom,
test-taking, or other reasonable modifications, you are invited to
share these concerns or requests with the instructor and contact the
Goldman Center for Student Accessibility.
Weather Emergencies and Other University Closures:
Class will not meet in person when the university is closed due to weather
or another issue, and the classes are cancelled to allow faculty,
staff and students to safely get home and prepare for sheltering in place
or evacuating.
Classes will meet online via Canvas' build-in Zoom conferencing tool
during regular hours if there is no immediate danger and there is power
and internet at the instructor's home.
Disclaimer
Like many subjects in computer science, this class has an
ever-evolving structure. It follows a novel pedagogical approach to
introductory programming classes (emphasizing problem-solving
vs. traditional focus on the programming language) and relies on
software that changes with every offering of the course. Your
instructors promise the best effort in adhering to the above rules but
need for changes in them might arise, and hence we reserve the right
to change them if deemed necessary. For instance, slight alterations
to the course schedule are possible if the class needs more/less time
for a certain topic; additional readings may be assigned during the
semester as needed; and so on. Updates will be announced in class and
by email, and posted on the course webpage. Check your Tulane email at
least daily. The course webpage and in particular the course schedule always contain the most current information.
Please feel free to discuss any aspects of the course with your
instructor, after class or during office hours.
Helpful Resources
Tulane University recognizes the inherent dignity of all individuals and promotes respect for all people. As "One Wave", Tulane is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, creed, religion, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as all forms of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, and stalking. If you (or someone you know) has experienced or experiences discrimination, domestic violence, sexual assault or sexual harassment, know that you are not alone. Resources and support are available. Learn more at onewave.tulane.edu. Any and all of your communications on these matters will be treated as either "Strictly Confidential" or "Mostly Confidential" as explained in the chart below.
| Strictly Confidential | Mostly Confidential |
| Except in extreme circumstances, involving imminent danger to one's self or others, nothing will be shared without your explicit permission. | Conversations are kept as confidential as possible, but information is shared with key staff members so the University can offer resources and accommodations and take action if necessary for safety reasons. |
| Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) | (504) 314-2277 | Coordinator of Violence Prevention | (504) 314-2161 |
| Student Health Center | (504) 865-5255 | Tulane University Police (TUPD) | (504) 865-5911 |
| Sexual Aggression Peer Hotline and Education (SAPHE) | (504) 654-9543 | Office of Institutional Equity | (504) 862-8083 |
Be nice to yourself and others in class. Avoid judging yourself and others too harshly. It's a common problem in tech fields that beginners at times feel intimidated by the jargon, the amount of technical knowledge, and behavior of unfamiliar software products. Know that you have what it takes to study computer science.