COP 3223: Introduction to C Programming
Addendum to syllabus: grading policies and tentative schedule for Section 3.
Instructor
Sean R. Szumlanski () (http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~seansz)
Office Hours
My office hours are held in CSB 112, Mon/Tue 5:00 – 6:00 PM and directly after class on Saturdays, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM. These are also listed in the course syllabus. I am also available for additional office hours by appointment. Although you can request an appointment at any time, I’m more likely to be able to meet with you if you make your request 24 hours in advance.
Office hours for the other course instructors and the course TAs are also listed in the course syllabus. Please feel free to visit any of these individuals with your C Programming questions!
Course Homepage
http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cop3223/fall2006
The course homepage contains links to the course syllabus, this addendum, and other information that is vital for your success in this course. The course homepage may also be used to make announcements on occasion, and students are responsible for checking it on a regular basis.
Grading Policy
The following +/- grading scale will be employed in this section:
[90, 100]
[89, 90)
[88, 89)
[80, 88)
[79, 80)
[78, 79)
[70, 78)
[68, 70)
[60, 68)
[0, 60)
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D
F
Please notice that there are no +/- options for D and F grades.
Grades for the course will be derived as follows:
Quizzes
Programming Assignments
Exam 1
Exam 2
Final Exam
10%
30%
20%
20%
20%
Finally, students must earn a score of at least 40% on the final exam in order to pass the course, regardless of their final grade based on the scale given above. For example, a student receiving a final grade of 75% in the course, but who earned only a 30% on the final exam, will receive a C-.
Quizzes
Quizzes will be given approximately every week during the semester in order to help you assess your progress in the course, and to give you an introduction to the types of questions I might ask on an exam. They will be short: approximately 5-10 minutes in length. Each quiz will be worth 5 points. 2 points are given simply for writing your name, 3 to 4 points are given for a reasonable attempt at solving the problem, and 5 points are given for a perfect (or near-perfect) solution. At the end of the semester, your two lowest quiz grades will be dropped. No make-up quizzes will be allowed.
Additionally, in order to reinforce concepts learned in class, and in order to break up the monotony of sitting through hours and hours of lecture, we will occasionally break up into groups of 3-5 students to work on small exercises in class. These will usually consist of writing small pieces of code (on paper), analyzing chunks of code, or modifying code that is given to you in order to achieve certain new functionalities. Occasionally, I will collect your group’s work and count it as a quiz grade.
However, these exercises should be no cause for anxiety! You will be able to use your notes and textbooks and draw on the knowledge of everyone in your group to tackle the assigned problems. These will also give you an opportunity to discover questions you didn’t even know you had, and to find answers, either from your fellow group members or from me.
With regard to these exercises, you are not required to work with the same people throughout the semester! You can shuffle the groups around as much as you want. However, in order to receive credit for a particular exercise, you must be present in class on the day of that exercise. If social loafing becomes an issue, please come see me in class or during office hours.
Programming Assignments
Details regarding programming assignments are available in the course syllabus.
Exams
All exams are closed-books, closed-notes, closed-neighbors, closed-calculators, etc. It’s just you versus the exam, with the assistance of a pen or pencil only. Additionally, all material covered in class is fair game for the exams, even if some of that material is not covered in your textbook.
You will be expected to write code on the exams, as well as to scrutinize existing code to determine its functionality or to see whether it contains any bugs. Some of these questions will be very tricky, and may contain errors that are hard to catch! As such, it is in your best interests to do a lot of coding at home in order to familiarize yourself with proper C syntax. Exams will also include conceptual questions, which may appear in short or long free response format.
The final exam will be comprehensive and, given the nature of the course material, Exam 2 is inherently cumulative as well.
You will not need scantrons for the exams in this course.
Addendum to Cheating Policy
In addition to the cheating policy given in the course syllabus, I reserve the right to assign a final grade of F to any individuals caught cheating in this course. Students caught cheating may also be referred to the Office of Student Conduct for further disciplinary action, pursuant to the policies stated in the Golden Rule Student Handbook.
If you have any questions about what constitutes cheating, especially on programming assignments and whatnot, please feel free to come speak with me!
Schedule
Aug. 26 Introductory material (sections 1.1 – 1.11). (First day of class.)
Sep. 2 C Basics (sections 2.1 – 2.15, 3.1 – 3.6).
Sep. 9 If-statements and loops (sections 3.7 – 3.13).
Sep. 16 Loop examples (sections 3.16 – 3.22). Review for Exam #1.
Sep. 23 Exam #1. Functions (sections 4.1 – 4.5).
Sep. 30 More functions (sections 4.6 – 4.16).
Oct. 7 Pointers and functions (sections 8.1 – 8.5, 8.10, 8.12 – 8.13)
(Friday, Oct. 13 – WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE)
Oct. 14 Char processing (sections 5.1 – 5.9, 6.1 – 6.13).
Oct. 21 File I/O (sections 13.1 – 13.6, 13.9). Review for Exam #2.
Oct. 28 Exam #2. Arrays (sections 9.1 – 9.7).
Nov. 4 More arrays, dynamic memory allocation, and enum (sections 9.9, 7.1 – 7.6)
Nov. 11 NO CLASS – Verteran’s Day Weekend
Nov. 18 Strings (sections 10.1 – 10.10, 12.1 – 12.3)
Nov. 25 NO CLASS – Thanksgiving Day Weekend
Dec. 2 Structs (sections 12.4 – 12.9). Final Exam Review. (Last day of classes.)
Dec. 9: Final Exam, 9:00 – 11:30 AM.