Course syllabus

CSC 131 – Introduction to Computer Science - Synchronous Online

Course Syllabus - Spring 2021

"This syllabus is subject to change, but only with sufficient notification"

Welcome to Dr. Ebrahimi’s Introduction to Computer Science class! This course will focus on Problem-solving methods and algorithms in a modern high-level programming language. Dr. Ebrahimi Introduces one or more programming environments. The emphasis is on a programming style and the design, coding, and testing of complete programs. This course is recommended primarily for computer science majors.  The students who successfully complete this course will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of basic programming concepts including data types, variables, modularity, parameters, conditional statements, iteration, and arrays.
• Demonstrate program development techniques to describe and understand the problem statement, think through input/process/output, leading to problem representation, and finally coding.
• Demonstrate the ability to use program control structures (i.e., iteration, conditionals).
• Develop and use algorithms to solve a variety of problems, for instance, those related to array processing, statistical calculations, image and audio processing, and text processing.
• Practice modular programming by developing, debugging, and integrating modules into a larger program.
• Demonstrate the ability to use programming language-specific software libraries.
• Demonstrate the ability to use basic file input and output.
• Demonstrate the ability to use software development tools from the command line to compile and run commands to an integrated development environment.

What else do I need to know about this course? A grade of ‘C’ (2.00) or better is required for taking any course for which CSC 131 is a prerequisite.  Satisfies University Studies I: Foundations/Mathematics and Statistics. Satisfies University Studies IV: Building Competencies/Quantitative and   Logical   Reasoning.   Partially satisfies   University   Studies III: Transdisciplinary Cluster/Modeling. Prerequisites: MAT 111 or MAT 115.

Textbooks (Optional)

• Introduction to Computer Science Using Python: A Computational Problem-Solving Focus, by Charles Dierbach
• Fundamentals of Python: First Programs, 2nd edition, by Kenneth Alfred Lambert.

Other Resources (More resources will be posted in different modules as well)

• CS Circle
• https://docs.python.org/3/
• http://pythontutor.com/
• The search engine of your choice
• ...

Grading

A modified 10-point scale will be used to compute your course grade. Pluses and minuses will be assigned based on the following chart.

Attendance: 

I will take attendance on Tuesday Zoom sessions. You don't need to attend Thursday sessions if you have already completed your assigned labs for that week. 

All the Synchronous sessions will be via zoom. I expect everyone to have their cameras on - it will count as attendance (please contact me if for any reason your can't stream your video). You are NOT allowed to use any filter or studio effects in zoom - you will receive an attendance point reduction if you do so. It is not professional. 

The synchronous classes will start exactly at 2:00 pm. Late arrival will result in an attendance point reduction.

Lab Assignments, Quizzes, and CS Circle

Academic Integrity

University Policy on academic integrity will be followed for this course. Cheating will be taken very seriously, resulting in harsh penalties. Since the skills required in this class are also required in the next class, cheating in this class will seriously hamper your ability to pass the next class. Please refer to this page for more information about the Univerity policies. 

Any dissemination of class notes, lecture slides, recordings, handouts, copies of exams, or any other course materials without permission of the instructor is prohibited by UNCW policy.  UNCW Copyright Use and Ownership Policy (http://www.uncw.edu/policies/documents/01210.copyrightpolicy.pdf) specifies that class notes and related materials are considered derivative of the original intellectual property of the course instructor. Therefore, the instructor (not the student) owns the copyright and must provide specific permission to distribute and/or reuse those materials for anything other than personal use and scholarship by the student. Commercial use, display, or dissemination of such notes, copies, or recordings—as well as posting to websites--will generally constitute an infringement of copyright and the Honor Code.  Materials that qualify as student-owned are listed in the policy.