Introduction to Computer Science

Comp 150-001, Summer I, 2009

TTh, 11:00-2:00, DH 339

Texts: We will be using a special bundle of the text Computer Science Illuminated by Nell Dale and John Lewis, together with the Explorations lab CD. The ISBN for this bundle is 9780763755614. Note that ordering the book alone (which has a different ISBN) will not get you the CD! Apparently the bundle also includes the Python Programming booklet.

The last hour (or so) of each class will be devoted to a lab. You'll generally have one week to complete the lab and turn it in, but completion during the lab period is recommended.

The midterm was Tuesday, June 9. Here is the study guide; answers are here.

Final Exam is June 25. The study guide is here; selected answers are here.

In Comp 150 we will consider some of the following topics:

Basics of programming (including analysis and design) in the Python language.
Introduction to computer hardware and architecture.
Introduction to computer networks and the Internet.

Our primary reference for the Python language will be http://webpages.cs.luc.edu/~anh/python/hands-on, by Loyola's Dr Harrington. Note that you should specify the version (usually version 3.0, though mostly it won't make a great deal of difference to what we'll be doing). You can get a free version of Python, and also lots of additional tutorials and documentation, at www.python.org.

Notes

Day 1, May 19	Day 2, May 21
Day 3, May 26	Day 4, May 28
Day 5, June 2	Day 6, June 4
Day 7, June 9	Day 8, June 11
Day 9, June 16	Day 10, June 18
Day 11, June 23	Final Exam, June 25

My network notes

Labs

Lab 0, May 19	Lab 1, May 21
Lab 2, May 26	Lab 3, May 28
Lab 4, June 2	Lab 5, June 4
No lab	Lab 6, June 11
Lab 7, June 16	Lab 8, June 18
Lab 9, June 23	Final Exam, June 25

There will be daily labs during the semester, one in-class exam, the final, and possibly some quizzes. I will announce exam dates soon. The exam will be worth about 30% each, the final about 40-50%, with everything else accounting for the remainder. But these percentages are approximate; I might adjust them by +/- 5%. I may also make individual adjustments to these weights, but only in your favor.

My general course groundrules are here.