Course Info
Catalog Description
An introduction to computer programming — the concepts involved in using a high-level language and the program development process. The goal of this course is proficiency in the design and implementation of programs of significant size and complexity. This course is quite demanding because of the length of the programming exercises assigned. This is the first course in the computer science major sequence.
Prerequisites: Math 140 credits or placement; or Math 130 with a B or higher in the previous semester; or permission of the instructor.
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to tackle computational challenges that they might encounter later in their careers. Students interested in computer science will be well-prepared to delve deeper into the field and students in science and engineering will be able to incorporate computation into their studies.
Course Staff
| Name | Role | Office | Office Hours | |
| Swami Iyer | Instructor | siyer@cs.umb.edu | M-3-201-14 | In-person: Tue Thu 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Remote: Wed 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Zoom link) |
| Haowen Guan | Teaching Assistant | haowen.guan001@umb.edu | M-3-0150 | Mon Wed 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM |
| JieHyun (Jenna) Kim | Teaching Assistant | jiehyun.kim001@umb.edu | M-3-201-10 | Wed Thu 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM |
| Rishank Singh | Teaching Assistant | rishank.singh001@umb.edu | M-3-201-10 | Tue 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM; Fri 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM |
| Zhen Lu | Teaching Assistant | zhen.lu001@umb.edu | M-3-201-10 | Mon 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM |
| Avraham Felzenstein | Course Assistant | a.felzenstein001@umb.edu | M-3-0731 | Tue Thu 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM |
| Kenichi Maeda | Course Assistant | kenichi.maeda001@umb.edu | M-3-0731 | Mon Wed 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM |
| Pratham Patel | Course Assistant | p.patel034@umb.edu | M-3-0731 | Mon 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
| William Martinez | Course Assistant | william.martinez001@umb.edu | M-3-0731 | Mon Wed 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Serin Kitery | Supplemental Instruction Leader | serin.kitery001@umb.edu | - | - |
Note: In case you want to email us, please start the subject line with [CS110].
Class
| Section | When | Where |
| 1-8 | Tue Thu 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM | W-1-0088 (Snowden Auditorium) |
In each class, the instructor will present the material for that class for an hour, and conduct an online quiz on that material for the remaining fifteen minutes. You are strongly encouraged to review the material before each class, and review it again thoroughly soon after.
Discussion
Starting from the second week, there will be a discussion every week. The focus of the discussion for a particular week will be the current assignment. The teaching assistant (TA) will walk you through the assignment problems systematically. The TA will also answer any specific questions you may have about the assignment or the course material in general. You may also seek help from the course assistant (CA) who will be assisting the TA during the discussions. The discussions will be worthwhile only if you go to the sessions having read the assignment writeup thoroughly and have at least a moderate understanding of the problems involved. The TA will assume that you have done the reading in advance.
| Section | When | Where | TA | CA |
| 1 | Tue 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM | M-1-0209 | Haowen Guan | Avraham Felzenstein |
| 2 | Thu 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM | M-2-0206 | JieHyun (Jenna) Kim | Avraham Felzenstein |
| 3 | Tue 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM | M-2-0211 | Haowen Guan | Pratham Patel |
| 4 | Thu 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM | W-2-0198 | JieHyun (Jenna) Kim | Pratham Patel |
| 5 | Tue 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM | M-2-0206 | Zhen Lu | William Martinez |
| 6 | Thu 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM | W-1-0061 | Rishank Singh | William Martinez |
| 7 | Tue 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM | W-1-0055 | Zhen Lu | Kenichi Maeda |
| 8 | Thu 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM | M-3-0732 | Rishank Singh | Kenichi Maeda |
Supplemental Instruction
As part of the College of Science and Mathematics Freshman Success Program, supplemental instruction (SI) is available to all CS110 students free of charge. The SI sessions will also start from the second week. The focus of the sessions for a particular week will be the material covered in class during the previous week. The SI leader will walk you through the relevant lecture notes and solve problems. In addition, the SI leader will answer any specific questions you may have about the current assignment, or the course material in general. The SI sessions are optional, but highly recommended, especially if you feel like you are falling behind in the course. You may attend as few or as many sessions as you like. You will receive extra points for attending the sessions (see the Grading Scheme section below).
| When | Where |
| Mon 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM | M-2-0214 |
| Wed 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM | M-2-0214 |
| Fri 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM | M-2-0214 |
| Sat 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM | Remote (Zoom link) |
| Sun 2:00 PM - 2:50 PM | Remote (Zoom link) |
Tutoring
One-on-one tutoring for this course is available through the Tutoring Programs.
Recommended Text
|
Introduction to Programming in Python: An Interdisciplinary Approach by Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne, and Robert Dondero
This text offers an excellent introduction to computing principles, motivating each principle by examining its impact on specific applications drawn from fields ranging from materials science to genomics to astrophysics to internet commerce. |
|
Grading Scheme
Assessments
| Item | % of Final Grade |
| Programming Assignments (best 5 out of 6) | 40 |
| Exams (1 and 2) | 50 |
| Participation | 10 |
- The goal of the programming assignments is to make sure that you can apply the concepts learned in class to solve somewhat challenging computational problems.
- The exams will test your understanding of the material covered in class as well as concepts from the programming assignments. Each of the two exams will have a written and a programming component. The written part, worth 75 points, will take place during a class period. The exam will be closed-book and will contain 30 multiple-choice/short-answer questions, each worth 3 points. The programming part, worth 25 points, will take place during a discussion session; you will use your laptop to work on the problems and submit your solutions onto Gradescope.
- Your participation score will be based on weekly quizzes (8%) and discussion attendance (2%). Each weekly quiz, conducted at the end of a class, will test your understanding of the material covered in that week. Each question in a quiz is worth 2 points (1 point for correct response and 1 point for responding). Each quiz score will be normalized to 100 points. The lowest 2 (4 if you have accommodations) quiz scores will be dropped.
- You can earn up to 2% extra points for attending the SI sessions. Your SI score will be calculated as
a(e1 + e2) / 100n, whereais the number of unique sessions you attended (attending multiple sessions in a week just counts as one),nis the number of unique sessions held, ande1ande2are your Exam 1 and Exam 2 scores, respectively. For example, ifa = 10,n = 12,e1 = 75, ande2 = 85, the SI score is1.33%. - You can earn up to 0.01x% extra points if x% of the class completes the end-of-semester course evaluation.
- If your overall score falls within half a percent of a higher grade, your score will be elevated to that grade.
% Score to Letter Grade
[93, 100]: A, [90, 93): A-, [87, 90): B+, [83, 87): B, [80, 83): B-, [77, 80): C+, [73, 77): C, [70, 73): C-, [67, 70): D+, [63, 67): D, [60, 63): D-, [0, 60): F
Software Needed
iClicker
We will use iClicker to conduct in-class quizzes, for which you will need an iClicker Student App Subscription.
Piazza
We will use Piazza as the Q&A platform for the course. If you have any general questions about the assignments, exams, or the lecture material, the most effective way to get them answered is by posting them on Piazza. You can expect your questions to be answered by the course staff or your peers.
Gradescope
We will use Gradescope to grade your programming assignments and exams.
Programming Environment
To write and execute Python programs in this course, you will need a laptop (Linux, Mac, or Windows) properly configured with the necessary software. Click here for setup instructions.
Zoom
We will use Zoom to hold remote office hours and SI sessions
CS Account
In order to use the computing resources of the department, and in particular, those in the UNIX/PC Lab (M-3-0731), you need to setup a CS account. With your CS account credentials, you can connect to our designated server (users.cs.umb.edu) remotely using SSH. With the same credentials, you can also sign into the Linux systems in the CS Lab. In addition, you can sign into the Windows systems in the lab with the same username and an initial password abcd_1234, which you must change the first time you sign in.
Visit CS Labs Portal to register for a portal/CS account and confirm via email. If you already have a CS account, use the same username. The next step is to sign into the portal and select your courses for the term. You will be notified via your UMB email once the course directories and your account are created.
Policies
Classroom
Come to class/discussion on time and stay for the entire session. If you have to leave early, let the instructor/TA know in advance. Have your mobile phone silenced or turned off during the entire session. Use of earphone/headphone during the session is not permitted. Use of a laptop during the session is permitted only for class purposes. Do not talk to each other during the session. If you have any questions, bring them up to the instructor/TA.
Piazza
If you have a question, first make sure that it has not already been asked/answered. Clearer questions get better answers, so re-read your question before you post it. Ask your questions early. Posts are categorized using tags, so pick an appropriate tag for your post. Use the platform only for questions that can be asked in a general way, without sharing code or other assignment-related work. However, if you are stuck on a problem despite your valiant efforts to solve it, you may seek help from the course staff by posting your code privately, as properly formatted text (not images). Any post that is inappropriate or violates the academic honesty code will be deleted by the course staff.
Excused Absence from Discussion and Makeup Exam
You must provide appropriate documentation if:
- You could/will not attend a discussion and want your absence to be excused.
- You were/are unable to take an exam on the scheduled date and want to arrange a makeup exam.
The documentation must be a letter from the Dean of Students if the type of your absence is among those listed on their website. For other types of absences, the supporting documentation must be emailed to the instructor directly.
Note: There will be no makeup for missed quizzes.
Late Days
Assignment deadlines are firm and non negotiable, but you have up to 5 (10 if you have accommodations) late days that you may use to submit one or more assignments a bit late. You may request an extension for any assignment only once. To do so, you must send the instructor a request via email at least 48 hours prior to the assignment deadline, clearly stating the number of late days needed, or else your request will not be granted.
Unused late days will be converted into x% extra points, which will be added to your final grade. x will be calculated as x = d / n, where n is the number of late days allotted and d is the number of late days unused. For example, if d = 3 and n = 5, then x = 0.6%.
Regrade Request
If you have any concerns about the grading of a particular assignment or exam, you may submit a regrade request via Gradescope. You must submit the request within a week from the date the assignment or exam grades are published, or else your request will be turned down.
Collaboration
Click here for the collaboration policy and the penalties for infractions of the policy.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for Disability Services. The student must present these recommendations and discuss them with the instructor within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of Add/Drop period.
Campus Closure
In the event of a campus closure, all class-related activities will be conducted remotely, via Zoom. If there is an exam scheduled to take place on that day, the exam will be postponed to the next suitable date.