| Class meeting | 9:30-10:45 TTh Austin 306 |
| Instructor: | Karl Abrahamson |
| Office: | Austin 233 |
| Office hours: | MW 11:00-12:30, TTh 11:00-12:00 or by appointment |
| Phone: | 328-1879 |
| Email: | karl@cs.ecu.edu |
| Course web page: | www.cs.ecu.edu/~karl/3510/fall02/ |
| My web page | www.cs.ecu.edu/~karl/ |
| Text: | Data Abstraction and Problem Solving with C++: Walls and Mirrors (second edition) by Frank Carrano, Paul Helman and Robert Veroff. |
You should have written programs in C or C++, and be a proficient programmer. If you are familiar with another programming language, you must expect to spend quite a bit of effort to learn C++.
I will not take attendance. It is up to you to attend class. You are responsible for announcements and assignments given in class. If you miss a class, it is up to you to obtain notes and any other information that was provided in the class. Excuses that you did not know about something because you did not come to class and did not obtain the information will not count for anything at all.
Those who choose not to attend class can count on doing poorly in this course. If you choose not to attend class, then you must live with the consequences of that decision, however bad they are.
No incompletes will be issued in this course except under extraordinary circumstances, and even then only if you are nearly done already, and have done work of acceptable quality that it is realistic that you can pass the course. Incompletes will not be given because of an inability to complete the assignments.
Makeups of missed quizzes will only be offerred with a university-excused absence. If you miss a quiz without a university-excused absence, you will receive a grade of 0 for that quiz.
In this course, we will study advanced techniques in computer programming, using the C++ programming language. Topics to be studied include the following.
Dynamic memory allocation. Language features for allocating and deallocating memory on-the-fly will be studied.
Concrete data structures. This is concerned with how to represent and work with various forms of data in the computer, especially using dynamic memory allocation. We will study a variety of data structures.
Algorithms and problem solving. Generally, concrete data structures have associated algorithms. We will study a few algorithms and techniques for manipulating data.
Abstract data types. This is concerned with how programs should be organized to make working with concrete data structures manageable.
Elementary Concepts of Object-oriented Programming. Object-oriented programming can be used to implement and extend the concept of abstract data types.
Correctness. You need to have some way to convince yourself that your program is correct. We will discuss informal methods.
C++. We will cover the features of the C++ language that are needed.
This is a programming course, and students are expected to complete programming exercises. You may discuss your ideas with other students, but your programs must be your own work. Copying of programs will be considered plagiarism.
Grading will tentatively be as follows. Programming assignments will count 35% of your grade. There will be two midterm exams counting 18% each and a final exam counting 29%. Tentative cutoffs are 90% for an A, 80% for a B, 70% for a C and 60% for a D. Those cutoffs might be adjusted to account for overall class performance and the difficulty of the assignments and questions, but they will not be raised.
Important proviso. It is not possible to learn the material of this course effectively without actually "getting your hands dirty" and doing the programming. Accordingly,
in order to pass this course, you must receive at least a 60% grade in the programming assignments and at least a 60% grade in the exams.This outweighs the score computed by adding grades together.
I will compile and run programs using the g++ compiler. I will use the following warning flags when compiling programs:
-Wall -Wshadow -Wpointer-arith -OWarning flag -Wall causes warnings about use of uninitialized variables, but only if used in conjunction with flag -O, which causes the compiler to optimize code. (Uninitialized variables are detected during dataflow analysis, which is only performed as part of optimization.) Optimized code is more difficult to debug than unoptimized code. Your best bet is to compile with -O to get the warnings, but to recompile without -O before you run the debugger.
Programs will be graded according to the following broad criteria.
First, the program must compile without fatal errors.
A program that does not compile automatically receives a score of 0, regardless of how close to correct it might be.
The program must be acceptably well indented. I need to be able to read your programs, and I will not read a program that is extremely poorly indented.
A program that is extremely poorly indented will receive a failing grade, regardless of how well it performs the task that it is required to do.
The following are broad guidelines for grading. Some programs will not fit exactly into any of these classifications, but I will try to choose the best fit.
To receive an A (90-100), a program should work on all of the test cases that I use. It should compile without warnings. It should be well indented and well commented. Comments should be clear, correct and complete. Every function should have a clear and correct contract. The program should be broken into fairly short, well-thought-out functions. Variable and function names should be sensible. It should follow all guidelines and requirements that have been set for the program.
To receive a B (80-89), a program should work on typical test cases, though it might fail on more esoteric cases. The compiler should not report serious warnings that reflect mistakes in the program. The program should be well commented and well indented, though minor problems might be present. It should be broken into fairly short, well-thought-out functions, with a contract for each function. It should almost completely follow the guidelines and requirements that have been set for the program.
To receive a C, a program should work on at least some test cases. It must be reasonably commented and indented, though some comments might be misleading or incorrect. It should be broken into reasonable functions. It should mostly follow the guidelines and requirements that have been set out for the program.
To receive a D, a program might not work correctly on any test cases, but the basics of the design must be present. The program should be acceptably well indented. I will not read a program that is very poorly indented. It should make some attempt to follow the guidelines and requirements that have been set out for the program.
You will be given two opportunities to do each program. After the first attempt, you will receive feedback, and can modify your program. If you miss the deadline for the first attempt, you will have only the second attempt.
Late submissions for the first deadline will not be accepted. Late submissions for the second deadline will be accepted with a 5 point penalty (out of 100) for each 24 hours that the program is late. Programs will not be accepted after the last day of classes.
I will provide some feedback on anything that is turned in as a first attempt. However, I do not guarantee to find all errors. You should certainly fix all errors that I point out, but that is not necessarily adequate. You are expected to fix those and any additional errors that might exist before turning in the second attempt.
If you turn in a high quality first attempt, then you can expect that the errors that I point out will be fairly complete, and your second attempt will consist mainly of fine-tuning. If you turn in a low quality first attempt, then you can expect that the feedback that I give will be quite incomplete, and you will have major work to do for the second attempt. If you do not turn in the first attempt, then you will have no feedback at all before turning in your second attempt.
Programs should be submitted using the handin utility. Details on using this will be given with your first assignment.
Turn in all of your source files, including header files. Do not turn in executable files or makefiles.
Be sure that all files are plain text files, not forms such as Microsoft or Html word documents. Submissions of Microsoft word or Html documents as programs will be thrown away.
Include your name in a comment at the top of each source file.
You are encouraged to ask questions about your programs when you are stumped, especially if you come up against a difficulty with the language. Send questions early, to leave yourself time to make progress after receiving an answer. To ask a question about a program, attach any files that are relevant to your question.
In the event of a weather emergency, information about ECU can be accessed through the following sources:
| ECU emergency notices | http://www.ecu.edu/alert |
|---|---|
| ECU emergency information hotline | 252-328-0062 |
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Support Services, located in Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.