CMSC 100, Fall 2012
Course Schedule
Revised 9/10/12
Please note: This is a tentative schedule, and is subject to change.
"HW" = homework (written exercises); "PA" = programming assignment (programming exercises that may have a written component); all chapter readings refer to Schneider & Gersting (primary textbook)
Class Day Date News Topic Reading
(must be done by
the following class)		 Due Handouts and Comments
1 Thu 8/30 Wind
Brains 		Course Overview: Grand Challenges for Computer Science
  • Ch. 1.1-1.4
    		• Slides; grading policy; schedule; HW1; PA0; Getting Started with Scratch
    2 Tue 9/4 Deconstructing Google: Search and Information Retrieval on the Web
  • The Birth of Google
  • ...Content Farms...
  • Information Factories
  • Optional: ...Anatomy...
  • Optional: Wikipedia articles on Google, Google search, and PageRank
    		• DUE: Academic integrity signature page, survey Slides
    3 Thu 9/6 Deconstructing a Computer: What's Inside?
  • HowStuffWorks entry on "What's Inside My Computer?"
    		• Research paper handout
    4 Tue 9/11 From the Bottom Up: It's All Just Bits
  • Ch. 4.1-4.2.1, 4.3
  • Optional: 4.4-4.5
    		• DUE: HW1 Slides; HW2
    5 Thu 9/13 Programming with Scratch
  • Scratch Reference Guide
    		• DUE: PA0 Programming assignments packet (PA1, PA2, PA3 (Scratch project))
    PA2 movie
    6 Tue 9/18 Storing Data: Huffman Codes and Image Representation
  • Ch. 4.2.2
  • Optional: wikipedia entries on finite state machines and Huffman coding
    		• Slides
    7 Thu 9/20 Algorithms and Pseudocode
  • Ch. 2.1-2.2
    		• Slides
    8 Tue 9/25 Scratch II DUE: HW2 HW3
    Today's Scratch project
    9 Thu 9/27 Under the Hood: Computer Organization and Operating Systems
  • Ch. 5.1-5.2.2 (skip MAR/MDR/decoding on pp. 227-232 [5th ed: pp. 194-198])
  • Ch. 5.2.4 (skip RISC/CISC and types of operators on pp. 247-251 [5th ed: pp. 213-216])
  • Skim Ch. 5.3
  • Ch. 6.1-6.3.1 (skip details on pp. 285-290 [5th ed.: pp. 247-252])
  • Skim Ch. 6.3.2 for "flavor" of assembly language
  • Ch. 6.4
    		• Slides
    10 Tue 10/2 Problem Solving with Algorithms
  • Review Ch. 2.3 for understanding
    		• DUE: PA1 Help center schedule
    Help Center website
    11 Thu 10/4 Algorithms and Efficiency
  • Ch. 3.1-3.2
  • Optional: Ch. 3.3, 3.5
    		• Slides
    Grace Hopper Conference: Dr. desJardins away
    Guest lecturers: Clay Alberty and Kellie LaFlamme
    Complexity exercises
    12 Tue 10/9 Connecting: Networks, the Internet, and Social Networking
  • Ch. 7.1-7.2, 7.4
  • Optional: Ch. 7.3, 7.5
    		• DUE: HW3; topic proposal Slides; HW4
    Algorithms handout
    13 Thu 10/11 Review & Catchup "Your Turn" slide sample; study guide; Pseudocode for mode algorithm
    14 Tue 10/16 Your Turn: Project Sharing DUE BY MIDNIGHT MONDAY 10/15: PowerPoint slide DUE: PA2
    15 Thu 10/18 MIDTERM
    16 Tue 10/23 Midterm Review DUE: Initial Bibliography
    17 Thu 10/25 Leveraging Information: E-Commerce and Databases
  • Ch. 14
    		• Slides
    18 Tue 10/30 NO CLASS -- HURRICANE SANDY
    19 Thu 11/1 Election Keeping It Safe: Cybersecurity
  • Ch. 8.1-8.3
  • Public Key Encryption for Dummies
    		• DUE: HW4 Slides; HW5
    20 Tue 11/6 Movie Day DUE Monday 11/5 (online), Tuesday 11/6 (report): PA3 (Scratch Project)
    21 Thu 11/8 Representing and Using Knowledge: Artificial Intelligence
  • Ch. 15.1-15.3
    		• Slides
    22 Tue 11/13 Search and Game Playing
  • Ch. 15.5-15.6
  • Optional: Wikipedia pages on search, depth-first search, breadth-first search, and uniform-cost search,
    		• Slides
    23 Thu 11/15 Graphics: Hollywood, Games, and Virtual Reality
  • Ch. 16
    		• Guest speaker: Dr. Penny Rheingans
    Slides
    24 Tue 11/20 Multi-Agent Systems: Game Day
  • Agents of Change
    		• DUE: Outline, HW5 HW6
    Slides
    Thu 11/22 NO CLASS: ENJOY YOUR TURKEY!
    25 Tue 11/27 Computing in the World: Ethical Implications of Computation
  • Ch. 17.1-17.3
    		• Slides
    Presentation feedback form
    Review form
    Presentation order
    Final exam study guide
    26 Thu 11/29 Out on the Fringe: Nanotechnology, Quantum Computing, and the Next Killer App DUE: HW6 Slides
    27 Tue 12/4 Research Paper Presentations I DUE: Research paper draft. Powerpoint slides are due at midnight the night before your presentation is scheduled.
    28 Thu 12/6 Research Paper Presentations II
    29 Tue 12/11 Review, Wrap-Up, and Catch-Up DUE: Paper reviews Standard deviation
    Simplified standard deviation
    Tue 12/18, 1pm Final Exam DUE: Final research paper `