CMSC 202, Fall 2003 -- Syllabus

Textbook

Absolute C++, First Edition by Walter Savitch Addison Wesley Publishing, ISBN: 0-201-70927-9

Course Description

This course continues the development of programming and problem-solving skills, focusing on the C++ programming language, object-oriented programming and design (OOP/OOD), and improved programming practices. Topics include: Abstract Data Types (ADTs), an introduction to the C++ programming language including string and vectors, encapsulation and information hiding, inheritance and polymorphism and templates. Improved programming techniques including adherence to programming standards is also an important part of this course.
Programming projects for this course will use the C++ programming language. Prerequisites: CMSC 201 and MATH 151.

CMSC Gateway

For students who enrolled in college for the first time in Summer 1998 or later, you have two choices: pass both of CMSC 201 and CMSC 202 with a grade of B or better or don't graduate as a CMSC major. The registrar has very specific rules about repeating courses in sequence; for example, if you were to have a C in 201 and then take and pass 202 expecting to retake 201, you can't. Since the classes form a sequence, you cannot retake an earlier class in the sequence once you've passed a later one. Also, note that all University deadlines (for adding or dropping courses, changing grading method, etc.) will be strictly enforced, so make sure you are familiar with these.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are:

To learn and practice problem solving techniques
To understand the fundamental programming concepts of abstract data types
To learn programming in C++ and object-oriented programming.
To learn and understand good coding practices

Lectures and Readings

You are expected to attend all lectures for this course. Although both classes will cover the same general topics, you are responsible for the specifics given during your section. You are expected to attend all laboratory sessions, and you are responsible for all material presented there.

You are responsible for all material covered in class, even if it is not in the textbook. You are responsible for all material in the readings, even if it is not covered during class. If you should happen to miss a lecture or a lab, you are responsible for getting any missed notes or announcements from a classmate.

Assignments and Grading

Grading Criteria

Your grade in this course is based on projects, lab assignments and exams, which are discussed in more detail below. 1 Midterm = 25% 1 Comprehensive Final Exam = 25% 10 Lab Assignments (1% each) = 10% 5 Projects (8% each) = 40% Letter grades will follow the standard scale: 0 <= F < 60, 60 <= D < 70, 70 <= C < 80, 80 <= B < 90, 90 <= A <= 100 Your grade is based on timely work accomplished during the semester; incomplete grades will only be given for medical illness or other such dire circumstances (almost never).

Project grades will be mailed to your UMBC email account. The Midterm exam will be returned to you either in lecture or in lab. After each grade is returned, there is a grace period of one (1) week during which you may discuss any problems you have with your grade. After that time, your grade will stand.

Students in sections 0101 - 0108 (Mr. Frey) must discuss grade changes any project or exam, in person with Mr. Frey. No grade change requests will be granted via email.

Students in sections 0201 - 0208 (Mr. Raouf) should discuss grade changes with their TA.

Labs

All CMSC 202 lab sessions are held in ECS 104A and are led by your TA. During the lab sessions, you will be given short programming assignments which relate to the current topic being discussed in class and may be usable in the current project. To recieve credit for attending the lab and completing the lab assignment, your work must be verified by the TA.

In the event that you are unable to finish the assignment during the lab period, it is your responsibility to email your completed assignment to the lab's "Lead TA" within 48 hours.

Projects

The critical programming skills cannot be learned simply by attending the lectures. You should budget enough time to work on the projects as well. Projects are due by midnight of the due date.

Late projects will not be accepted. If your project is late, you will recieve a score of zero.

There will be five graded projects, each counting for 8% of your final grade. In addition, Project 0 is a mandatory ungraded project. The purpose of Project 0 is NOT to make sure you know how to use the submission system, but rather to make sure that the submission system is prepared to accept projects from your account. If you fail to submit Project 0, no future project submissions will be possible and your grade for those projects (which ARE graded) will suffer.

Network and computer failures at UMBC are a fact of life. They are out of your control and out of our control. However, they are not an excuse for a project to be submitted late, nor are they a reason for project deadlines to be extended, even if the outage occurs on the due date. Plan accordingly. Waiting to submit your project until 5 minutes before your project is due is a recipe for disaster. In the event of network outages or computer failures you are still responsible for submitting your projects on time. There are labs on campus even if your dialup or ResNet connections are down. Also, it is your responsibility to take care of any problems with your account, such as quota overages, which interfere with your ability to complete and submit projects for the course. Project extensions will not be given for such problems.

Makefiles

Every project must be submitted with a makefile. It is to be named either makefile or Makefile (your choice). No other names are acceptable for your makefile. The grader will compile and link your submitted project by typing 'make ProjN' (where N is the project number), so your makefile must correctly compile and link your project. This includes correct naming of the executable; the executable file produced for Project n must be named Projn ; no other names for the executable are acceptable (note the uppercase P).
A number of tutorials on makefiles are available. One is the UCS tutorial. Another is an excerpt from the GNU tutorial.

Project Compilation

All projects must compile and link on UMBC's Linux system using the g++ comipler/linker. To ensure you are accessing Linux, log on to linux.gl.umbc.edu. Do not develop your projects on the Irix machines (irix.gl.umbc.edu); different compilers are installed on the two systems, and what compiles on one may not compile on the other. All students must use the g++ compiler in the directory /usr/local/bin. You should do the following to insure you are using the correct compiler:

In your project makefiles, explicitly specify the compiler as /usr/local/bin/g++ rather than simply as g++.
Modify your .cshrc file (found in your home directory -- note the leading dot) by creating an alias for g++ by adding the following line near the bottom of your file:
alias g++ /usr/local/bin/g++
To check that you are using the correct g++ compiler, execute the command which g++. The response should be /usr/local/bin/g++ .
Further, the compiler switches -ansi and -Wall must be used when compiling. These must be included in your makefile rules and used whenever you compile "by hand" (e.g. /usr/local/bin/g++ -ansi -Wall MyProgram.cpp)

Design Assignments

Some projects will include a design/test assignment. The purpose of this assignment is to spend some time thinking about the design of your project before actually implementing it and to consider how your program should be tested. Generally, the design/test assignment for a project will be due a week before the project itself. You will be graded not only on the merits of your design, but on whether or not you actually follow your design in the implementation of the project. Designs will be submitted electronically just like source code files; late design/test assignments are not accepted. More details will be provided with the first project assignment.

Exams

There will be two (2) exams -- one midterm exam and the comprehensive final exam. (Note that the last exam is given during the scheduled final exam time for the class.) Make-ups for exams are given under only the most dire circumstances (such as hospitalization). Exams must be taken with your lecture session.

Unless otherwise noted, all exams are closed-book, closed-notes. A picture ID is required to take the exam.

Review questions for the exams will be made available approximately one week prior to the exam.

Course BlackBoard

A BlackBoard site has been created for this course. This site is used primarily to support discussion boards, but announcements are also posted there.

A discussion board will be established for each programming project. Students are encouraged to post general project questions, answer questions posted by other students or just browse the discussion board to find answers to project questions. Your instructors and TAs will also be posting questions and answers. Your questions may be posted anonymously.

Other discussion boards for topics such as general C++ questions will also be established. The course BlackBoard is accessed by logging on to my.umbc.edu and clicking on the Blackboard tab at the top of the page.

Academic Conduct Policies

By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC's scholarly community in which everyone's academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, or the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory.

All projects must be completed by your own individual effort. You should never have a copy of someone else's project either on paper or electronically under any circumstance. Also, you should never give a copy of your project, either on paper or electronically, to another student. This also means that you cannot "work" on the project together. Cases of academic dishonesty will be dealt with severely.

If you need help with your project, see your instructor, your TA, the Computer Science Help Center (room ITE 201E), or tutors provided by the Learning Resource Center. We also encourage you to consult your textbook and the course web pages.

Having someone else's project in your possession, even briefly, is forbidden. Safeguard your account password; you are responsible for the actions of anyone else you may allow to log into your account.
Safeguard hard copies of your programs; excuses such as "I must have left a copy of my code in the lab where someone else must have found it" will not be accepted.

Your project will be checked for similarities with all other student projects. If your project is found to be "substantially similar" to that of another student, or if it is determined that someone else wrote your project for you, then at a minumum you and the other student (if applicable) will receive a grade of zero for that project. Furthermore, all parties concerned will have their prior projects re-checked for cheating. Any second incident will result in a grade of 'F' for the semester. Also, checking for cheating may occur at any time during the semester. Therefore, if you cheated on Project 1, you may be confronted about that at any time; receiving a grade for a project does not mean you are "in the clear".

Any act of dishonesty WILL BE reported to the University's Academic Conduct Committee for further action, which may include, but is not limited to, academic suspension or dismissal from the university.

Email Policies

Email is great -- much better than voice mail. If you need to contact your instructor about this class outside of lecture and office hours, email is much better than the telephone. You should, however, observe the following etiquette:

Email is good for lots of things, but it is horrible for debugging. Instead, if possible, use your instructor's office hours, the TAs' office hours or the Help Center for debugging help.
When you send an email to your instructor, your instructor will reply to the address from which the email was sent.
When your instructor wishes to initiate an email to you, it will be sent to your UMBC GL account. Therefore, you should check your email at that account on a regular basis, as it will be used when necessary to communicate with the class outside of normal lecture time.
Use your real name. Email from "Hot Stuff" gets deleted without being read.
Use only the email addresses listed under "Staff Contact Information". Mail sent to any other addresses may not be read.
Include your name and section number in all email correspondence with course staff.
Include a meaningful subject line, something like "CMSC 202 Project 2 question". Your instructor teaches more than one course, so don't just refer to a project number.
Send email in text format only (no HTML, MS Word attachments, etc.)

In addition, due to the volume of student email during each semester, please note the following:

Although every attempt is made to respond to email promptly, do not expect responses during holidays or weekends, late in the evening, or on the evening a project is due.
Do not expect an immediate response to your mail. This means your should ask your project questions WELL BEFORE the due date, if you expect an answer in time to help you.
Do not wait to submit a project because you are waiting for a response to your email. Once you receive a response, you can resubmit an updated version of your project if you so choose (subject to the late penalties and policies outlined above).