Syllabus

People

Name		Email		Position
Robert Rose		rrose@wesleyan.edu		Lecturer
Riya Ashby		rashby@wesleyan.edu		Course Assistant
Neve Oren		noren@wesleyan.edu		Course Assistant
Quentin Tan		htan03@wesleyan.edu		Course Assistant
Jocelyn Wang		jwang06@wesleyan.edu		Course Assistant

Use email to contact any of the staff at the addresses above.

Meeting times

Section		Days		Times		Location
01		MW		01:20PM-02:40PM		OLIN014
02		MW		02:50PM-04:10PM		OLIN014

Lectures

Lectures will be given on Monday and occasionally during the first 15 minutes of class on Wednesday. Team-based learning activities will be held during lecture. Participation in these activities is required. The activities are paper-based. A laptop is not needed for lecture.

Labs

Labs will be held in the usual classrooms on Wednesdays. You will need to bring a laptop on Wednesdays. If bringing a laptop on Wednesdays is an issue for you, let the course instructor know.

Towards the end of lab each week, course staff will ask to you to demo your work and will give you a grade for the day. Because students work at different paces, labs include more exercises than an average student can complete during lab. Completing all of the exercises in a lab is not required to get an A for the lab.

You will be able to submit your lab work to Handin for later retrieval.

Solutions to the lab exercises will not in general be provided. Course staff will be available to assist students in completing unfinished exercises themselves.

Problem sets

There will typically be a problem set due each week at 10PM ET on Wednesday. In my experience, this is the activity on which students work the hardest and from which they learn the most. Schedule your time accordingly.

You are allowed to discuss the problems with others in the class. But be careful. You are not allowed to show others your solution code (even partially complete or buggy) and you are not allowed to copy others’ code in any way. Code sharing or copying is a violation of the Honor Code and will be brought to attention of the Honor Board.

A good way to ensure that you do not use someone else’s code illicitly is to make a habit of writing your solutions alone at least an hour after you last collaborated with someone (and to do so without consulting any notes you might have taken then).

Solutions to the problem sets will not be provided. Course staff will be available to assist students in solving problems themselves.

Exams

There will be in-class midterm and final exams.

The midterm exam will take place on Wednesday, October 20.

Computing Environment

We will use DrRacket version 8.2 or later, an environment for designing programs in a number of different languages.

DrRacket is freely available on the Web for you to install on your own computer.

Our language is called the Beginning Student Language ("BSL" for short). It was developed specifically for this course. BSL focuses our attention on a number of essential principles of programming. Once we have learned these principles, we are in a particularly strong position to learn other programming languages.

We will also use two graphics libraries: 2htdp/image and 2htdp/universe.

Submitting work

There is a homework submission server, called Handin, running specifically for this class. You will be able to access it from DrRacket.

All problem sets must be submitted to Handin. Your submission is accepted only if the message "Handin successful" appears. You may submit as many times as you like prior to the deadline: only your last submission will be graded.

Important: If you are off-campus, you must connect to the campus VPN to submit to Handin.

How to install the Handin plugin in DrRacket

• In the File menu, choose "Install .plt file"

• In the dialog, enter the following URL: https://comp115.rrose.wescreates.wesleyan.edu/comp-115.plt

• Restart DrRacket

• When DrRacket starts again, you should have a button with the Wesleyan logo. To create an account, go to the File menu and choose "Manage COMP 115 Handin Account". Then create a new account. Your username must be the same as your Wesleyan username (without "@wesleyan.edu"). However, choose a completely different password.

Grading

Grades will be recorded in Classroom. Your graded problem sets will be returned to you as shared files with comments on Google Drive.

If you choose to be graded on the Cr/U scale, you will receive Cr if you would have been assigned a D- or better; and U otherwise.

Problem set corrections and late submissions

Ordinarily, you may submit or resubmit a problem set up to two weeks after its due date. The maximum grade for a late problem set is 6, but with the following exception: if you meet with course staff and demonstrate that your problem set is completely correct, you will receive an 8. Thus, corrections may be done in light of feedback you receive from graders.

The final date for late submissions is Wednesday, December 8.

You will be able to submit late assignments through Handin. They will be graded the week prior to the next exam (unless they have been successfully demoed to course staff). As always, if you have questions or desire feedback earlier, contact the course staff.

Textbook

Our textbook is How to Design Programs, Second Edition by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt, and Krishnamurthi. It is free for your use.

Honor code

All students of Wesleyan University are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council–Office of Student Affairs. Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). The Office of Student Affairs has more information.

Phones

Research has shown us that even having our cell phones on the table in front of us diminishes our ability to learn well. Checking texts, emails, and messages is also unprofessional and disrespectful to our class community. Please silence and store your phones during class. We will do so as well.

Conduct

Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, color, culture, religion, creed, politics, veteran’s status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and gender expression, age, ability, and nationality. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student’s legal name. We will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that we may make appropriate changes to my records. For more information, see the policies on the student code.

Discrimination and harassment

Wesleyan University is committed to maintaining a positive learning, working, and living environment. Wesleyan will not tolerate acts of discrimination or harassment based upon Protected Classes or related retaliation against or by any employee or student. For purposes of this Wesleyan policy, "Protected Classes" refers to race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation or political philosophy. Individuals who believe they have been discriminated against should contact the Office for Equity and Inclusion at 860-685-4771. The responsibility of the University Members has more information.

Accommodation statement

Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a disability as defined by the ADA. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Accessibility Services as soon as possible.

If you have a disability, or think that you might have a disability, please contact Accessibility Services in order to arrange an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations. Accessibility Services is located in North College, rooms 021/218, or can be reached by email (accessibility@wesleyan.edu) or phone (860-685-2332).

Religious observances

Faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments, or required assignments/attendance. If this applies to you, please speak with me directly as soon as possible at the beginning of the term.