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Information on taking CS1130

Please read the information on this page carefully.

 

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The nature of this course

Self-paced. This is a self-paced, S/U course. You may move at your own pace. Four weeks is the expected time, but you may do it faster if you want, and if you need extra time, take it.

Experience has shown that, in general, you will do the work by a given time only if you have a deadline. In the past, too many students have waited until the last moment and have had extreme difficulty finishing. Therefore, we ask that you determine when you will complete the course and sign a contract to that effect. If for some reason you cannot meet your own deadline, talk to us and it can be changed.

Please complete this contract and take it to an instructor, TA, or consultant.

Mastery of the material. There are two assignments and two tests, and a few quizzes. You may take a test only after you have finished the corresponding assignment and quizzes. Assignments, quizzes, and tests will require mastery of the material. Thus, you will work on an assignment until it is correct. Similarly, you will continue to take a test (or a version of it) until you get 85/100. The tests will not be overly difficult, and the second one will involve writing a Java program on the computer.

Quizzes. Each of the quizzes is designed to make sure that you have learned some important concept. Here's how the quiz will work. You tell a consultant that you are ready to take a quiz, and you take it (5 minutes). The consultant will look at what you did and will have one of three responses.

  1. You passed the quiz and can move on.
  2. Your answers show some slight misunderstandings. The consultant will go over your answers and explain your misunderstandings and may ask you to answer another question in order to be sure that you understand. Then, you can move on.
  3. Your answer shows great misunderstanding. The consultant will show you what you did wrong and ask you to come back at another time, the next day, and take the quiz again.

To find out when quizzes are given, click here.

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Course materials

The course uses the text book

Multimedia Introduction to Programming Using Java
David Gries and Paul Gries. Springer Verlag, 2005.

A sleeve on the inside back cover should contain a CD, called ProgramLive. Further, there should be a white slip of paper on the sleeve that contains a serial number. Do not buy a book that does not have a CD and serial number.

The course also uses DrJava, a free software system for working with Java. We have extensive information on how to download DrJava onto you computer.

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About the blectures

The blectures (web-based lectures) are a new addition to our collection of instructional materials. A blecture captures of part of a computer screen —usually a powerpoint window, a DrJava window, or both— and audio. Each blecture is 5-9 minutes long and focuses on one topic. Here are some points about the blectures:

  1. When you click on a blecture link, you may be asked for your Cornell netid and password. Non-Cornell people who are looking at blectures will also be asked for an email address; this is just so that we can record who is using the site and any comments you might give us on the blecture.

    After you log in, a window will appear with the blecture on it. Be patient. It may take some seconds for the blecture to start, depending on your connection to the internet. If you are using a Cornell computer or your own computer in the dorm, it should not take long.
  2. You don't have to watch all the blectures. Your goal is to learn the material; do it whichever way you want.
  3. After watching a blecture, please complete the short survey that appears on the right of the window and then click button submit. We need input from you on the value of the blectures and your comments on how they can be improved.

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Approaches to learning the material

We present the material in this course to you in various ways, and you can choose which to use at any time. Here they are.

  1. The text book and its accompanying ProgramLive CD are the ultimate source. Refer to them often, as a reference for certain topics as well as material to study. Use the index and table of contents in the text to find what you need. The ProgramLive CD contains a hypertext index and glossary, making it easy to browse. The other material, for example, the blectures (web lectures), may be extremely useful, but they cannot cover everything. The text book does.
  2. The course is presented to you in two modules, each of which has a webpage that gives you a list of topics covered in the module: module 1 and module 2. Various ways are used to present the material to you:
    1. Sections of the text book.
    2. Blectures: online web lectures, each lasting 2–8 minutes. These are the quickest way to begin grasping new material. You may watch them as often as you like, and you can use a scroll bar to skip or repeat material.
    3. Word documents and powerpoint slides used in the online lectures. The material is covered in more detail in the text book, so you don't have to look at these. But they are there for your use if you want them.
    4. Lectures (activities) on the ProgramLive CD. The CD has over 250 recorded lectures with synched animation, each 2-5 minutes long. You can obtain the text of each lecture (use menu item Exposition -> View exposition text).
    5. html pages.
    6. Online list of concepts and definitions, with references to the text.

We have attempted to provide the course material in different ways so that each can learn in a way that suits them best.

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