COMP 211: Principles of Program Design

Office Hours:

• TBA

e-mail the entire class: TBA 

e-mail just the staff: TBA 

Introduction

This course is an introduction to the fundamental principles of programming. The focus is on systematic methods for developing robust solutions to computational problems. Students are expected to have experience writing interesting programs in some credible programming language (e.g., Python, Java, Scheme, C#, C++, Visual Basic .NET, PRL, Scheme, Lisp, etc.) but no specific programming expertise is assumed. The course is targeted at potential Computer Science majors but mathematically sophisticated non-majors are welcome. We expect students to be comfortable with high-school mathematics (primarily algebra, mathematical proofs, and induction) and the mathematical rigor and vocabulary of freshman calculus. Success in the course requires a deep interest in the foundations of computer science and software engineering, self-discipline, and a willingness to work with other people on programming projects. Topics covered include functional programming, algebraic data definitions, design recipes for writing functions, procedural abstraction, reduction rules, program refactoring and optimization, object-oriented programming emphasizing dynamic dispatch, OO design patterns, fundamental data structures and algorithms from an OO perspective, simple Grapical User Interfaces (GUIs), and an exposure to the challenges of concurrent computation.

Students will learn the practical skills required to write, test, maintain, and modify programs. Labs and assignments use the Scheme and Java programming languages.

Text For Scheme: How to Design Programs, Second Edition (DRAFT) by Felleisen et al. The First Edition was published in 2001 and has LC classification QA76.6 .H697 2001.  We will refer to this text as HTDP.

DrScheme/DrRacket: Please download and use the DrScheme/DrRacket system available from the Racket download site.

• DrRacket Tips and Traps

Notes for Java: Object-oriented Design

References for Java

• Principles of Object-Oriented Programming by Zung Nguyen and Stephen Wong. An online self-contained introduction to OOP in Java roughly corresponding to the former Comp 212 course. It is reasonably complete, but still under construction.
• Design Patterns Lens  - A collection of short descriptions of the design patterns covered in the course.
• Index to online Java Tutorials by Sun Microsystems The Sun tutorials refer to the full Java language not the Elementary and Intermediate language levels supported by DrJava.Nevertheless, they cover many important language details in depth, such as the complete collection of primitive operators on primitive data types.
• Java Basics by Fred Swartz is a clearly written traditional introduction to Java that focuses on Java mechanics rather than OO Design. It can be helpful in learning the mechanics of writing full Java code. Please ignore what he says about program design.
• Java Notes by Fred Swartz is a reasonably comprehensive Java reference that is a good supplement to the official Sun documents.

DrJava: Please download and use the DrJava pedagogic programming environment available from drjava.org. You must install either the Java 6 or Java 7 JDK on your machine for DrJava to work. (Addendum: DrJava may work with Java 5; it has not been tested since Java 5 is no longer supported by Oracle.) If you machine is running some flavor of Windows or Linux or a recent version of Mac OS X, go to the Oracle Download Site for Java SE 6.0.

Entrance Survey

Please fill out this survey.

Confirm that You Can Attend Lab

The lab is an essential component of the course. Every student should attend lab on TBA.

Computing Environment

All Comp 211 programming assignments will be run and graded on the TBA educational computing facility. 

Errata

This wiki for Comp 211 is a revision of the Spring 2011 Comp 211 wiki and may contain a significant number of broken links and typos. If you notice an error in the wiki, please send email to the Prof. Robert (Corky) Cartwright.

Course Schedule

Note that future date schedules are based on the 2011 calendar; they are merely guidelines for creating a similar calendar.   The homeworks and slides contain materials from previous Comp 210, 211, and 212 classes. In the Spring 2011 edition of this course, there were two take-home exams in the course: one on functional programming during week 7 and one on object-oriented programming during in the last week of the course. There was no final examination.

Grading, Honor Code Policy, Processes and Procedures

Grading will be based on your performance on homeworks (worth 50%) and exams (20% for first exam, and 30% for the second exam).

Take-home exams, which are pledged under the honor code, test your individual understanding and knowledge of the material. Collaboration on exams is strictly forbidden.

We will normally use the OwlSpace Comp 211 Announcements and General Discussion forum to post important announcements and discussions related to the
class, particularly Q&A on class assignments.   The Owlspace e-mail alias to the entire class (see above) will also be used.

Other Mailing Lists:

• cs-events-l@mailman.rice.edu:
  • Announcements relating to talks and other interesting events hosted by the CS departments.
  • Subscription to this list is optional but highly recommended

Questions

If you have a question about homework – you're not sure what is expected for a given problem, you haven't received feedback from a previous assignment, or you don't understand or agree with the assessment of your work, for example – you can raise the question with a TA in lab or on the class mailing list. It is preferable to send a question out for the whole class to discuss so that everyone can benefit from eachother's contributions as well the responses from the staff.   Please restrict messages sent to only the staff to more sensitive matters that do not warrant viewing by the entire class. If you still don't feel that your concerns have been addressed, you may wish to contact Prof. Cartwright or Prof. Wong directly.

Homeworks:

Homeworks help you verify your understanding of the material and prepare you for the exams. You are encouraged to discuss the homework problems with the instructors and staff. Help from other students, including Comp 211 graduates, is also encouraged (but should be cited), although that does not include giving or receiving complete answers. All homework partners are responsible for knowing all the submitted material. If you fail to understand the homework solutions, you won't succeed on the exams.

Homeworks will generally be handed out on Fridays, and will be due before class the following Friday.

You are expected to work in groups of two.

You may change partners during the semester.

Partners should work together on all aspects of the homework -- all students are expected to contribute equally. You and your partner should hand in exactly one solution.

Late homework will not be accepted with one exception. Every student is allotted 7 slip days. Each whole day or fraction of a day that an assignment is late counts as a slip day. Each student in the pair submitting a late assignment must spend the requisite number of slip days. Since assignments get progressively harder during the semester, we strongly encournage you to hoard your slip days for use near the end of the term.

We recommend that you review the homework guide as you develop your solutions. Review the submission checklist when you turn in your homework. Your work will be graded as documented on the grading page.

Reading: For each lecture, there is associated reading. Students are required to complete the reading before the class associated with this reading.

Other Resources

• Practical matters:
  • DrScheme Programming Environment
• Special interest groups:
  • CSters
  • Computer Science Club
  • ... (please send in suggestions!)

Additional References

Here is a nice article about the basic approach taken in this course.

More on CS

More on Functional Programming

More on Object-Oriented Design in Java

More on Data Structures and Algorithms

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me during the first two weeks of class regarding any special needs. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center and the Rice Disability Support Services.