Guide to using the Tentative Schedule

·        The schedule is Tentative. Things happen during the semester that may require modification of the schedule.

·        The Answer to Exercises link will take you to a page of links to solutions to the EXERCISES assigned through out the semester. The idea is that you complete the exercise (many of the exercises are .rtf format files and can be printed out.) and then compare your solution to the one on the Answers to Exercise page. For on-line students please email or phone me if you have any questions about the solutions. If you email me please include the word QUESTION in the subject line. For on-campus students bring your completed exercise to class and we will go over it together.

·        You may use the Week links as they become live to quickly move to the indicated place in the schedule.

·        The first column (Week) indicates the week the other two columns pertain to.

·        The second column (Topics) lists the main topics to be covered that week and indicates when labs and other assignments should be completed in relation to the material being covered.

·        The third column (Detail) contains links to details about that weeks work. (Reading assignments, exercises, lab assignments, and lecture material)

·        The Details pages

o   The first column of the details page (Related Reading) contains the tutorials and/or individual pages that pertain to the topics that are to be covered that week. My intention is that you read the required material BEFORE attempting the labs. The optional tutorials will provide you with additional coding experience. I strongly encourage the on-line students to complete the tutorials.

§  I have attempted to align the reading assignments in the first column with the related “lecture” material in the second column.

§  Practical assignments (labs and logic) for that week.  Since you will have two or more assignments due each week it will be in your best interest not to wait until the last minute to do all the assignments. Assignments will not be accepted late. If you get behind it may be difficult for you to catch up.

o   The second column of the details page (Lecture Material, Exercises, and Lab Assignments) contains

§  Links to material that covers the information I believe to be the most basic and important. I have attempted to cover everything you will need to complete the labs in this column. You may want to print out copies of the web pages. Some students in the past have copied the material into a document, modified the fonts and spacing, and printed it to save paper.

§  Links to Videos that demonstrate application of topic covered that week.

§  Exercises (indicated by EXERCISE) are to apply the new material. The exercises are in the form of .rtf files that can be opened and/or saved. It is my intention that after reading the related reading assignment you complete the exercises by entering the answers in the original document and then compare your answer to the solutions contained on the Answer to Exercises page. You do not submit these exercises. They are to be self checked.

§  *** Entries preceded by three red asterisks indicate something you are to do, assignments with due dates in red will be submitted for grading. These include walkthrough exercises, debugging exercises, and programs.

·        Sample executables for all assignments will be made available in a zipped folder called Sample Executables found on course home page in Cobra. You can use these sample files to ascertain how the completed and/or corrected programs should function. To run a sample you must Extract the file to an appropriate storage location, once extrated you can double-click on the .exe file to execute it.

·        Each programming assignment will have a link to a "grader". This grader is what I use to evaluate your program. It is a really REALLY REALLY good idea for you to use the grader to self-evaluate your program before turning it in. If there is anything you do not understand in the grader do not hesitate to ask for a clarification.

·        The are often Hints at the bottom of the lab assignments that will be helpful in completing the programs.

§  Programming guidelines. For all programs written in this class I require that you adhere to all programming guidelines. Points will be deducted if you do not. New versions of the programming guidelines are posted as new concepts are introduced.

·        Please let me know if you find

o   Broken links

o   Unclear, contradictory, incomplete or just plain poor directions or instructions

o   Incomplete, missing, incorrect information

o   Any misspelled words