CS 173 [B], Spring 2015

Coursework

Lectures

Our lectures are Tu/Th 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM in DCL, Room 1320. You are expected to attend all the lectures, as these are an important part of the coursework. Some of the lectures have examlets which count towards your grade.

It is highly recommended that you get an i>Clicker for the lectures. You can register your clicker here (use your NetID as your "student ID").

Discussion Sections

50 minute discussion sections meet on Tuesday, at 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM in 1214 Siebel. Be sure to attend the section you are assigned to. Participation in the discussion section counts towards your grade. You should turn in a copy of your work at the end of the class.

Pre-Lecture Preparation

This includes prescribed readings and sometimes video clips, that help you follow the lecture much better. A short quiz (see below) will help you spend some brain-cycles processing this material.

Homeworks

Homeworks will be posted here.

Quizzes

Quizzes will appear on Moodle. These include pre-lecture quizzes as well as post-lecture ones.

Examinations

There will be six examlets (during the lectures) and one final exam, held in class. Details will be posted here.

Grading Policy

You can find the grading policy here.

Announcements

Announcements, homework hints, etc. will be posted on the class discussion forum on Piazza.

You must read the discussion forum regularly (at least once a day). Only particularly important announcements will be duplicated on the course home page. You are encouraged to use the discussion forum to initiate and participate in discussion related to the class. However, students should not post solutions or hints to homework problems.

Textbook and Discussion Problems Manual

We will roughly follow the course text, Building Blocks for Theoretical Computer Science, Version 1.2. The other main reference for the course are the slides from the lectures (posted here).

You will need to purchase the manual of discussion problems, available for $4.75 at the Union Bookstore. You should bring this to your assigned discussion each week. You will also need to get a carbonless-duplicate lab notebook or something with similar functionality. Duplicate lab notebooks are available at the Union Bookstore, but partially-used chemistry notebooks are also fine. When you submit problems in discussion, we will NOT return your submissions. Carbonless duplicate notebooks allow you to retain a second copy for your later studying. Other means of making a second copy (e.g. cell phone pictures) are ok as long as you're happy with the quality.

Optional Reading

Sometimes it helps to read explanations of an idea from several different people. If you want more study material, here are a couple of suggestions: