Instructor: Dr. John Dalbey	Office: 14-203
Phone: 756-2921	Email:
CSc Dept: 756-2824	Office Hours: MW 1000-1200

Eckel, Bruce Thinking in Java (3rd edition) (online book).

Cooper, James. The Design Patterns Java Companion (online book).

The Swing Tutorial

The BlueJ and Greenfoot documentation

The course is a design and implementation course with a workload equivalent to other programming courses. I hope the project will be challenging but not overwhelming. (Around 3 KLOC, or 300 LOC/week). The project work will be quite structured. We will build a similar project during lab and then you can use those techniques to build your own project.

READINGS
We will read most of the Horstman text as well as a few short articles. The class calendar will be updated regularly with due dates for readings and homework assignments. The readings and homework are DUE on the day shown on the schedule.

HOMEWORK AND QUIZZES
There will be occasional written homework assignments. Your work must be typewritten unless otherwise noted (refer to these guidelines). There will be a small number of quizzes about the reading assignments, lecture topics, and java programming skills. Some will be announced in advance, and some will be unannounced ("surprise"). A quiz counts the same as a homework assignment. Homework and quizzes are credit/no credit.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
Each student will give one oral presentations to the class. You will select a topic from the topics list. You must research this topic individually and give a professional talk explaining the subject matter to the class. Here are the presentation requirements and tips.

LABORATORY ACTIVITIES
During the designated lab time there will be structured activities to complete. Students will work in assigned pairs. You must bring a Java reference of your own choosing to lab (you may share one with your partner). Some of the lab activities will be to practice using a tool or technique. Most will involve modifying or enhancing the "demo project" the instructor has created. The intent is that the skills you practice in the lab will be directly applicable to your individual project. Lab activities are graded credit/no credit.

WRITTEN EXAMINATIONS
There will be a midterm and a final written examination. In general the exams will assess your understanding of the principles and concepts from the lecture. The exam will tend to have an applied focus and will ask you to comprehend, modify, or write software designs.   If your cumulative score in the course before the final exam is so low that earning 100% on the final would not enable you to pass, you are not elegible to take the final.

COURSE PROJECT
The major work of the class will be to complete a substantial software development effort (~1-5 KLOC). You must complete the implementation of the project in order to pass the course. Students will not have any choice in determining the project, although there will be opportunity for individual creativity. The instructor will provide all the requirements.

The target platform for our course project is the Java Virtual Machine. Parts of the design of the course project are "pluggable" so that components written by students will be interchangeable. This will require people coding in some language that can be compiled to run on the JVM (and Java is the likely choice for most students).

Letter grades are assigned on a straight percentage basis: A = 90-100%, B = 80% - 89%, C = 70% - 79%, D = 60% - 69%, F = < 60% . Borderline scores may receive a Plus/Minus grade.

ALTERNATE GRADING SCHEMES
If you feel the above grading scheme will not provide the best assessment of your learning in the course, you may negotiate with the instructor for an alternate scheme. For example, you may want to demonstrate your learning via Journal, Portfolio, or Quality Challenge. You must agree to an alternate scheme before the end of the second week of classes.

ATTENDANCE

You may obtain permission to be excused from class for valid academic or medical reasons, but it is your responsibility to secure permission from the instructor BEFORE the day you will be absent. The instructor may request appropriate documentation of your excuse. (Note that job interviews are unexcused absences).

The midterm and final examinations may only be taken during the scheduled exam period.

WRITING REQUIREMENTS and GRADING SYMBOLS
Follow these guidelines for written work.

DEADLINES

Due dates for all coursework are shown on the course calendar. Written homework is due at the exact class start time on the table at the front of the classroom. Most labs and projects will be submitted electronically through a procedure called "handin." Your work will be time stamped automatically when you submit it. Work which is received late, even by one second, receives no credit. Do NOT submit your assignments via e-mail.

If you anticipate illness or other emergency will prevent you from submitting an assignment before the deadline, you may be able to make alternate arrangements for submission by contacting the instructor prior to the due date.

The absolute deadline for submitting any course assignments, extra credit, etc. is 5pm of Friday of the last week of classes.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

This course involves both individual work and collaborative work. It is your responsibility to understand the guidelines that apply to each kind of work, and to be clear about which assignments are individual assignments and which are collaborative.

Individual Assignments

All the coursework, except laboratory activities, is considered to be individual work. Individual work is to be carried out entirely and solely by an individual. You may not "work together" on individual assignments. The content of the assignment is not to be discussed or shared in any way with other students. There is to be no conversation about individual assignments except with the instructor. This policy will be rigorously enforced. Programs will be checked for plagarism using both computer and human similarity checkers. Take extreme precautions that your individual work is not viewed by other students. This includes deleting all your computer files from public workstations when you are finished, retaining private permissions on your Unix files, destroying printouts of source code, and not letting other students use your personal computer where you store your coursework.

In addition, the work you submit must be entirely your original creation. Using solutions from any other source is forbidden; in particular, using solutions (either instructors' or other students') from previous offerings of this or other courses is not allowed. Using solutions found on the Internet or getting help from online forums is not allowed.

Assignments which appear to be the result of a "group effort", or which appear to have been copied from another student, will be considered plagiarized. Similarly, you must explain your homework solutions using your own words, not copying the answers from the textbook. Violations of this policy may result in being failed from the course. See the campus statement on Academic Dishonesty: Cheating and Plagiarism (C.A.M. 684)

Collaborative Assignments

The only coursework which is collaborative are the laboratory activities. Students will work in pairs to complete the structured lab activities. Each pair will submit one solution that includes the names of both contributors.

PRINTED OUTPUT REQUIREMENTS
Don't use smaller than 12 point font without permission. Source code printouts may be 10 point font but must be monospaced.

PRIVACY POLICY

All files in computer accounts belonging to the instructor and students in this class should be considered private (regardless of the state of the unix file permissions). You may access only those files to which the instructor or account owner has specifically given you verbal or written authorization.

COMPUTER FACILITIES

Students enrolled in this course are entitled to a computer account in the computer science department labs. All the labs share a common file system, and your username, password, and home directory is the same in all labs. From outside the lab you can use secure shell to login to vogon.csc.calpoly.edu to access your files. If you do not already have an account, see the instructor. Do not share the password or the account will be frozen and you will be failed from the course. There are numerous software tools available on this system which you might find helpful.

A number of important class documents will be made available in electronic form (e.g. assignments, due dates). They can be accessed via a WWW browser through the 305 link from the instructor's home page. These files should be considered as evolving documents, as they will be refined and updated as the course proceeds. You may access documents on the course web site only via hyperlinks. You are not authorized to view other documents that may exist but have no hyperlink to them.

Occasionally the instructor will mail announcements to the entire class by using an alias which sends mail to your OracleMail account. If you don't use OracleMail regularly, you should setup your OracleMail account to forward your mail to your regular email account.

Computer Science majors are expected to be proficient with tools of their trade such as e-mail and backups. Excuses such as "my email account was down" or "my hard drive crashed" are not likely to gain much sympathy.

The instructor will not read email whose "Sender" field is not an actual student name. Don't use nicknames in mail you send to the instructor or it will be returned to you unread.

Students are expected to learn and abide by the principles of ethical use of computers as determined by the ACM (Assoc. for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, the Campus computing and Communication Policies, Calif. state laws (see Penal Code Section 502), and federal laws.

Grader UNIX account : ~graderjd

This account contains certain documents and sample programs you will need to complete the class assignments. Campus computing policies (as well as state and federal laws) prohibit you from reading files in other user's accounts, regardless of whether the file permissions allow such actions, unless you have been given specific authorization to do so. The instructor hereby grants permission to read any file in the grader account whose unix file permissions allow public access.

Lab activities and programming projects will be submitted to this account for grading via "handin." To send a message to the instructor, be sure to e-mail it to the instructor's personal account, jdalbey.

GETTING ASSISTANCE

Office hours:
One of the great benefits of attending Cal Poly, as opposed to a University of California, is the opportunity to interact directly with your instructors. You are invited to take advantage of this opportunity by visiting the instructor during office hours, even if you are not having difficulties with the course. Of course if you are having difficulties, you should see the instructor as soon as possible. If you need help with any form of programming activity, you should bring a current hardcopy of your source code. If schedule office hours are not convenient for you, other times can be reserved by arrangement.

Email:
The instructor will read his email daily (except weekends) and email is a good vehicle for certain kinds of communications. Use e-mail to report errors on the class web site, to report problems in your electronic submission, to clarify assignment requirements, to reserve an appointment, to ask concise technical questions, or to ask short questions that can be responded to with a short answer (a sentence or two). Complex questions or abstract questions are best dealt with in person. Many programming problems, including debugging, are best handled during office hours. It is probably not the best use of email to send your entire program and say "I can't figure out what's wrong."

CLASSROOM CLIMATE
It is a core value of academic discourse to be tolerant of views different than our own and to treat others with respect.

In addition, an atmosphere conducive to learning can be fostered by minimizing distractions for others who are trying to concentrate. Common courtesies include:

• Arrive on time. If you arrive late please enter quietly and take a seat in the row nearest the door.
• Don't wear headphones or earphones and don't listen to portable devices in classroom or lab.
• Do not use a notebook computer during lecture. (If you have a legitimate need, see the instructor).
  
• Only one person speaks at a time during discussions; no side conversations.
• Wait until class has been dismissed before packing up.

HOW TO ADDRESS THE INSTRUCTOR

CELL PHONES AND PAGERS

Cell phones present an annoying disruption in class and a distraction from course activities. You may not talk on a cell phone in the classroom or lab room for any reason.  Once you enter the classroom or lab, put your cell phone away where it is out of sight. You may not use a cell phone in the instructor's office. The policy for Winter 2008 is that if a cell phone rings during class, that person is required to bring cookies for everyone at the next class meeting.

RECORDING DEVICES

The use of audio-visual recording devices of any kind (camera, tape recorder, etc) are not allowed without the instructor's permission.

DROP/WITHDRAWAL POLICY

You may use CAPTURE to drop this course any time during the first two weeks of class. Please carefully evaluate your schedule and determine if you will remain in the class before the end of the add/drop period. After the drop date, the only way out of the course is called "withdrawing" from the course; this requires a "serious and compelling" reason, such as a medical emergency. You may not withdraw simply because you are earning a bad grade or you forgot to drop through CAPTURE. Withdrawal requires you to document that some desperate situation has arisen after the drop day that you could not have reasonably anticipated.

Document History

Date	Author	Change
1/5/08	JD	Document Released