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News
Wednesday 2009/11/18, 9:05am On the project, for Problems 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, if there is more than one possible answer, we will accept any of them as correct. For example, if your function returns the first one it finds, it would be correct. This means that the wording of Problem 15 needs to be changed slightly: The word “movies” should be changed to “movie”. Monday, 11/09/09, 6:35 pm Chapter 6 has been modified to improved the discussion of logical indexing. The changes are confined to pages 12, and 14-18. As always the changes to the chapters are listed in changes.doc, which is linked into the textbook page. Monday, 11/09/09, 3:55 pm The solutions to Homework 5 are now on line at Other Links. Monday, 11/09/09, 11:10 am The Test 5 files are ready for download at test5.htm. Friday, 11/06/09, 11:50 am An error in ProjectDescription.doc has been corrected. An explanation is given on the project page. Thursday, 10/29/09, 9:30 am Don't forget that we are having the rest of Test 4 in class tomorrow. I have decided to call this part of the test "Test 41" (means Test 4.1, but I didn't want to use a decimal number.) You should download the test files today. You can find them at the Test 41 link on the Other Links page. Saturday, 10/24/09, 8:25 am I hope you are enjoyng your Fall Break! This is just a reminder that you have Test 4 on Wednesday. The files for Test 4 are on line. You must download them by Tuesday. Tuesday, 10/20/09, 4:50 pm The file practice.mat has been replaced on the project site. The previous version had an extraneous field in the movie and person structs called "index". It did no harm, but it may have confused some, so we have removed it. Friday, 10/16/09, 2:10 pm In class today we told everyone that, because of a problem with the encoding, that each student must zip the m-files that they used in Test 3 (p1.m, p2.m, p3.m, p4.m, p5.m) into a single file and upload them to OAK. Detailed instructions on how to do this can be found by going to OAK, clikcing on the Submissions button and then reading what is written under Submit Test 3 Zip File. All XP and Vista machines have zip and most Macs, but if you cannot zip, you should email these files to Nate Hamm. Monday, 10/12/09, 2:40 pm I have just uploaded the Highlights including today's lecture. I have added a bunch of loop problems into the Highlights that I have not had time for during class. While you are responsible for if-else and switch, I am more worried about loops, as I think you know from class, and they are 10 tines harder for most people than everything else. That is why there are lots more loops in class and on the Highlights page with solutions than on the homework. If you can study only one thing--study the Highlights! Good luck on Wednesday! Saturday, 10/11/09, 3:08 pm An error on page 10 of Chapter 6 of the textbook has just been discovered. The error occurs twice. In cach case the line if 1 <= choice <= 10 should be replaced by the line if 1 <= choice && choice <= 10 This error, which has been there for many years, was discovered today by Nur Fadhilah Haji Mat Hanip. Thanks Fadhila! Thursday, 10/08/09, 11:45 pm The files for Test 3 are now available for upload. Wednesday, 10/07/09, 3:22 pm The solutions to HW4 are now linked into Other Links AND I changed problem 31 to a loop problem. Problems 31 and 32 are good loop problems for you to work on while studying for the test next week. Problem 25 is also a good loop problem. I have added the thing that I mentioned at the end of class today was missing from the Highlights (the template for while statements that I put on the board). Friday, 10/02/09, 3:55 pm The solutions to HW 3 are now linked into Other Links. Wednesday, 09/30/09, 2:55 pm To re-iterate what I said in class about the test. Here is what you need to do to complete Test 2: • Before midnight tomorrow: Upload to OAK the encrypted file that begins with your VUnetID and ends with .enc. (Do not upload that other .enc file!) • Do not rerun the test GUI and click the Encode Answers button again before you upload it. If you do, your completion code will not match the file, and you will get no partial credit! Tuesday, 09/29/09, 3:35 pm To re-iterate what I said in class, Test 2 is on Weeks 1-4 with an emphasis on weeks 3 and 4) and is on Chapters 1-4 with an emphasis on Chapter 4. This information is also available in the Highlights at the Test 2 link (Week 6, Wednesday). You can reach the Highlights page through the Other Links page. Thursday, 09/24/09, 10:35 pm I am back from Europe! I have put the files on line that you are to download for Test 2. You will finid them at Other Links. I'll see you tomorrow! Thursday, 09/17/09, 10:40 pm I have put answers to Homework Assignment 2 on line (its link is in Other Links, as with Homework 1). I have also corrected a few typos in Homework Assignment 2. For example, Problem 7, said "Answer in English". Clearly this is a problem for Matlab! I also eliminated the comment "Answer in Matlab", since you are supposed to answer every problem in Matlab unless it says otherwise. Wednesday, 09/10/09, 10:45 am I have been asked to clarify the policy concerning the use of Matlab facilities during a test. Yes, you may use any of the Help facilities that Matlab provides. No, you may not look at the contents of any M-files, or any other files, that you produced before the test began. Monday, 09/10/09, 5:55 pm I have added a highly detailed set of Test Instruction to the Other Links page. If you have been able to understand how to take the Practice Test, then you probably do not need to read these instructions. Monday, 09/10/09, 9:25 am I have altered the Highlights slightly. I adjusted the part at the end of Week 2 and the beginning of Week 3 to reflect more exactly what we covered. Specifically, I moved the discussion of eye to Week 3, because, while I showed it at the end of Week 2 and said that it was a diagonal matrix, I did not really explain it until Week 3. I have made adjustments before without comment, but Test 1 covers Weeks 1 and 2 (and see comments in the previous news item below), and I do not want anyone to be confused about what we covered in those two weeks. Thursday, 09/10/09, 8:30 pm The files for Test 1 are now available at Other Links. Download them and try running the test before Monday (the test is on Wednesday). You will not be able actually to take the test yet, but you will learn whether it runs on your laptop. It is your responsibility to make certain that all three of the files are on your laptop in a directory by themselves and that test1 runs when you type test1 in the Command Window. If you do not have all this done by Wednesday, then you will fail Test 1 on Wednesday. We don't want that! Homework 2 was uploaded earlier. Test 1 will cover Homework 1 and the lectures and assigned textbook reading through the end Week 2. Test 2 will cover Homework 2. You should start working on it as soon as Test 1 is over (or before!). You will find that Homework 2 is about five times more difficult and five times more time-consuming that Homework 1. Please, don't put it off. Monday, 09/07/09, 12:20 pm The Help Sessions start tomorrow--not today. Sorry about the error. Friday, 09/03/09, 2:10 pm If you have been unable upload the file (ending in .enc) from test0 to Blackboard, the problem is probably your web browser. One browser that works is Internet Explorer Version 8 (i.e., the current version). Thursday, 09/03/09, 3:05 pm This news item is only for those of you who had not yet installed Matlab 2009a as of Wednesday and were having trouble using test0. I have checked test0 using Matlab 2008b and it runs perfectly, so I do not think that is the problem. At least one of you did not have the function randi available in your Matlab 2008b. That function is in fact distributed with Matlab 2008b, so your problem must be either that the directory (folder) that contains it has been deleted or that the name of that directory has been deleted from your Path (see Chaper 2, if you do not yet know what the Path is). I strongly urge you to download the current version. If there is some reason that you cannot do that, please send me an email explaining the problem. If there is a good reason, I'll see what I can do to let you continue with 2008b. In the meantime, I'm sorry to say that you will probably not do well in this course (i.e., you will not get a good grade), if you do not practice with our interactive test-taking tool. The best way to get the practice you need is to download the current version of Matlab. When you download it, you are very likely to restore any functions that may somehow have been lost from your current version. I will ask who is still having trouble with test0 on Friday, and I will do my best to help everyone who has downloaded Matlab 2009a. For those of you who still have not downloaded it and have not emailed me your reason, I am sorry to say that I just will not be able to help you further. Monday, 08/31/09, 3:55pm The diaries for today and Friday are now availablt at Other Links. Monday, 08/31/09, 12:55pm The practice test is now available at Other Links. Sunday, 08/30/09, 7:30pm Please read all of this message and please give it serious thought: I just uploaded complete solutions to Homework Assignment 1 (see the Other Links page. You may use them to help you study. You should know, however, that, if you do not work all the homework problems in this assignment yourself, it is very likely that you will not score what you are capable of on Test 1. On the other hand, if you do them all, it is very likely that you will. The registrar informed me Friday that, contrary to what I had thought, most of you are not 1st-year students. That is good news to me, because, while I like teaching 1st-year students and have devoted much of my career at Vanderbilt to them, your more advanced standing means that you probably know already how important it is to work all the problems that a college professor assigns you, whether they are graded or not. You have had a year to learn that working those problems is the best way to find out (a) what is likely to be on the tests, and (b) what you need to do to prepare for the tests. There is another aspect to the homework though: As you know, Engineering, science, and mathematics are problem-oriented fields. You need to be able to work problems--by yourself--from scratch--in order to do well in these courses and in these careers. Memorization is of value to be sure, especially regarding the "Computer-Science appreciation" aspect of this course, but no one has every found a way to learn how to solve problems except by solving problems themselves. The problems you will solve in CS 103 are primarily programming problems, and programming, like all problem solving, is a skill. That skill cannot be mastered by reading, by listening, or by memorizing--not even if you do those three things 8 hours a day, 7 days a week! That would be like learning to play the violin by reading, listening or memorizing. No human has ever managed to do that. To be good at the violin, at the piano, or at the skateboard requires that you practice for many, many hours, day after day after day! And no human, including me, has ever managed to learn to program without doing it for many, many hours, day after day after day. You can do well in 103. I have absolute faith in that simply because you are a Vanderbilt student. But you can do well only if you are prepared to devote a lot of time to working problems outside class--six hours a week--or, if you are struggling, more--especially in the first seven weeks of the course. That is the minimum commitment required to master the skill of programming. Fulfilling that commitment takes discipline--just as it takes discipline to master the violin or the skateboard, but if you have the discipline, you can do amazing things. You need to decide right now whether you are committed at this level. If you are, then you need to plan--also right now--when during each week you are going to do that minimum of six hours (doing homework assignments, textbook examples, in-class examples, or problems you make up yourself), and you should write that plan down. As part of that commitment, you should also write down the time you spend as you spend it and then note at the end of each week--right about now each Sunday--whether you have followed your plan for that week--not for me, not for anyone else, but for yourself alone. If you have the discipline to make and follow such a plan, then you can expect to be successful in CS 103. At the end of this semester, you will be very glad that you did. So will I. --JMF Saturday, 08/29/09, 8:55am Please make sure that you can read PDF files. Your assignments and tests will be given to you as PDF files. If you do not have a PDF reader installed on your computer, go to this website to get your free copy, select your operating system, and follow the directions: http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/ Friday, 08/27/09, 9:25am I just made some improvements to Homework Assignment 1, including some extra parts, so, if you have downloaded it before now, you should redownload it. Thursday, 08/27/09, 4:45pm The link to Homework Assignment 1 is now live in the Schedule. I have just updated this homework. There may be small errors. Please report any errors you see in it to me as soon as you see them, so that I can correct them. Thanks! Thursday, 08/27/09, 8:55am I have updated the instructions for non-engineering students for obtaining Matlab (link to them is here). The previous instructions were for last spring. The version you need for this semester is Matlab 2009a, which is the only version available to you at the software store.
Tuesday, 08/25/09, 7pm Welcome to CS103! This is your News page. Scheduled events are listed in the schedule. But, when we need to get additional information out fast, it will go right here. We will place the latest news item at the top with a date and time of entry, so it is easy to find the latest news and easy to know just how new it is. When you visit the CS103 web pages, please check here first. This first news item contains lots of information to help you get started. We'll start with the classroom and what you should bring. Coming to class Class will be held in Jacobs-Believed-in-Me Auditorium, also known as 134 Jacobs Hall. Your first class will take place Wednesday, August 26 at 1:10 pm. You should bring your laptop to class every day throughout the course. You will be using Matlab inside and outside class. Obtaining Matlab If you are enrolled in the School of Engineering, Matlab will be provided free to you. Instructions for obtaining it are at http://transit.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/software/instructional.html If you are not enrolled in the School of Engineering, you will need to purchase a copy of Matlab. Your instructions for obtaining it are here. All students
Opening-of-Course Memo This course has a short descriptive page, called the "Opening-of-Course Memo" that gives the mission of the course, the required textbook, and the grading policy. You will find the memo for CS 103 here. The Textbook You do not need to go to the bookstore for your textbook. It's on line right here. And you don't even need to pay for it! It's free to students enrolled in CS 103. (You might try telling your parents that since you were so clever to find a course with a free textbook, they should give you $61.66--the average price of a college textook--to spend on yourself. (Be sure to let us know if that works!) You should start reading the textbook right now, and be sure not to skip the preface. It has some special tips on using an on-line text book. The honor code You will find here the rules for this course regarding the honor code. The Schedule The entire schedule for this course is on line here. There are links to follow from this shedule for each week and each assignment, and the due dates for all assignments are given there so that you can begin to plan your semester right now. Other Links Miscellaneous items of importance or interest can be found here on a page called "Other Links". It contains information about how to submit your assignments, about programming teams, study outlines, and other things. The 103 Staff This course is taught by a staff of four people. I am your instructor. I will be the one you see at the front of the room during class, but the School pays three graduate students to act as my teaching assistants outside class. You will find them available to assist you during help sessions (see below) and in office hours. Their office hours will be posted in Blackboard along with their office numbers and even their pictures. They will help me in my grading of your work as well, and they will help you with CS 103 administrative and other problems as well. Help Sessions Beginning on Monday, September 7th, the graduate assistants will hold help sessions on Mondays and Tuesdays from 5pm to 7pm in Room 203 FGH. You can come to these sessions whenever you want with no appointment required. What you will get from this course You are going to learn a lot in this course about programming, about computer science, and about Matlab, and from what students have told us over the nine years that the School has offered this course, the things you learn will be of value to you throughout your engineering career. I hope you will have fun too! I am looking forward to seeing you in class. J. Michael Fitzpatrick,
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