CIS 138 - Introduction to Programming and Computing Syllabus

Index

• Catalog Statement
• Instructor
• Course Objectives
• Method of Teaching
• Textbook
• Course Outline
• Evaluation of Grades
• ATTENDANCE POLICY
• Grading Policies
• Assignments and Exams
• Students with Learning Disabilities
• Counseling Services
• Bibliography

CATALOG STATEMENT

The course provides an intensive introduction to computers and to programming as a tool for problem solving. Students will use and write programs in a beginner's programming language. Applications involve personal, scientific, and health or business worlds. (This course does not satisfy the CIS major.)

To Syllabus Index

To Syllabus Index

To Syllabus Index

To Syllabus Index

To Syllabus Index

To Syllabus Index

See my Web page Remarks on Grading of Programs for information on how programming assignments are graded.

To Syllabus Index

Approximate schedule of assignments

The list given below is approximate. Deadlines and point values may be changed according to the needs of the course. Details of assignment specifications will be posted in Blackboard.

• Written homework exercises may be assigned irregularly.  They may be given at short notice, i.e., less than a week before they are due.  Generally, such exercises will not be accepted late, on grounds of fairness, as they may be discussed in class on their due dates.
  Such assignments may be worth 10 to 50 points apiece. There will be at least 0 such assignments.
• Programming assignments will generally give you 3 or 4 weeks per project. Instructions will be posted in Blackboard.
  Such assignments may be worth 40 to 100 points apiece. There will be 4 or 5 such assignments.
• Midsemester quiz:  Week 7.  This will be an in-class quiz.
  Possible points: 50 to 75
  Note the instructor reserves the right to hold more than one quiz during the semester (other than the final exam). However, at the current writing, only one is planned.
• Final Exam:  Finals Week.  This will be an in-class exam.
  Possible points: 100 to 125

To Syllabus Index

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The NU library holdings of books on Visual Basic include the following (note Visual Basic .Net has incompatibilities with Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier versions of Visual Basic).

• B. Barstow and T. Martin, Visual Basic .NET in 60 minutes a day, Wiley, Indianapolis, 2003
  QA76.73.B3 B368x 2003
• M. MacDonald, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programmer's Cookbook, Microsoft Press, Redmond, WA, 2003
  QA76.73.B3 M285 2003
•  J. Ablan et al., Professional Visual Basic 6: the 2003 Programmer's Resource, Wrox, Birmingham, 2003
  QA76.73.B3 P76x 2003
• M. Halvorson, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Step by Step, Microsoft Press, Redmond, WA, 2003
  QA76.73.B3 H338 2003
• D. Bell and M. Parr, Visual Basic .NET for Students, Addison-Wesley, New York, 2003
  QA76.73.B3 B454 2003
• J.C. Bradley and A.C. Millspaugh, Programming in Visual Basic Version 6.0 Update Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston, 2002
  QA76.73.B3 B698 2002

Books concerning the BASIC programming language, an older programming language in which Visual Basic has roots, include the following.

• Bent, R.J., and Sethares, G.C., BASIC: An Introduction to Computer Programming, Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., Pacific Grove, CA, 1990
  QA76.73.B3 B46 1990
• Feldman, P., Using BASIC, Que Corp., Carmel, IN, 1990
  QA76.73.B3 F44 1990
• Kemeny, J.G., and Kurtz, T.E., Structured BASIC Programming, Wiley, New York, 1983
  QA76.73.B3 K46 1987
  (Classic -- the authors are the primary developers of BASIC)

To Syllabus Index