CS 140: Computing Languages University of Nevada, Las Vegas

CS 140: Computing Languages

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Create programs in the Ruby programming language using sequential, selection, and repetition structures

• Utilize object-oriented programming techniques to develop robust programming solutions in the Ruby program-

ming

language

• Solve programming tasks by adapting Ruby programming language constructs to a speciﬁc solution

Textbooks (Recommended)

Learn to Program (2nd edition), Chris Pine, The Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2013, ISBN-13 9781934356364

The Well-Grounded Rubyist (2nd edition), David A. Black, Manning Publications, 2014, ISBN-13 9781617291692

Schedule of Topics

Ruby Basics

Week 1 Introduction to Command-line Operations & Text Editors Pine, ch. 1

Week 2 Getting Started w/ Ruby, Variables, & Basic Input/Output Pine, ch. 2–5

Week 3 Data Types, Arithmetic Operations, Expressions, & Assignment Pine, ch. 2–5

Selection, Repetition, & Collections

Week 4 Relational Operators, Logical Expressions, & Conditional Statements Pine, ch. 7

Week 5 Looping & Iteration, Arrays, & Hashes Pine, ch. 7–8

Functional Decomposition & Methods

Week 6 Methods, Parameter Passing, & Return Values Pine, ch. 9

Week 7 Methods & Scope Of Variables Pine, ch. 9

Week 8 Review & Mid-Term Exam

Week 9 Methods & Code Blocks Black, ch. 2, 6

Object-Oriented Programming

Week 10 Spring Break Recess

Week 11 Classes & Object-Oriented Programming Black, ch. 2

Week 12 Inheritance, Polymorphism, & Class Methods & Variables Black, ch. 3, 5

Beyond Ruby Basics

Week 13 Modules & Multiple Inheritance Black, ch. 4

Week 14 File Operations & Text Processing Black, ch. 12

Week 15 Error Handling, Exceptions, & Rubygems Black, ch. 6

Week 16 Unit Tests

Final Exam, Mon, May 9, 2016, 3:10–5:10pm, CBC C120

Academic Policies

Assignments Exams

There will be approximately 8-10 assignments

orth 40% of overall grade.

There will be a mid-term exam (worth 25%) and a ﬁnal

exam (worth 35%).

Grade Values

Course grades will be assigned according to the following table (all values will be rounded to the next whole

percentage point, and a maximum curve of 2% will be applied if warranted):

Grade Percent

A 100%—90%

B 89%—80%

C 79%—70%

D 69%—60%

F 59%—0%

Grading Criteria

Each

homework assignment will be worth 100 points. All grades are subject to the discretion of the instructor,

but in general grades will adhere to the following scheme:

• All assignments must be turned in on time. Any late assignments are subject to a 10% penalty per day

for each day past the due date. No late assignments will be accepted after the beginning of the class

period following the due date.

• All program submissions must be submitted to Moodle via a single ﬁle named rebelmailID.rb.

• Programming assignments that violate academic integrity standards will be handled in accordance with

the university’s Student Academic Misconduct Policy, located at:

http://studentconduct.unlv.edu/misconduct/policy

.html

• Coding style & documentation - 20%

– (5 pts) All programs must have the following comment block at the top of their main program ﬁle:

Name: Your name, Class, Assignment number

Partner: Your partner for this assignment (if any)

Description: a brief description of the program

Input: expected input to the program (if any)

Output: expected output of the program (if any)

– (5 pts) All programs must utilize proper coding style.

– (5 pts) All methods and classes must have the following required documentation immediately above

each

method/class deﬁnition:

method_identifier: brief description of what the method does.

parameters: what to pass into the method

return value: what the method returns, if any

class_identifier: brief description of the class

public methods: a list of public methods identifiers

instance variables: a list of all public instance variables

– (5 pts) All programs must have reasonable comments throughout the progam that adequately convey

what is going on the program (where it is not obvious).

• Syntax & general knowledge - 30%

– (5 pts) All variables, methods, & classes must have meaningful identﬁers.

– (5 pts) All programs will refrain from using hard-coded values in the program; use named constants

instead.

Constant identiﬁers should be meaningfully named and should be in all caps with separate

words using underscores.

– (20 pts) Program submissions must contain zero syntax errors and must not generate any exceptions.

• Program solution - 50%

– (10

pts) You must create reasonable methods/classes for appropriate sections of your program.

– (5 pts) Any required output from the program must adhere to the requirements speciﬁed in the assign-

ment

handout and must conform to the speciﬁed format.

– (5 pts) All programs must use all required techniques, data types, and data structures addressed in

each assignment handout.

– (30 pts) Any required output must have correct values, and must not have incorrect values.

There will be no make-up exams except as covered under university policies.

Student Collaboration

All students must submit their own work. Apart from formulating an assignment solution by one’s self, acceptable

sources

of problem-solving input are limited to: instructor input, teaching assistant input, in-class examples, class

web site examples, examples from the textbook, and oﬃcial reference documentation.

Due to the nature of this course, collaboration among students enrolled in the class is allowed on a limited basis,

rovided such collaboration adheres to the stipulations in this policy. Student collaboration is deﬁned as two or

more students working together as a group to produce a programming solution. Student collaboration may occur

for a given homework assignment under the following circumstances:

• Students enrolled in the class may work in pairs for each assignment on a mutually voluntary basis

• No more than two students enrolled in the class may work together for a given assignment

• Each student must turn in their own assignment

• Each student must indicate the name of their partner, if any, in the comment header section of each

assignment

• Each student may work with the same partner for a maximum of three assignments throughout the

semester

Violations

of student collaboration may involve, but are not limited to: working with yet failing to identify a

partner for an assignment, working with the same partner more than three times during the semester, asking

other students to provide solutions for a programming assignment, copying code from other students, distribut-

ing code to other students, or copying, soliciting or distributing programming solutions to or from third-party

sources (online forums or bulletin-boards, outside help from non-students, students from other classes, software

repositories, etc.)

Note, this policy does not prohibit or discourage discussion among students involving the material covered in

class. This policy is simply intended to discourage those who are not willing to make an honest eﬀort at learning

the various programming solutions we will encounter during the semester.

The grading policies for this course are designed to take into account the potential for unethical student col-

laboration

should any violations occur. Thus, even if a student successfully violates this student collaboration

policy, does not get caught, and gets perfect marks on his or her programming assignments, that student must

still demonstrate his or her competency to a satisfactory level on the exam portions of the class. This is why the

exams are worth 60% of the class grade. Each student must do his or her own work!

Should the need arise to deal with unethical student collaboration during the semester, the student(s) involved

will be

referred to the Oﬃce of Student Conduct under the

Student Academic Misconduct Policy. The general

recommendation in this

course for this policy is for the student to receive a 0 for that assignment for the ﬁrst

oﬀense and a failing grade for the course for any subsequent oﬀense.

Grading Process

The ﬁgure below illustrates the grading process used to apply the listed criteria above in order to arrive at a

grade for

each homework submission:

University Policies

The following university policies a

re applicable:

Academic Misconduct—Academic integrity is a legitimate concern for every member of the campus com-

munity; all sha

re in upholding the fundamental values of honesty, trust, respect, fairness, responsibility and

professionalism. By choosing to join the UNLV community, students accept the expectations of the Student

Academic Misconduct Policy and are encouraged when faced with choices to always take the ethical path.

Students enrolling in UNLV assume the obligation to conduct themselves in a manner compatible with UNLVs

function as an educational institution.

An example of academic misconduct is plagiarism. Plagiarism is using the words or ideas of another, from the

Internet or any

source, without proper citation of the sources. See the Student Academic Misconduct Policy

(approved December 9, 2005) located at:

https://www.unlv.edu/studentconduct/student-conduct.

and to follow

for employee or student violations of fair use laws. Violations of copyright laws could subject you to federal

and state civil penalties and criminal liability, as well as disciplinary action under University policies. Additional

information can be found at: http://www.unlv.edu/provost/copyright.

Disability Resource Center (DRC)—The UNLV Disability

Resource Center (SSC-A 143,

http://drc.unlv.edu/,

702-895-0866) provides resources for students with disabilities. If you feel that you have a disability, please

make an appointment with a Disabilities Specialist at the DRC to discuss what options may be available to

you. If you are registered with the UNLV Disability Resource Center, bring your Academic Accommodation

Plan from the DRC to the instructor during oﬃce hours so that you may work together to develop strategies

for implementing the accommodations to meet both your needs and the requirements of the course. Any

information you provide is private and will be treated as such. To maintain the conﬁdentiality of your request,

please do not approach the instructor in front of others to discuss your accommodation needs.

Religious Holidays Policy—Any student missing class quizzes, examinations, or any other class or lab work

because of observance

of religious holidays shall be given an opportunity during that semester to make up

missed work. The make-up will apply to the religious holiday absence only. It shall be the responsibility of the

student to notify the instructor no later than the end of the ﬁrst two weeks of classes of his or her intention

to participate in religious holidays which do not fall on state holidays or periods of class recess. For additional

information, please visit: http://catalog.unlv.edu/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=531.

Incomplete Grades—The grade of Incomplete

(I) can be granted when a student has satisfactorily completed

three-fourths of course work for that semester/session but for reason(s) beyond the student’s control, and

acceptable to the instructor, cannot complete the last part of the course, and the instructor believes that the

student can ﬁnish the course without repeating it. The incomplete work must be made up before the end of

the following regular semester for undergraduate courses. Graduate students receiving “I” grades in 500-, 600-,

or 700-level courses have up to one calendar year to complete the work, at the discretion of the instructor. If

course requirements are not completed within the time indicated, a grade of F will be recorded and the GPA

will be adjusted accordingly. Students who are fulﬁlling an Incomplete do not register for the course but make

individual arrangements with the instructor who assigned the I grade.

Tutoring—The Academic Success Center

(ASC) provides tutoring and academic assistance for all UNLV

students taking UNLV courses. Students are encouraged to stop by the ASC to learn more about subjects

oﬀered, tutoring times and other academic resources. The ASC is located across from the Student Services

Complex (SSC). Students may learn more about tutoring services by calling 702-895- 3177 or visiting the

tutoring web site at:

http://academicsuccess.unlv.edu/tutoring/.

Rebelmail—By policy, faculty

and staﬀ should e-mail students’ Rebelmail accounts only. Rebelmail is UNLV’s

oﬃcial e-mail system for students. It is one of the primary ways students receive oﬃcial university commu-

nication such as information about deadlines, major campus events, and announcements. All UNLV students

receive a Rebelmail account after they have been admitted to the university. Students’ e- mail preﬁxes are

listed on class rosters. The suﬃx is always @unlv.nevada.edu. Emailing within WebCampus is acceptable.

by subject.)

Final Examinations—The University requires that ﬁnal exams given at the end of a course occur at the time

and

on the day speciﬁed in the ﬁnal exam schedule. See the schedule at: http://www.unlv.edu/registrar/calendars.

Library Resources Students may consult https://www.library.unlv.edu/consultation with a library on

research needs. For this class, the subject librarian is Sue Wainscott

(https://www.library.unlv.edu/contact/librarians

UNLV

Libraries provides resources to support students’ access to information. Access library resources and ask

questions at https://www.library.unlv.edu

Course Communication

Normal class activity will take place on the course web site via the UNLV Moodle Site. The UNLV Moodle Site will be

utilized for assignment postings & submissions, grading, handout information, announcements, and discussion forum

postings. For example, class announcements will be posted in the Discussion Forum area, and assignments will be

posted in the weekly sections of the web site.

Moodle Instructions

Getting Started The

UNLV Moodle Site is located at: http://osserver.cs.unlv.edu/moodle/

Creating An Account Navigate to the UNLV Moodle Site, and in the top right corner click the “Log in” link.

ollow the instructions on the right side of the screen. Use your RebelMail information to create your account.

Logging In Navigate to the UNLV Moodle Site, and in the top right corner click the “Log in” link. You will be

taken to the main log in page, where you can input your username and password on the left side of the screen.

Accessing The Course Upon logging in, you’ll be presented with a list of available course; click on the appropriate

course title to view that course’s dashboard. You will need to input an enrolment key the ﬁrst time you attempt

to access the course, and you will receive the enrolment key during the ﬁrst week of class.

Using The Discussion Forum The Discussion Forum is the area where students can ask (and answer) questions

rega

rding the course material as well as view class announcements. To access the Discussion Forum, simply click

on the link underneath Announcements, where a page listing all current discussion topics will be displayed.

Each discussion topic may have multiplie replies, so to view the entire discussion, click on the discussion’s title

view the original discussion post as well as any replies.

To add a new topic, click on the appropriately labelled “Add a new discussion topic” button at the top of the

main Discussion Forum page, type in the Subject and your Message, and click “Post to forum”.

Downloading Course Content Course content will include homework assignments, selected code examples, and

course information. These ﬁles will normally be downloadable from the appropriate week’s section listed on the

main course page. Simply click on the link and select “Save as” (or “Download”) to download and view the ﬁle.

Submitting Assignments To submit an assignment, click on the assignment submission link located in the week

the

assignment was posted. This link takes you to a page where you can view your submission status. To add a

new submission, click on the “Add submission” button near the middle of the page and upload your assignment

ﬁle. Make sure your ﬁle is named according to the grading criteria listed in the syllabus!

Normally an assignment can be submitted up to 3 times, with the most recent submission being the one that

graded. To update your submission, navigate to the assignment submission page, and click on the “Edit

submission” button to update the ﬁle you originally submitted. You can delete the old ﬁle, upload a new ﬁle, or

rename your ﬁle from within this section.

Viewing Grades To view your current course grade, scroll to the bottom of the menu on the left-hand side of

the

course page, and click on the “Grades” link underneath Course Administration. A summary of your current

course grade is displayed.

To view grades for individual assignments, click on the link to that individual assignment from the Grades view,

and

your assignment grade information will be displayed.

Discussion Forum Guidelines

While there are a variety of publicly-available bulletin-board and forum web sites (Stack Overﬂow, StudyRoom,

etc.), the primary location for such activity is restricted to the UNLV Moodle Site. The Discussion Forum is

there to encourage online discussion for general problem areas and questions over the material covered in class.

This presents a challenge in navigating the necessity of being able to freely discuss the course material while

balancing the requirements of academic integrity standards. Thus, the following guidelines apply for online class

postings in the Discussion Forum area:

• Posting code directly from assignments is prohibited, unless that code has already been distributed to the

entire class

•

Posting general solution steps is prohibited

• Asking general questions about how a certain aspect of a program works is allowed

• Answering such questions is allowed (and encouraged!)