CMSC106: Introduction to C Programming

Syllabus

Introduction

CMSC 106 is an introduction to computing and program development in the C programming language. This includes a brief introduction to basic computer concepts, an understanding of the UNIX operating system sufficient for writing class programming assignments, studying the syntax and semantics of the basic control structures of C, learning C's fundamental data types and structures, understanding the design and methodical construction of computer programs, learning how to test and debug programs, and lastly, practice in these through creating several programs in C.

Prerequisites

Course Coordinator

For office hours and other contact information, visit the staff link.

Textbooks

No required textbooks.

Course Topics (Subject to Change)

• Introduction to computer programming
• Basic program syntax
• Data types, declarations, expressions, variables
• Input/output
• Conditional statements
• Iteration statements
• User-defined functions, standard library functions, scope, call-by-reference
• Storage classes
• Arrays (single and two-dimensional arrays)
• Strings, character and string library functions
• Structures, structures as parameters, array of structures
• Miscellaneous

Grading

Final grades will be computed according the following weights:

Once we have graded any class material (e.g., exams, projects, etc.) we will post an announcement and a deadline by which you must submit any regrade request (if necessary). It is your responsibility to submit regrade requests by the specified deadline; no regrade requests will be processed afterwards.

Projects

• Deadlines - All projects are due at 11 pm on the specified day in the project description. You have until 11 pm of the next day to submit your project with a 10% penalty. Notice that after the late period, you will not receive any points for your project. For example, if a project is due on Wednesday at 11 pm, you have until Thursday at 11 pm to submit a late project with a 10% penalty. Any submission after Thursday 11 pm will receive 0 pts.
• Submit Server - You need to use the submit server for project submissions. We will not accept projects submitted otherwise (e.g., e-mail, etc.). Make sure that your project works in the submit server, otherwise you will not get any credit.
• Which Project Gets Graded - Your grade for an project will be based on the submission with the highest score after the late penalty (if any) has been applied.
• Good Faith Attempt - You must satisfy a minimum set of requirements for each project (Good Faith Attempt) otherwise you will not pass the course (automatic grade of F). Each project defines its own good faith attempt criteria and a deadline to provide an implementation that satisfies it. If you start a project on time, and look for assistance (if required) you should have no problems satisfying the Good Faith Attempt. The Good Faith Attempt guarantees you have the skills necessary for upper-level courses. Notice that you will not receive extra points for completing the good faith attempt. The grade you obtain for a project will be based on your ontime/late submission.
• Closed Projects - All programming assignments in this course are to be written individually (unless explicitly indicated otherwise). Cooperation between students is a violation of the Code of Academic Integrity. Remember the purpose of projects is for you to learn the class material and do well in projects.

TA Room/Office Hours

Office hours get extremely busy the day before a project deadline. Therefore do not wait to start your projects. Regarding office hours and the TA Room:

• Once you have been helped by a TA, please leave the TA room. We have a large number of students in all of our classes, and the TA room is really crowded. Thank you for help on this matter.
• If there is a line of students waiting, a TA should spent at most 5 minutes with a student. Please remind TAs about this rule.

Online Posting of Project Implementations Not Allowed (READ)

• Do not post your assignments' implementation online (e.g., github) where they can be seen by others. Making your code accessible to others can lead to academic integrity violations.
• Even if the course is over, do not make your code available to others.
• Notice we constantly monitor online sources.

Backups

You need to keep backups of your projects as you develop them. No extensions will be granted because you accidentally erased your project. Feel free to use the submit server as a backup tool by submitting often. You can also use tools like git, etc. Do not post code in any online system that is accessible to others (e.g., github).

Academic Integrity

Note that academic dishonesty includes not only cheating, fabrication, and plagiarism, but also includes helping other students commit acts of academic dishonesty by allowing them to obtain copies of your work. In short, all submitted work must be your own. Cases of academic dishonesty will be pursued to the fullest extent possible as stipulated by the Office of Student Conduct.

It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu

Examples of Academic Integrity Violations

The following are examples of academic integrity violations:

• Hardcoding of results in a project assignment. Hardcoding refers to attempting to make a program appear as if it works correctly (e.g., printing expected results for a test).
• Using any code available on the internet/web or any other source. For example, using code from Sourceforge.
• Hiring any online service to complete an assignment for you.
• You may not post the implementation of your assignments, materials related to the class (e.g., project description), or any other material associated with this course. Even if the class is over and you have graduated, you may NOT post any material. If you do, you might be violating academic integrity rules and copyrights.
• Discussing projects with your classmates.
• Sharing your code or your student tests with any student.
• Providing ideas/suggestions on how to solve/implement a programming assignment.
• Looking at another student's code.
• Using online forums to ask for help regarding our assignments.

Piazza

We will be using (Piazza) for class communication. Regarding Piazza:

• We will use Piazza to communicate in lecture, and to provide class announcements.
• Posting of code is not allowed is Piazza. Anyone posting any kind of code may receive an XF in the course.
• The preferred mechanism to address course questions (projects, lecture material, etc.) is during office hours, in lab, and lecture.
• Students' questions can only be answered by CS staff (TAs and instructors). Although we will try to check Piazza often, there is no guarantee we will respond to messages immediately.
• You will not be able to register to Piazza yourself. Your instructor will register you using the e-mail you have in the school system.

Excused Absence and Academic Accommodations

Any student who needs to be excused for an absence from a single lecture, recitation, or lab due to a medically necessitated absence shall:

1. Make a reasonable attempt to inform the instructor of his/her illness prior to the class.
2. Upon returning to the class, present their instructor with a self-signed note attesting to the date of their illness. Each note must contain an acknowledgment by the student that the information provided is true and correct. Providing false information to University officials is prohibited under Part 9(i) of the Code of Student Conduct (V-1.00(B) University of Maryland Code of Student Conduct) and may result in disciplinary action.
3. This self-documentation may not be used for the Major Scheduled Grading Events as defined below and it may only be used for only 1 class meeting during the semester.

Any student who needs to be excused for a prolonged absence (2 or more consecutive class meetings) or for a Major Scheduled Grading Event, must provide written documentation of the illness from the Health Center or from an outside health care provider. This documentation must verify dates of treatment and indicate the time frame that the student was unable to meet academic responsibilities. No diagnostic information shall be given. The Major Scheduled Grading Events for this course include midterm(s) and final exam.

It is also the student's responsibility to inform the instructor of any intended absences from exams for religious observances in advance. Notice should be provided as soon as possible, but no later than the Monday prior to the exam for both the midterm(s) and the final.

Any student eligible for and requesting reasonable academic accommodations due to a disability is requested to provide a letter of accommodation from the Office of Disability Support Services within the first two weeks of the semester.

Miscellaneous

• Please bring your laptop to your discussion (lab) session and to lecture. If you don't have a laptop, we will pair you up with a classmate.
• As you work on a project, submit your project often even if you have not finished. We monitor submit server submissions, and can provide assistance based on submit server results.
• At the end of the course, visit (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) to complete your course evaluations.
• If you are experiencing difficulties in keeping up with the academic demands of this course, you may contact the Learning Assistance Service located at 2202 Shoemaker Building.

Copyright

All course materials are copyright UMCP, Department of Computer Science © 2015. All rights reserved. Students are permitted to use course materials for their own personal use only. Course materials may not be distributed publicly or provided to others (excepting other students in the course), in any way or format.

Schedule

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Keep in mind that the slides may not include all the material discussed in lecture. You are responsible for any material we present in lecture, even if it does not appear in the posted slides.

Staff

Coordinators

Office Hours Information

Please see Office Hours Guidelines

Teaching Assistants

All TA office hours take place in AVW 1112.

Name	E-mail	Pic
Hyunjong Cho	cho [AT] cs [DOT] umd [DOT] edu
Andrew Vorwal	andrew.vorwald [AT] gmail [DOT] com

Office Hours

Coordinators

Office Hours Information

Please see Office Hours Guidelines

Teaching Assistants

All TA office hours take place in AVW 1112.

Name	E-mail	Pic
Hyunjong Cho	cho [AT] cs [DOT] umd [DOT] edu
Andrew Vorwal	andrew.vorwald [AT] gmail [DOT] com

Lectures

Course Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change. Keep in mind that the slides may not include all the material discussed in lecture. You are responsible for any material we present in lecture, even if it does not appear in the posted slides.

Good Faith Attempt

Good Faith Attempt Deadlines

You must satisfy a minimum set of requirements for each project (Good Faith Attempt) otherwise you will not pass the course (automatic grade of F). Each project defines its own good faith attempt criteria. Notice that you will not receive extra points for completing the good faith attempt. The grade you obtain in the project will be based on your ontime/late submission.

Regrades

Regrades Deadlines

After any class material is graded, you have a period to address any grading concerns. Unfortunately we will not be able to address any grading concerns after the specified deadline.

Projects

Projects

The planned dates when projects will be handed out and due is given in the course schedule. Beware that the exact dates are subject to change, but we will try to give you fair notice of any changes.

Quizzes

Quizzes

A few days prior to each quiz we plan to post a worksheet on this page. The dates for the quizzes are given in the course schedule. Beware that the exact dates are subject to change, but we will try to give you fair notice of any changes.

Worksheets are not turned in and they are not graded. The problems on the worksheet are for your own benefit and are designed to prepare you for the quiz. We will not be giving answers to the worksheet problems, but if you have a question you can talk to the course TA(s).

Exams

Exams

This page provides information regarding course exams.

Links

Links

• Basic Unix Tutorial and SSH Clients Info
• Public, Release, and Secret Tests
• https://dav.terpconnect.umd.edu/ (for downloading material from grace)
• Brief History of the C programming Language
• Unix tutorial
• Emacs tutorial (Section 5 of unix-tutorial.pdf)
• Emacs Cheet Sheet(1)
• Emacs Cheet Sheet(2)
• If you are connecting to the Linux Grace systems using a Windows computer, you may find it very useful to download and install Xming, a Windows X server. An X server lets you open windows from the Grace systems onto your machine.
• C Style Guidelines
• GDB Under Emacs Tutorial
• GNU Make manual
• GDB quick reference sheet, and manual
• OIT UNIX system docs
• OIT computer labs
• http://www.cdecl.org/
• Ascii Table
• C for Java Programmers
• The Linux man-pages project
• Glue Research and Academic Computing Environment (http://www.grace.umd.edu)
• IT Service Center (Help)
• Linux Man Pages(2)
• http://www.explainshell.com/
• Apps to Connect to the Grace System: JuiceSHH (Android) Free, ConnectBot (Android) Free, iTerminal - SSH Tool (iPad/iPhone) Free , iSSH - SSH / VNC Consolde (iPad/iPhone) Not Free
• Debugging in C

Piazza

Piazza

We will be using (Piazza) for class communication. Regarding Piazza:

• We will use Piazza to communicate in lecture, and to provide class announcements.
• Posting of code is not allowed is Piazza. Anyone posting any kind of code may receive an XF in the course.
• In Piazza you can see the class announcements by selecting "Resources", "Course Information".
• When we post an announcement, we will select the Piazza option that allows you to receive an immediate e-mail. The e-mail will have a subject line that starts with "[Instr Note]." If you are filtering piazza messages, make sure that those messages are not placed in the junk folder.
• You are responsible for checking class announcements.
• The prefered mechanism to address course questions (projects, lecture material, etc.) is during office hours, in lab, and lecture.
• Students' questions can only be answered by CS staff (TAs and instructors). Although we will try to check Piazza often, there is no guarantee we will respond to messages immediately.
• You will not be able to register to Piazza yourself. Your instructor will register you using the e-mail you have in the school system.
• Piazza sents posts via e-mail. If you just want to receive messages posted by instructors, place a filter in your mail client than searches for [Instr Note] in the subject.

Videos

Lecture Videos

Note: If you get a "Generating Preview" message, download the video to your system for viewing