CS253: Software Development with C++

Class

CS253: Software Development with C++

Lecture

9:30–10:45ᴀᴍ MT Tuesday/Thursday in Engineering 100 (SW corner, near the CSU bookstore)

Labs

Weekly labs (alias recitations) are online only.

Semester

August 24 – December 10, 2021

Optional Text

C++ for Java Programmers Mark Allen Weiss, ISBN 013919424X (beware of another book with the same title)

Role	Who		Office hours
Instructor		📧 Jack Applin	Teams: Mon 4–6ᴘᴍ, Wed 6–8ᴘᴍ, Fri 5:30–7:30ᴘᴍ MT and by appointment, on Teams or in person
GTA		📧 -> mailto:Sriharsha [period] Kathuroju [snail] ColoState [period] Edu Sriharsha Kathuroju	Linux Lab: Mon 6–8ᴘᴍ, Thu 6–8ᴘᴍ MT
GTA		📧 -> mailto:Zihui [period] Li [snail] ColoState [period] Edu Zihui Li	Linux Lab: Mon 7–9ᴘᴍ, Wed 6–8ᴘᴍ MT
GTA		📧 -> mailto:Changsoo [period] Jung [snail] ColoState [period] Edu Changsoo Jung	Linux Lab: Wed 10ᴀᴍ–noon, Fri 1–3ᴘᴍ MT
GTA		📧 -> mailto:Soumyadip [period] Roy [snail] ColoState [period] Edu Soumyadip Roy	Linux Lab: Tue noon–2ᴘᴍ, Wed noon–2ᴘᴍ MT
UTA		📧 -> mailto:Alex [period] OHara [snail] ColoState [period] Edu Alexander O’Hara	Teams: Tue 7–9ᴘᴍ, Thu 8–10ᴘᴍ, Sat 11ᴀᴍ–2ᴘᴍ MT
UTA		📧 -> mailto:Jonathan [period] Pfoff [snail] Rams [period] ColoState [period] Edu Jonathan Pfoff	Teams: Tue 4–7ᴘᴍ, Wed 4–6ᴘᴍ, Thu 4–6ᴘᴍ MT

General

• The class is in three places:
  • https://cs.colostate.edu/~cs253 for viewing homework assignments, schedule, syllabus, etc.
  • Canvas, CSU’s LMS, for turning in homework & labs, taking quizzes & tests, seeing your scores, viewing lectures (under Echo360) and viewing labs (under Media Gallery CSUO).
  • Microsoft Teams for discussions and office hours.
    • Log in to Microsoft Teams with your CSU address (eid @ColoState.Edu) and eID password, not a personal account.
• The purpose of this class is twofold:

1. Learn C++, which will partition the class into three sections:
   • Non-object-oriented C++
   • Object-oriented C++
   • Templates and the STL
2. Learn the tools of a professional programmer, including:
   • make
   • debuggers
   • valgrind
   • coverage tools
   • regular expressions

Letter Grades

Letter grades are computed per the table above. There’s no rounding. If you earned 89.99 points, you get a B+, not an A−. The labs & weekly quizzes are worth a lot of points—don’t throw them away and miss a letter grade by quarter point. There is no extra credit.

Labs

• Labs (recitations) are recorded, not live. Video introductions for the labs are available in Canvas under Media Gallery CSUO.
• Do the lab on your own. This is not a group project.
• Get it right. The correctness of your solution matters. Trying is not good enough. Treat a lab as a small programming assignment: no copying, and it must unpack & compile.
• Ask for help via email or Teams.
• Turn in your lab work via Canvas.
• As shown in the schedule, they’re due 10:00:00ᴘᴍ MT Saturday, with a 24-hour late period for a 25% penalty.

Programming Assignments

• Turn in programming assignments (HW0, HW1, HW2, …) via Canvas.
• Writeups are available in the schedule.
• As shown in the schedule, they’re due 10:00:00ᴘᴍ MT Saturday (but not every week), with a 24-hour late period for a 25% penalty.
• The TAs grade the homework. If you don’t like your score, talk with them first, then to the instructor if you still disagree.

Quizzes & Tests

• Weekly quizzes, the midterms, and the final exam, are all on Canvas.
• As shown in the schedule, quizzes due 10:00:00ᴘᴍ MT Saturday, with a 24-hour late period for a 25% penalty.
• Be sure to actually submit your quiz, via the Submit Quiz button. If you don’t submit your quiz, then Canvas will wait until the end of the late period to automatically submit your quiz, and you’ll get a late penalty.
• Quizzes & tests are weighed according to the table above.
• Quizzes are not curved, only the midterms and the final exam are.
• Contact the instructor to review a Canvas test.

Getting Help

• See Connect for how to connect to a CS Dept. Computer, and Connect with MobaXterm for a specific guide using MobaXterm on Windows.
• The GTAs have office hours in the Linux Lab in CSB 120, as listed above.
• The Instructor & UTAs have office hours on Teams, as listed above. Use text chat (start that way), audio, or video.
• For general discussions, use the Teams bulletin board / message board / forum.
• Send email using the staff addresses, above.
• Avoid Canvas messages—nobody reads those. I wish I could disable them.
• Canvas submission comments are similarly ignored.

Making up Work

If illness prevents you from doing homework or taking a quiz/test, get a note from Hartshorn, a doctor, an emergency room, etc. It is not good enough to diagnose yourself. Similarly, if you suffer a family tragedy, your apartment catches fire, you’re called up for military service, etc., then provide documentation for the event. Concerts and ski trips are not unexpected.

Don’t ask the TAs to let you turn in work late, or to let you make up work. They don’t have the power to permit that—only the instructor does.

If the instructor allows make-up or late work, they will simply change your Canvas due date. Don’t email it—just check it in to Canvas.

Time Zones

All dates & times mentioned are Mountain Time (currently 5:49PM MST November 21, 2024), the time zone used at CSU. Your time zone does not determine deadlines; CSU’s time zone (Mountain Time) does.

COVID-19

• Vaccination & mask requirements
• General COVID-19 info & rules

Closures

I will announce cancellations on Teams. However, I don’t decide when to cancel classes—CSU does. If the weather looks interesting, go to https://safety.colostate.edu. If that site says that CSU is closed, then classes, labs, office hours, etc., are cancelled. If it doesn’t, then they’re not.

Conduct in Class

Don’t distract the students. I can’t force you to learn, but you must allow others to do so. This means:

• Do not distract others with conversation.
• Do not distract others with your phone.
• Do not distract others by using your laptop in front of the class.
• If you snore, I will wake you up.

Students often believe that they can efficiently multitask. Some believe that they can surf the web, catch up on social networking, and absorb the lecture at the same time. They are incorrect. Studies consistently show that we are all miserable at multitasking.

Cheating

Exams and projects will be done individually and grades assigned on an individual basis. Further, students not already familiar with the CSU Honor Pledge should review this clear and simple pledge and always adhere to it.

Policies on cheating, plagiarism, incomplete grades, attendance, discrimination, sexual harassment, and student grievances are described in the Student Information Guide. All other matters follow the policies set in the current CSU General Catalog, the Student Conduct Code, and in the CS Dept. Code of Conduct.

You may not copy or use, all or in part, someone else’s work. You may not give your work, all or in part, to someone else for any reason. It is your responsibility to keep your work private from all others. You may not collaborate to produce one product turned in multiple times. You may not use work done in a previous semester by someone else. You may not post assignments on the internet. Paying for homework will result in dire consequences. Acting surprised will not help you.

The use of online “homework helper” sites including, but not limited to, Chegg, NoteHall, Quizlet, and Koofers are not permitted in this course. Please reach out to your instructor to discuss if a specific service you are thinking about using for this course is acceptable. Use of these types of resources will be considered receiving unauthorized assistance and, therefore, a violation of the student conduct code. Using them may result, at the discretion of the instructor, in an F for the course or a negative value for the assignment, quiz, or exam. All incidents of this type will be referred to the CSU Student Resolution Center and may be subject to additional University disciplinary action.

You may discuss assignments but the work you turn in must be your own. You have crossed the line if you start comparing someone else’s work to your own (or vice versa). You have crossed the line if you cannot explain/understand the work you submit. “I copied it from the internet” is not an explanation.

Writing a program comprises two phases: design and implementation. You must do both on your own. It is unacceptable to have joint design but separate implementations.