Announcements, Foundations of Computing

Revised frequently. Use your browser's Reload or Refresh button to get the latest version.

Sample programs and quizzes are always linked to the web pages as they become available -- there needn't be separate announcements here.

6/15/01 Evaluations: I have emailed my evaluations to each one of you, at your preferred email address. Please read your evaluation soon and let me know promptly if you have any comments or questions.
In addition to the evaluation I mailed to you, the official evaluation that goes in your transcript will also include the revised description and credits that appear on this course description page (be sure to Reload or Refresh it).
6/11/01 Updates page: This new page will carry updates about topics we studied in Foundations of Computing.
In addition, I may continue to post occasional announcements here.
6/06/01 POTLUCK Thursday June 7 5:30 L1612: Here are the announcement and sign-up sheet.
6/06/01 Interesting web sites: Here are links to some interesting web sites that are not directly related to the class. Something to browse on those rainy afternoons.
6/06/01 Inmates ...: Added a section on Cooper's The Inmates are Running the Asylum to the other books section of the course web page.
6/03/01 Permission for Data Structures and Algorithms: If you wish to register for Data Structures and Algorithms you must tell me (Jon Jacky) and tell me your new student ID (which has the form A00012345). I will inform registration, and they should enable you to enroll on-line.
5/29/01 Potluck sign-up: Here is the revised potluck sign-up sheet.
5/29/01 Client-Server demo: The handouts are excerpts from this web page.
The code is on grace with the other sample programs.
5/24/01 Exceptions sample program revised: The CatchPercent.java now linked to the sample programs page differs from the handout passed out Tuesday 5/22. The new version writes messages by simply passing the exception objects to println.
05/23/01 STRIKE - Class cancelled Thurs May 24 - Schedule adjustments: No class Thursday May 24 - cancelled because of the strike.
The seminar schedule has been pushed back one meeting: Pam and Beatrice will present the beginning of Cooper's Inmates ... on Tuesday May 29, etc.
The network quiz has been delayed until Tuesday May 29.
The Java quiz has not been delayed, it will still be on Thursday May 31.
For details see the revised schedule.
05/23/01 Fall quarter classes: The CRN number for Data Structures and Algorithms is 10260.
The Java I course will be offered on Wednesday evening (not Tuesday as initially announced) so it will not conflict with Data Structures.
See the Fall course catalog for details.
05/19/01 More Java links: Reorganized the online resources section and added a few more links.
Added the Java API demonstration program Percent.java to the sample programs section.
05/17/01 Potluck sign-up sheet: Here is a sign-up sheet for contributions to the potluck. Contact Sandy McDonald to add yours.
05/15/01 New course announcement: Data Structures and Algorithms will be offered in Fall 2001.
05/10/01 End-of-quarter schedule, various: See the revised schedule for due dates, quiz dates etc.
Added a link to Sun's Java glossary to the Spring quarter page.
05/08/01 Java objects demo programs: The fish demos that were handed out in in class are linked to the sample programs section on the course web page.
05/02/01 End-of-year potluck: Our last class meeting on Thursday evening, June 7, will be a potluck.
05/02/01 Warriors of the Net animation: This link to the Warriors of the Net animation is now on the other readings and links section of the course page.
04/28/01 Alice and the White Knight on names and references: The excerpt from Through the Looking Glass is linked to other readings on the course web page.
04/25/01 Next Java programming assignment: The next Java programming assignment is due in the lab on Thurs May 3.
04/25/01 Java reading assignments rescheduled: The Java reading assignments have been changed again. See the revised schedule.
04/20/01 Other readings and links: Added links to some readings that are not required, but are interesting anyway.
04/18/01 Practice quiz: There was a practice quiz handed out Tuesday April 17. This is for self-study. Here are the solutions.
04/18/01 Java reading assignments postponed: The reading assignments in On to Java for Apr 17 and Apr 19 have been postponed until next week (the Apr 17 assignment is now for Apr 24 etc.). The next several week's assignments have also been moved back, so a few chapters have dropped off the end (chapters 37-39, 41-42, Appendix C on Windows and Applets). See the revised schedule. Further adjustments will probably be necessary.
04/12/01 Online tutorials and other documents: A section about online Java tutorials and other documents has been added to the Spring quarter page. In addition, parts of the page have been reorganized.
04/11/01 Other books: A section about other (not required) books has been added to the Spring quarter page.
04/11/01 Seminar presenters: Seminar presenters through April 1 have been assigned. See the Spring quarter schedule.
04/03/01 Lab worksheet and sample programs: Materials for the first lab of Spring quarter are linked to the new Laboratories section of the Spring quarter page.
03/29/01 Awk quiz scoring and comments: Here are scoring criteria and comments on the Awk quiz
03/28/01 Awk assignment solutions: Here are solutions and comments on the Awk file type assignment
03/27/01 Room assignment: Lecture and seminar will meet in L1612 again this quarter, same as last quarter. First meeting is Tuesday, April 3, at 5:30 pm.
03/27/01 Seminar presenters: Seminar presenter assignments for the first week are now on the Spring schedule. Others will be added as we go.
03/27/01 Program description: The description of winter quarter has been added to the program description. This description will appear in student's transcripts.
03/18/01 Java software: Instructions for obtaining Java software for your own computer are linked to the new Spring quarter page.
03/18/01 Awk quiz and solution: Here is the quiz on Awk arrays and loops from the March 15 lab, and here is a solution.
03/14/01 Last day of class for Winter Quarter on Thursday March 15: Your Awk file type detector program is due. We will discuss it in class.
You must turn in your self-evaluation for this quarter. It can be quite brief and need not be on the official form.
There will be a quiz on Awk arrays and loops in the lab. I will ask you to write a short program and turn it in. This quiz will be open-book and you may use the computer, but you must work alone.
03/14/01 Awk array and loop demonstration program: Here is the scores program we demonstrated in the lab.
03/10/01 File type definitions revised: Revised file type definitions in these instructions for the Awk programming assignment
03/07/01 Awk programming assignment: Write an awk program to check file type. Here are the instructions.
03/06/01 Spring Quarter syllabus: Here is a very provisional syllabus for Spring quarter.
03/06/01 Final Awk reading assignments: The final Awk reading assignments appear near the bottom of the Winter quarter lab schedule.
02/21/01 New lab assignment: New assignment: write a sed script to translate English to Pig Latin, details here.
02/21/01 awk notes: I have put the sample programs and data from the Awk textbook on grace in /usr/users4/fofc/awk. They, along with other Awk links, can be found here.

The version of awk on grace is gawk (Gnu Awk). It may not work exactly the same as the version in the textbook. According to the Nutshell book and the online man page, you can use the -W traditional option to make our awk behave like traditional awk. You might want to use alias awk='awk -W traditional'
02/18/01 New seminar assignments: Revised seminar schedule with recent reading assignments and presenters
02/12/01 Example solution to exercise: My own solution to the lab exercise is on grace in ~jackyj/web. The first script (that writes all the HTML files) is in the file zfiles. The second script (that writes the index HTML file) is in make-index. The index file itself (that was written by make-index) is in z-index.html.
02/07/01 Due dates pushed back: The shell programming assignment is now due Tuesday Feb 13 (not Feb 8)

The Unix quiz will be held on Tuesday Feb 13 (not Feb 8)

Example shell scripts are linked to laboratories at bottom of main course page.
02/04/01 Shell programming assignment: New page on Unix shell programming

Instructions for the Shell programming assignment
01/31/01 Revised schedule: Revised lab schedule

Revised seminar schedule

Unix quiz in lab Thursday Feb 8, similar to first and second lab worksheets.
01/26/01 Notes on spelling checker: New links about the spelling checker, and the program itself, in the lab section.
01/24/01 Added hints for lab assignment: The hints are on the revised handout for the second lab assignment.
01/19/01 Revisions to Seminar Schedule: Reading assignments and presenters through Tuesday, January 30.

About the reading, "A Spelling Checker" by Jon Bentley:
Skip the part about the hash table on p. 459 -- it's too technical for us at this point. In particular, skip the part that begins about halfway down the first column, "McIlroy used hashing ..." Resume with the last paragraph at the bottom of the right column, that begins "We've already considered ..." Ignore the Solutions for March's problems and the BASIC code on p. 461.
01/17/01 Revised .emacs.telnet: There is a new version of ~jackyj/.emacs.telnet that defines M-m to do set-mark-command. Up to now, there has been no key sequence for this command that works via Windows telnet. If you understand what I'm talking about here, you might want to copy the new version.
01/16/01 Added instructions for Using Linux over Telnet: Also provides instructions for transferring files with FTP
01/15/01 Revised Seminar Schedule: Presenters for Jan 16: John Walker, Kim Gutholm (Brooks, Bell System Tech. Journal)
Presenters for Jan 18: Diep Huynh, Sarah Jackson (Levy, Stallman)
01/15/01 Revised Unix File System handout: This is a revised and expanded version of the handout passed out in the Jan. 11 lecture.
01/11/01 Additions to Lab Schedule and Reading Assignments: New assigments on find (Jan 11) and sort (Jan 23), new Awk assignments through week 7.
01/10/01 Revisions to Seminar Schedule: Reading assignments and presenters through Thursday, January 18.
01/10/01 Additions to Lab 1 notes: More details on booting Linux, selecting KDE, bringing up a terminal window, changing your password, and logging out.
01/10/01 Correction to Lab 1 notes: The URL for the web page you made in the first lab is:
http://grace.evergreen.edu/~username /fofc-lab.html
There is no / (slash character) at the end.
Also, note that in the following line the : (colon) is not part of the command, but the final . (period) is:
Copy the web page template into your home directory : cp ~jackyj/fofc-lab.html .
01/07/01 Syllabus and Schedule for Winter Quarter: The detailed syllabus for the first five weeks appears on the new Lab schedule.
01/04/01 Classroom for Winter Quarter: The lecture/seminar classroom for Winter Quarter is Library 1612. This is a room change! The first class of the quarter will meet there at 5:30 pm, Tuesday January 9. We will continue in the ACC lab at 7:30.
12/27/00 Another Scheme tutorial: Added links to another brief Scheme tutorial in the languages page.
12/21/00 Fix broken links: Fix broken name links (that work in IE but not Netscape).
Add final short section on Lists with pointers to Graham text at the end of How Computers Work.
12/19/00 More odds and ends: Added links to Graham's Common Lisp textbook in the languages page and the search example page.
12/18/00 Odds and Ends: Added directions on using graphics with DrScheme
Added reference to Abelson paper (handed out but never assigned or discussed) to seminar readings page.
Fixed several temporarily broken links --- now you can find the final quiz solutions again.
12/08/00 Final Quiz: Final quiz and solutions.
12/06/00 December 5 lecture notes: Here are the notes (handouts) for the December 5 lecture Scheme Retrospective. Also included is the Scheme code for the network search example.
12/03/00 November 30 lecture notes: Here are the notes (handouts) for the November 30 lecture The Truth about Lists.
11/28/00 End-Of-Quarter Schedule: Last lab quiz is on Tuesday November 28.

Scheme programming assignment 3 due Tuesday November 28

Last student-presented seminar Tuesday November 28

No new reading assignments and no reading reports due after November 28.
Work on review and programming assignments instead.

Links to readings on graphics and graphical user interfaces have been moved to the Fall web page.

November 30, December 5, and December 7 devoted to review and Q & A.
Scheme programming assignment 4 due Thursday December 7

Self-evaluation due Thursday December 7

Student evaluation of faculty due Thursday December 7

Scheme final exam in lab Thursday December 7

Evaluation meetings Tuesday December 10 and Thursday December 14
11/27/00 Winter Academic Fair: I will not be at the Winter Academic Fair on November 29. However, they will be distributing my handout.
11/22/00 Four ways to sort: A new page on sorting from a recently rediscovered unpublished manuscript by one of our textbook authors, Brian Harvey. Shows four surprising and beautiful applications of recursion.
11/21/00 Slighty revised recursion writeup: Revised the writeup on recursion to clarify the distinction between binary trees and other trees.
11/07/00 Scheme in a Nutshell: Here is a nice "Nutshell"-style summary of The Scheme Language . Be warned that (like the Nutshell books) it is written at a rather advanced level and assumes some familiarity with other programming languages.
11/07/00 Recursion examples updated: More explanation and sample functions have been added to the recursion examples page.
11/02/00 Recursion examples: Here are the recursion examples we discussed in the lab, and some other examples also.
11/01/00 Seminar schedule almost complete: The Fall seminar schedule is complete except for Nov. 30, still tba.
11/01/00 Textbooks links: Pages for all three quarters now include links to the authors' or publishers' pages for the textbooks and other recommended readings.
10/30/00 Winter quarter textbooks: Textbooks for next quarter are listed on the Winter Quarter page.
10/29/00 Web page revisions: Revisions to web pages to make them consistent with schedule changes (below).
10/22/00 Schedule changes: We are going to spend the entire Fall Quarter on Scheme, and defer Awk and Java until Winter Quarter.
There are revised schedules for the seminar reading assignments and lab reading assignments.
10/18/00 Solutions: Solutions to lab quizzes and some textbook exercises are linked to the Fall Quarter page, lab section.
10/18/00 Reading assignments schedule change: There are revised schedules for the seminar reading assignments and lab reading assignments.
10/03/00 Room change: Thursday seminars only will meet in L2204. Tuesday seminars will continue to meet in L1308, where we met for the first class.
10/03/00 Web site down: Due to a hardware problem on grace, this web site was inaccessible over the weekend and through Tuesday morning, Oct 3. Sorry.
9/21/00 First class: First class meeting is Tuesday, September 26 at 5:30 pm in L 1308.