Laboratory Assignments, Foundations of Computing -- Fall 2000

Laboratory: Tuesdays and Thursdays 7:30 -- 9:30 pm, ACC lab (L2610 in the Computer Center).

Last revised October 29, 2000. Use your browser's Reload or Refresh button to get the latest version.

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Quizzes

There may be a short quiz at the beginning of any lab session. The quiz will cover any course material (usually laboratory but perhaps seminar readings also) assigned through the previous Thursday. Your quiz scores will be considered in your evaluation. Your quiz also serves as an attendance record.

Final Exam

There will be a final exam on Scheme in the last lab meeting of the quarter, on December 7. The final exam will cover the material that was covered in the quizzes all quarter. Your exam score will be considered in your evaluation.

Assignments

There are four programming assignments. Your assignments will be considered in your evaluation.

The first three assignments are due at the beginning of the lab (at 7:30 pm). The due dates are:

• Assignment 1: Tuesday October 17 (week 4)
• Assignment 2: Tuesday November 7 (week 7)
• Assignment 3: Tuesday November 28 (week 9)
• Assignment 4: Thursday December 7 (week 10)

For each assignment, write and run a Scheme program. You must turn in three items. The three items must be on paper (email submissions are not accepted). Each item must fit on one page (one side). They are:

1. A problem statement that says what the program does (not how it works). The problem statement should be so precise that you could give the statement to another programmer and they could write a program that exhibits the same behavior as yours.

   Be brief. One or a few sentences is fine. For example you can just say, "This is my solution to exercise m on page n in Simply Scheme," and then copy the problem statement from the book.

   Make the problem statement self-contained so the instructor can evaluate your assignment without the book (or any other sources) at hand.

2. The program itself (Scheme code). If the program is based on an example in a book, cite the book and page number in a comment. If your program is longer than one page, hand in an excerpt that fits on one page.

3. A sample program run showing input and output.

The items you should turn in should be self-explanatory. It should be possible for the instructor to evaluate your assignment by inspecting these items, without observing a demonstration.

The content of your assignment is up to you. Here are some options:

• Copy and run an example from the textbook (or from some other source). This is a minimal but acceptable way to fulfill the assignment.
• Solve an exercise from the textbook (or some other book).
• Solve a problem posed by the instructor.
• Solve a problem you pose yourself.
• Work on a project through the term. For each assignment, turn in a problem statement, program excerpt, and sample program run showing the state of the project at that time. You must still observe the length limit on each assignment you turn in.

The assignment should brief. If asked, you should be able to demonstrate it and explain it in less than five minutes.

Assignments will be evaluated on:

• Precision: the problem statement should say what the program does.
• Correctness: the program should do what the problem statement says.
• Attribution: if the problem statement or program is based on an example in a book (or some other source), the source should be cited accurately. If you worked with another student (or anyone else), acknowledge them.
• Difficulty
• Originality

To do well, you will need to do much more work than you turn in. You should work through the examples in the textbooks and attempt as many exercises as you can. Try out your own ideas. Create a portfolio by saving your better work in files that you keep all quarter. The assignments you turn in should be your own selection of the best work in your portfolio.

You may work with (one or more) other students on your assignment, but each student must turn in an assignment and acknowledge any others who contributed in the problem statement and/or code (as appropriate). The instructor may meet with each student to assess their individual contribution.