CS 31: Introduction to Computer Science I

Computer Science Department
University of California, Los Angeles
Spring 2023

SYLLABUS

Course Objectives Lecture and Discussion Sections
Course Website Assignments
Instructors and Class Meetings Examinations
Schedule of Lecture Topics and Exams Grading
Textbook

Course Objectives

In this course, you will learn the foundation concepts and principles of computer science; fundamental computer programming principles, methodologies, and techniques; and basic concepts of programming in general and the C++ language specifically.

Course Website

The URL for the course website is https://cs.ucla.edu/classes/spring23/cs31. You must check the site for announcements at least every other weekday. You must also check your email as regularly. The course Bruin Learn site is used mostly to house Zoom links to lectures, office hours, and learning assistant workshops; recorded lectures and workshops; and material posted by TAs.

Instructor and Class Meetings

Lecture 1
MW 4-5:50
WGYoung CS50
David Smallberg
das@cs.ucla.edu
Discussion 1A
F 12-1:50
Boelter 3400
Yangchao Wu
wuyangchao1997@ucla.edu
Discussion 1C
F 12-1:50
Haines 39
Anya Martin
anyama@g.ucla.edu
Discussion 1E
F 2-3:50
Kaufman 101
Yining Hong
yninghong@gmail.com
Discussion 1G
F 4-5:50
Dodd 78
Anaelia Ovalle
TAEliaCS31@gmail.com
Discussion 1B
F 12-1:50
Fowler A103B
Yue Wu
wuy@ucla.edu
Discussion 1D
F 2-3:50
Royce 156
Song Jiang
songjiang@cs.ucla.edu
Discussion 1F
F 2-3:50
Royce 164
Yunze Long
jerrylong@g.ucla.edu
 

Office hours for the instructor, TAs, and LAs are on the class web page.

Schedule of Lecture Topics and Exams

Week Date Topics
1 Apr.   3 Introduction/Computer History
  Apr.   5 Basics
2 Apr. 10 Basics
  Apr. 12 Control Flow
3 Apr. 17 Control Flow
  Apr. 19 Strings, Functions
4 Apr. 24 Functions and Program Development
  Apr. 26 Parameters
5 May   1 Arrays
  May 2 (Tue.) Midterm 1 (between 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm)
  May   3 Arrays
6 May   8 Strings
  May 10 Pointers
7 May 15 Pointers
  May 17 Structs and Classes
8 May 22 Classes and Dynamic Allocation
  May 23 (Tue.) Midterm 2 (between 6:00 pm and 7:30 pm)
  May 24 Constructors and Destructors
9 May 29 Memorial Day Holiday
  May 31 Pointers
10 Jun.   5 Review
  Jun.   7 Wrapup
end of 10 Jun. 10 (Sat.) Final exam (11:30 am - 2:30 pm)

Textbook

The required course textbook is an interactive online zyBook that offers a number of advantages over static text-dense textbooks. To purchase a subscription ($77):

  1. Sign in or create an account (upper right corner) at https://learn.zybooks.com
  2. Enter zyBook code: UCLACOMSCI31SmallbergSpring2023
  3. Subscribe
Some of the interactive activities will be required assignments. If you have any questions/issues about administrative aspects of zyBooks (access issues, etc.) contact support@zybooks.com or look at the Students section at the zyBooks help center.

Lecture and Discussion Sections

Lectures will present the material you'll need to know for this class, expanding on material from the course textbook. In discussion sections, your TA along with a learning assistant (LA) will pose problems to solve collaboratively in class to help build your problem solving skills and ensure you understand key concepts. They may answer questions that arise about these concepts, lecture topics, and programming projects.

Assignments

You cannot learn how to write programs without writing programs. There will be several programming projects. Each project specification will detail any requirements that differ from the general project requirements. Your program correctness score is based on your program's correctness as determined by our testing. The amount of time you spent working on the program is irrelevant; indeed, if you follow our software development advice, you'll probably spend less time and get a higher score than if you don't.

Some assignments will be activities in the course text designed to help ensure that you understand important concepts.

Occasionally you'll be asked to fill out a brief online form (e.g., because we need to gather some information for planning purposes) in a timely manner. These "responsibility assignments" will be so labelled and completing them will be worth a small part of your grade.

Every C++ program you turn in for this class outside of the course text must run successfully using two compilers, as specified in the Project Requirements document.

Programming projects are due at 11 PM on the dates below. Late submissions will be penalized by 0.0034722% per second (which comes to 12.5% per hour), making a submission worthless if submitted after 7 AM the next morning. It is your responsibility to start early and to make backups to removable devices or to online storage.

Project 1 Tuesday, April 11
Project 2 warmup Saturday, April 15
Project 2 Thursday, April 20
Project 3 warmup Tuesday, April 25 Wednesday, April 26
Project 3 Wednesday, May 3
Project 4 part 1 Saturday, May 6
Project 4 part 2 Wednesday, May 10
Project 5 Monday, May 22
Project 6 Tuesday, May 30
Project 7 Thursday, June 8

Examinations

The midterm will cover material from the lectures. The final examination will cover material from the entire course. Missing the final for any reason will result in a final exam score of zero.

Grading

Your grade in the course will be determined from your total score, although a final exam score below 40 may subject you to a failing grade regardless of your total score. The total score is determined from the graded materials as follows:

Projects (excluding zyBook assignments)42%
zyBook assignments  7%
Responsibility assignments  1%
Midterm 1  7%
Midterm 213%
Final exam30%

The total points you earn from assignments (scaled to 0 through 100) will be capped at 30 points above the mean of your exam scores (scaled to 0 through 100). For example, if you average 90 on the assignments, your midterm scores are 50 and 60, and your final is 40, then your assignment average is treated as only 80 (because that's 30 more than the mean of 50, 60, and 40). In other words, your assignment scores won't count fully if you can't show from your exam scores that you learned what you should have from the assignments.

A request for reconsideration of the grading for an item must be made within one week of our sending you your score for that item.

Be sure you have read and understood our expectations about academic integrity.