The required textbook for the course is Introduction to Computing using Python: An Application Development Focus, Second Edition, Ljubomir Perkovic, John Wiley & Sons, 2015. Make sure you have the electronic version of the text since it contains case studies that we will be using. The electronic text has ISBN 978-1-118-89105-6. You can buy the ebook directly from the publisher if you like: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Introduction+to+Computing+Using+Python%3A+An+Application+Development+Focus%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9781118891056

Students receiving more than 90% of possible points are guaranteed at least an A-, more than 80% at least a B-, more than 70% at least a C-, and more than 60% at least a D.

Students are expected to attend class and lab sessions in person. When attending in person is not possible (e.g. because of sickness), students are still responsible for the course content, which may involve accessing notes, examples and watching any recorded content.

Quizzes must be taken in person. If a quiz is missed, its score will be inferred from the score on the subsequent exam, minus a 1 point penalty. Generally, labs require in person attendance for full credit, although some accommodations can be made for remote completion for some labs.

Attendance is noted, although not formally counted in the grade.

Labs

The goal of the labs is to practice concepts taught in the class. Collaboration is encouraged. However, all collaboration must be documented in the submissions. A submitted lab without documentation of collaboration or external use of resources constitutes a violation of academic integrity.

Attendance at the lab is generally expected. Students who do not attend the lab should plan on completing and submitting the lab before the beginning of the lab period. Later submissions are not guaranteed any support or help from the TA or instructor. Joint submissions without lab attendance are not permitted.

Labs are due one hour after the lab period ends. Late labs are subject to a half-point penalty and are allowed uuntil the lab submission box closes at the end of the following day. Labs that are submitted after the submission box closes will not be accepted without a documented excuse filed with the Dean of Students office.

Assignments

The goal of assignments is to become proficient with the concepts taught in class. Submissions must have code that use constructs and conventions taught in class. Code with other constructs and conventions, such as that offered by online resources and AI agents, are subject to receiving no credit.

You are expected to individually complete your own assignments. However, some collaboration with other students is allowed for assignments. The following types of collaboration are allowed:

• Discussing strategies for solving a problem
• Explaining why a script does not work
• Reviewing and testing someone else's programming script
• Using Python code provided by the instructor and texts

Students are invited to discuss labs and assignments on the class-sanctioned online forum (e.g. designated Discord channel). However, discussion should not include anything more than short snippets of code (less than one line).

The following types of collaboration are not allowed for assignments:

• Copying someone else's Python code
• Literally telling someone what code to write

Engaging in these last two types of collaboration will be considered a violation of the university's policy on academic integrity. Violators will receive a zero for the corresponding assignment and will be reported as required by the policy.

Late assignments will be accepted up to three days late with a one point penalty. Assignments submitted more than 3 days after the due date will not be accepted without an excused absence cleared by the dean of students office.

Additional assignments for extra credit will not be offered.

Exams

When completing exams, students may not collaborate with any other person, nor use any external resources. Collaboration with others on exams will be considered a violation of the university's policy on academic integrity. Violators will receive a zero for the corresponding exam and will be reported as required by the policy.

Exams can be made up with a serious documented excuse (e.g. illness, death in the family) and must be arranged as soon as possible. Arrangements involving other excuses require prior permission from the instructor.

All grade challenges must be submitted in writing and include an explanation why the given score or grade should be reconsidered.

You must have taken CSC 241: Introduction to Computer Science II or an equivalent course that introduces problem-solving techniques and programming in Python and earned a passing grade (C- or better). I will also assume that:

• You know how to create, debug, compile, and run Python, and you use a reasonable coding style (i.e. your code is easy to read and relatively concise)
• You know Python's basic control structures (e.g. conditions, loops) and types (e.g. strings, lists, dictionaries)
• You can solve basic computing problems

Final exam for TuTh morning class (section 501): Thursday March 21 from 8:30 AM to 10:45 AM.

Final exam for TuTh afternoon class (section 506): Thursday March 21 from 11:30 AM to 1:45 PM.