Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of CSCI 136, students will obtain

• The ability to recognize parts of a problem, design solutions to those parts, and compose them into a single working program using common software patterns.
• The ability to weigh algorithmic choices by appealing to formal arguments (e.g., asymptotic) about the time, space, and correctness of those choices in a given program.
• The ability to clearly and precisely communicate with others about the design of a program.
• Proficiency in the Java programming language and key development tools.

Expectations & Class Norms

You can expect me (the instructor) to:

• Contribute to and support a respectful and welcoming environment.
• Start and end class on time.
• Craft lectures and assignments designed to help you learn the material.
• Release assignments and provide feedback in a timely matter.
• Reply to emails and Piazza posts within 24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends.

We can expect you (the students) to:

• Contribute to and support a respectful and welcoming environment.
• Attend all lectures in person except for health emergencies or extenuating circumstances.
• Arrive to class and lab on time, and plan to stay until the end.
• Take responsibility for your own learning and stay engaged with the class and material.
• Reach out for help from the TAs or instructors.
• Adhere to the Honor Code.

Class Norms:

• If you become sick with COVID or another illness please stay home and let us know via email. We will record lectures and then post them to Piazza.
• If you must miss class for other reasons please give us as much advance notice as possible.
• The Computer Science department strives to be a friendly and welcoming community. You may find it slightly less formal (but no less respectful) than what you encountered in previous academic settings. For example, most students and faculty address other faculty by their first names. You are welcome to call me "Katie" as well.
• You are also welcome to address me informally in email (i.e. starting an email with “Hi Katie.”) Here are a few other tips for emailing professors if that is something new to you or out of your comfort zone.
• Katie has set student help hours (office hours). Feel free to use these times to discuss questions adjacent to the course.
• Katie uses she/her pronouns. We will try to use your preferred pronouns, as indicated in PeopleSoft. Please don’t hesitate to correct us.

Workload

Attendance is required in both lecture and lab. In general, beyond the 5 hours we spend together during our class and lab meetings, you should plan to spend 10 hours per week on work related to class. Aside from the weekly lab, you are responsible for reading supporting material and investigating our online resources as necessary.

Textbooks

There is no required textbook for this class. We will link supporting readings on the lecture slides and/or course webpage.

Resources

Computer science can be challenging (but equally rewarding). Almost every programmer will become stuck at some point or other. We encourage you to take advantage of the following help resources:

• Student help hours with the instructor and TAs occur almost daily and are listed in this Google calendar.
• You can reach out to Lida Doret via email (lpd2@williams.edu).
• You can make a personal appointment with Nick Hanford, Director of Quantitative Skills Programs (nh8@williams.edu).
• Peer tutors: Free tutoring is available for any student enrolled in this course through the office of Content Tutoring. You are welcome to schedule an individual tutoring session or visit the Math and Science Resource Center (the MSRC) for help. The MSRC is for drop-in tutoring where you can ask tutors a quick question, collaborate with people in your class, or just get some work done among others. One note: tutors for this class will only be available in the MSRC on particular weeknights. To find the MSRC schedule or make an appointment with an individual tutor, please visit Accudemia. If you have any questions about finding a tutor, please contact Madison Kelsey at mjk5@williams.edu.

Communication and Piazza

• In CS136, we will primarily use Piazza for communication. Piazza is a classroom management tool that allows for quick and efficient answering of questions as well as the ability to post anonymously.
• Any content questions asked over email will be redirected to Piazza. The hope is Piazza gives you more help more quickly since the TAs, other students, and the instructor can answer collectively.
• For other private or personal matters, please email the instructor, kak5@williams.edu

Assessments & Grades

Assessments consist of weekly lab assignments, a final project, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Students' final grades will be broken down as follows:

Category	Percentage
Labs	30%
Final Project	15%
Midterm Exam	25%
Final Exam	30%

Grading for Labs

Labs are considered a formative assessment (in contrast to a summative assessment), and are graded on the following four-point rubric:

Category	Description
Minus (-)	Submission did not compile or nothing was written
Check-minus (✓-)	Submission missing some essential requirements
Check (✓)	Submission satisfied the requirements
Check-plus (✓+)	Submission satisfied the requirements and had a creative extension

Late days for labs

• You (the student) have 3 late days which you can allocate to lab assignments throughout the semester.
• To use a late day, fill out this Google form. This will be checked after every lab deadline so there is no need to email the instructor.
• If you have used all three late days and require a special exception extension, we require a note from your class dean.
• If a special exception extension is not granted and all late days are used, the total number of lab points possible will be reduced 20% for each day late.

Honor Code

Computer Science Honor Code

For computer assignments in computer science courses, the honor code is interpreted in very specific ways. Labs are expected to be the work of the individual student unless otherwise designated, designed and coded by them alone. Help locating errors and interpreting error messages is allowed, but a student may only receive help in correcting errors of syntax; help in correcting errors of logic is strictly forbidden. In general, if you are taking photos of someone else’s screen, looking at someone else’s screen, or telling someone else what to type, it is likely the work is no longer the work of an individual student.

The College and Department also have computer usage policies that apply to courses that make use of computers. Read more about these policies here.

50-Foot Rule

To make this policy a little more concrete, we will be following the 50-foot rule.

Most proficient programmers will make use of tools on the internet, however, the 50-foot rule applies to Google, Stack Overflow, large language models (such as ChatGPT), and any other online sources as well. Directly copy-pasting from any of these sources is considered a violation of the honor code.

If in doubt as to what is appropriate, do not hesitate to ask Katie. I'm happy to discuss this anytime.

Sharing Solutions.

Please do not post your solutions to our assignments in any public forum, including public GitHub repositories. Students taking the course should not be looking for solutions, but tempting them by making solutions available is inappropriate. This applies not just to the semester you are taking the course, but to the future as well.

Inclusivity

The Williams community embraces diversity of age, background, beliefs, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and other visible and nonvisible categories. I welcome all students in this course and expect that all students contribute to a respectful, welcoming and inclusive environment. If you feel that you are not being welcomed, included, or accepted in this class, please come to me or a college administrator to share your concern. You may be surprised to learn that I have these conversations with students regularly and even welcome them. Please let me know how I can support you!

Accommodations

If formal accommodations need to be made to meet your specific learning or physical abilities, you should contact your instructors as possible to discuss appropriate accommodations. You should also contact the Director of Accessible Education, Dr. G. L. Wallace (x4672) or the Dean’s office (x4171). We will work together to ensure this class is accessible and inclusive.

Mental Health

If you are experiencing mental or physical health challenges that are significantly affecting your academic work, you are encouraged to contact your instructor and/or speak with Dean’s Office staff (x4171).

Public Health

If you feel ill, please do not come to class or lab and let us know if you are unable to attend class due to COVID restrictions. We will work with you to make sure you can make up any missed work, and to develop a plan that allows you to continue making progress in the course during your time in isolation/quarantine. In particular, lectures will be recorded and then posted on Piazza.