Description: A beginning course for computer science majors and students interested in programming. Basic hardware and software terminologies are covered. Students are introduced to program design and development methodologies, data representation, data structures, operating systems, and machine architecture. CSU, UC (credit limits may apply to UC - see counselor)

Outcomes: Students completing this course should be able to:

· name different hardware parts of a computer system and describe their purpose

· describe the purpose of an operating system, as well as some of the problems that arise, and their solutions

· use a text editor and a compiler to create, edit, debug and execute a simple program

Evenings: Monday and Wednesday evenings (most weeks)

Dates: Monday, January 25 through Wednesday, May 26, 2010 (except for holidays)

Times: 7:00 p.m. – 9:50 p.m.

Room: ATC-109

Format: Evening, full-semester course, roughly half lecture (discussions and tests) and half lab (exercises)

Units: 4.0

Enrollment: Each student must be enrolled with the college and have a seven-digit student identification number

Prerequisite: (none listed)

Suggestion: Any student who is not yet comfortable typing on a computer keyboard should consider taking the course BUSIM-110 – Keyboarding I – Beginning Keyboarding (either before taking this computer science course, or at the same time)

Co-requisite: (none listed)

Other

Registration: To see dates for adding or dropping the course, withdrawing from the course, or choosing a credit / no credit grading option, please visit the college web site and look for Academic Calendar, or see the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus and choose Calendar.

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Instructor

Name: Leslie Asher

Contact: In class, students are encouraged to ask the instructor questions. Other students may have the same or similar questions and may benefit from hearing them asked.

Before or after class, students may consult with the instructor during “office hours” (please see below).

At other times outside of class, students may also contact the instructor by electronic mail. Please see the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus for the instructor's Continuation Page that includes a Contact section with his E-mail address. Even though this course is not an online course, the instructor will nonetheless be available by e-mail which, on most days, he should be able to check.

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Office Hours

The instructor will conduct “office hours” in the room where the class normally meets for fifteen (15) minutes before and after class. Some evenings, the instructor will arrive even earlier, and stay even later. During office hours, students would be welcome to ask about class topics and seek advice.

If the instructor is teaching another class the same semester, he may be conducting “office hours” before and after that class as well. Please see the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus for the instructor's Continuation Page that includes a Schedule of classes that the instructor is teaching with links to their syllabi.

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Textbooks

1) Main book

Book Brookshear, J. Glenn

Computer Science: An Overview, 10th Ed.

Boston, MA

Pearson Education / Addison-Wesley, 2009

688 pages

Print Electronic

ISBN-10: 0-321-52403-9 0-321-55653-4

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-52403-4 978-0-321-55653-0

Link to electronic edition:

http://www.coursesmart.com/9780321556530?_instructoruserid=1702724

2) Programming book

Deitel, Paul J., Harvey M. Deitel, and Greg J. Ayer

Simply Visual Basic 2008, 3rd Ed.

Upper Saddle River, NJ

Pearson Education / Prentice Hall, 2009

1484 pages

Print Electronic

ISBN-10: 0-13-605303-3 0-13-605287-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-13-605303-3 978-0-13-605287-6

Link to electronic edition:

http://www.coursesmart.com/9780136052876?_instructoruserid=1702724

These textbooks are required. Students should buy, rent or subscribe to correct editions of them. Books other than those listed would not be suitable.

Students should preferably get books by the first class meeting. Students should bring all books to every class meeting. Students who subscribe to electronic books may bring portable computers to class.

Material in books will provide an important basis for lectures, class discussions, lab exercises, homework assignments and tests.

Students who do not have the money to get books by the first week of the semester would be at a disadvantage. Such students should consider not taking the course until they have sufficient funds to get books.

Students should not share books with other students. Attempting to share books would impede students’ ability to read and understand the material, to follow class discussions based on the books, and to individually complete assignments that are printed in the books.

Please see the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus for bookstore information.

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E-mail

An electronic mail account is required to submit assignments to the instructor, and to receive announcements from him.

An e-mail account would also be necessary to participate in an optional program to receive free software from Microsoft. The e-mail address would need to be on file with the college.

A student who does not already have an e-mail account could look on the Internet for a low-cost or free account. Below are a few links to web sites where such accounts may be available:

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This course will use Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 to write, compile and execute computer programs.

Copies of this software, or of the entire Visual Studio 2008 suite, should already be installed on classroom computers for instructor and students to use during class discussions and for lab exercises.

Students who wish to obtain their own copies of Visual Basic 2008 could download – without cost – the Express Edition of it from:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/

For other free software, students may ask their instructor about the Microsoft Developer Network – Academic Alliance. To participate, students must have valid e-mail addresses on file with the college.

Alternatively, students may wish to check online or retail sources for discounted software with vendors such as

JourneyEd

BestBuy

Staples

The college bookstore may have information about discounted software.

Students who wish to buy software should buy legally-licensed software from reputable sources.

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Storage

jd_360_thumb Students should obtain some form of portable data storage to save and transport assignments or other data files among computers at school, home and work (if authorized to use work computers for study).

Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory devices, also known by names such as "memory sticks", "flash drives", or "thumb drives", are now widely used. They cost more than floppy diskettes. However, their capacity is much greater. Some form of USB memory device is strongly recommended for this course.

Floppy diskettes were widely used for many years as an economical form of portable storage. However, the storage capacity of diskettes is limited, and many manufacturers no longer equip personal computers with diskette drives.

An alternative to buying and carrying around USB sticks or diskettes may be to e-mail assignments or other data to oneself over the Internet!

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Ethics

Ethics require that students do their own assignments and take their own tests; so do college rules.

Students should acquaint themselves with rules in the College Catalog that govern academic honesty and other student conduct. The academic year 2009-2010 College Catalog includes sections about these topics on pages 30, 36, and 42 thru 49.

To read an online version of the College Catalog, please visit the college web site and search for it, or see the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus and choose Catalog. To obtain a printed copy, please visit the College Bookstore.

If a student is academically dishonest, the instructor may penalize the student’s grade. Please see the Grading section of this syllabus for more information. If a student repeats academically dishonest behavior, the instructor may refer the student to a college dean for further action.

Ethics extend to intellectual property. Students should honor software licenses and other copyrights that belong to organizations and authors by not illegally copying digital files or printed material.

Etiquette

Etiquette requires that students be considerate of one another and the instructor.

Students should pose thoughtful and meaningful questions and answers for class discussion.

When entering the classroom, students should turn off cell phones (or set them to a silent mode). Students should not distract others by using cell phones in the classroom.

During class discussions, students should turn off video monitors and avoid using lab computers. Students should not distract others by using computers during discussions.

During class hours, students should use computers for class purposes only. Students should not use computers to play games, to use social networking software such as Facebook, or to check electronic mail messages (except for class-related e-mail).

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Identification

Students will need to present a form of legitimate photo identification to the instructor in order to receive credit for the course. Students will preferably present such ID in the first few weeks of the semester.

Students may obtain college photo ID cards without cost. For more information, scroll down to the Links Out section near the end of this syllabus and click a link for photo ID.

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Attendance

Students are expected to attend every class. Students should arrive on time, take breaks when instructed, and stay for the duration of each class.

The instructor must take attendance at the beginning of the semester and report initial attendance data to the college. The instructor may continue recording attendance throughout the semester.

If a student misses the first class, or is absent for the equivalent of two (2) weeks during the semester, the instructor may drop the student from the course. However, the student is ultimately responsible for dropping or withdrawing by dates that the college publishes.

For further information about attendance policies, please refer to the college catalog. The academic year 2009-2010 College Catalog includes a section about Registering for Classes on pages 17 thru 19.

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Studying

Students taking this course are expected to study approximately one (1) hour outside of class for every hour in class.

In other words, for a class that usually meets for six (6) hours per week, students are expected to study for approximately another six (6) hours per week outside of class.

Studying should include quiet time at a desk reading assigned book(s) and handouts, and it should include time at a computer using assigned software.

Students are expected to thoroughly read assigned material, to thoughtfully complete assigned exercises, and to submit homework assignments on a timely basis.

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Schedule

Below is the beginning of a tentative course schedule*, which the instructor may modify at his discretion.

Discussion / Homework

Wk of Reading Assignment Test

01 01/ Careers, Syllabus, . . . . . . . . . . . Qz00

25 Introduction

Read: CS Ch00

Data Storage Read: CS Ch01, §1.1 - §1.3

Do: CS Ch01, CR #1, 5, 6

02 02/ Data Storage (more) Read: CS Ch01, §1.4 - §1.6

01 (thru overflow)

Do: CS Ch01,

CR #7 (all), 9 (all),

12 (all), 17, 20,

24 (all), 26 (a,c,k),

27 (a,c,e), 32 (a,c,e),

33 (a,c,f), 34 (a,c),

35 (a,c)

03 02/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qz01

DOS commands

Command-line VB

Hello2 program Do: Hello2 program

Do: Download example files

Read: VB Preface

Read: VB Before You Begin

Do: Download/install

MS VB Express 2008

GUI VB Read: VB Ch01

Do: Painter Application

VB 2008 IDE Read: VB Ch02

Do: Welcome Application

04 02/

Holiday on Monday

Do: Show homework to

Instructor

Read: VB Ch03

Do: Welcome Application

05 02/

Data Manipulation Read: CS Ch02 (all)

Do: All parts to each problem

unless otherwise noted

CS Ch02,

CR 2, 3, 5, 7 , 9,

11, 14, 19, 23, 25,

34(a,c,e,g,i,k), 35, 45

06 03/

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qz02

VB Arithmetic Do: Command-line lab program

VB Text Boxes Read: VB Ch04

& Buttons Do: Inventory Application

VB Programming Read: VB Ch05

Do: Inventory Application

VB Variables, Read: VB Ch06

Memory & Arith. Do: Inventory Application

07 03/

Operating Systems Read: CS Ch03

Do: CS Ch03, CR 1, 2, 5, 8,

10, 13, 14, 16,

19, 21, 30, 44,

45, 47, 49

08 03/

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Qz03

TBD

* Legend

Wk = Week CS = Computer Science book (main)

of = starting day VB = Visual Basic book (programming)

of school week

Ch = Chapter Qz = Quiz

§ = Section Em = Exam

Pp = pages

CR = Chapter Review Problems

(at end of chapters)

Pg = Program

TBD= To Be Determined

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Grading

Overview: Grades will depend on assignments and tests that students submit.

Assignments: Assignments may consist of lab exercises and homework exercises. Assignments may involve answering questions from textbooks (or similar questions), and writing computer programs.

There will be NO late (make-up) assignments. To receive credit for lab exercises, students will typically show results to the instructor before the end of lab (unless the instructor says otherwise). To receive credit for homework assignments, students will e-mail them to the instructor by the end of the week – before midnight Saturday. These arrangements may permit the instructor, on some Sundays, to review submitted assignments and provide timely feedback (early the following week).

Tests: Tests may consist of quizzes and exam(s). Tests may involve answering multiple-choice, true/false, matching, or fill-in-the-blank questions, and writing computer programs (or segments of them). Test questions may be based on textbook readings, class discussions, lab exercises and homework exercises.

There will be NO late (make-up) tests. Students will take and submit tests online while seated at computers in a lab room with the instructor present. Tests will be timed. Tests will be closed book so, while taking them, students may NOT refer to books, notes, classmates, web pages, cell phones or other sources for assistance. Testing software will automatically score most test questions and provide immediate feedback. However, the instructor will manually score fill-in-the-blank or programming questions and provide feedback later.

Quizzes will be shorter and may occur about every other week. Quizzes will usually be announced in advance, but could occur any time. Quizzes will usually contain questions only about material covered since the last quiz. The one lowest quiz score during the semester will be discarded (will not count).

Exception: if a student cheats on a quiz and receives a score of zero, that score and all scores count (none will be discarded).

Exam(s) will be longer and will occur only once or twice in the semester. Exams will be announced in advance. Near the middle of the semester, there may be a mid-term exam. At the end of the semester, there will be a final exam. Exams will be cumulative. Exam scores will count (will not be discarded).

Grades: A student's letter grade will mainly depend on the rounded percentage of points he or she earns out of a total number of possible points.

Grades will be assigned approximately as:

90 – 100% = A

80 – 89% = B

70 – 79 % = C

60 – 69 % = D

0 – 59% = F or W

The instructor may consider the classes' overall performance, observing where gaps and clusters of points occur, then consider adjusting the scale.

Students must abide by college regulations governing academic honesty to avoid receiving scores of zero on assignments or tests, or to avoid receiving more severe penalties that college guidelines permit or that college deans recommend.

If students do not attend class, the instructor may administratively drop them from the course. However, the ultimate responsibility for enrolling in, or dropping, courses lies with students themselves.

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Links In

This page is reached directly

at http://www.LeslieAsher.com/DVC/2010aSp/ComSc105/

or from a link

at http://www.LeslieAsher.com/DVC/

in the Courses section

to ComSc-105.

Links Out

Below are links to several other pages on the college web site.

College – Diablo Valley College home page

Calendar – Academic Calendar

Department – Computer Science Department web page

Instructor – Leslie Asher (initial web page)

Continuation – Leslie Asher (continuation web page)

Bookstore – College Bookstore web site

Catalog – Course Catalog

PhotoID – Information and publications

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Disclaimers

Materials: Though the instructor may offer examples of course materials or sources for acquiring them, he does not recommend particular companies or products (other than required materials such as books), nor does he receive consideration from companies (except for instructor materials).

Web links: Though web links in this document were accurate at the time they were typed, web links may change without notice. Students should use initiative to seek addresses that work, and may inform the instructor of those that do not.

Changes

This syllabus was last revised 3/8/2010.

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321 Golf Club Road

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

DVC is passionately committed to student learning through the intellectual, scientific, artistic, psychological, and ethical development of its diverse student body. Diablo Valley College prepares students for transfer to four-year universities; provides career and technical education; supports the economic development of the region; offers pre-collegiate programs; and promotes personal growth and lifelong learning.