CSE150 Syllabus

Instructor:

Course Text:

MATLAB Programming for Engineers, 4th Edition, by Stephen J. Chapman, Thomson Engineering, ISBN 0-495-24449-X (The 3rd edition is also acceptable.)

Course Prerequisites:

CSE110 (a basic understanding of computers)

Course Schedule:

See Course Calendar and Lesson Schedule

Course Goals:

The goal of CSE 150 is for you to develop understanding of the fundamental techniques of software development as a foundation for solving science and engineering problems using computers. You will be able to use programming constructs, problem-solving strategies, algorithms, and data structures, with a focus on science and engineering applications. You will focus on developing effective software engineering practices, emphasizing design, decomposition, encapsulation, modularity, testing, debugging, and software reuse. You will learn a programming language and development environment that is widely used within the science and engineering disciplines. You will learn numerical methods programming.

The objectives of CSE 150 are for students to learn to:

Design and implement computer programs to solve small-scale scientific and engineering problems.
Use well-established programming practices such as modular decomposition, descriptive identifier naming, and appropriate commenting to create maintainable programs.
Test and debug programs effectively and efficiently.
Locate, understand, and use a wide range of pre-defined functions.
Select and use appropriate scalar and aggregate data types.
Select and use appropriate control structures.
Select and use appropriate input/output operations for terminal, file, graphical, and GUI-based input/output.
Understand basic numerical method techniques for solving non-linear equations.

Final Grade Distributions:

A typical grade distribution is expected (but not guaranteed!)

A >= 90%

B >= 80%

C >= 70%

D >= 60%

F below 60%

Graded Events:

Event	Points	Points Before MidTerm
Programming Exercise 1 (PEX 1) Programming Exercise 2 (PEX 2) Programming Exercise 3 (PEX 3)	100 100 100	100 100
Graded Review 1 (GR 1) Graded Review 2 (GR 2)	125 125	125
Final Project Design Final Project Implementation (Interim & Final)	50 150
Final Exam	250
Total Semester Points	1000	325

DF Policies:

Academics with Honor

Classroom Standards

Policy on Academic Integrity

Course Policies:

Lab Exercises

CSE 150 lab exercises will be graded. Therefore, the help and documentation policies apply to lab exercises.
If you do not complete all of a lab exercise, submit the work you have completed.
You may get help from other students during the lab period but you may not submit another student's code as part of your lab work.
Your instructor may allow you to leave the lab period early if you have totally completed and submitted the lab exercise assigned for that period.
Your instructor may excuse you from a lab period if you have completed and submitted the assigned lab exercise prior to class.
You will be allowed to use all of your submitted lab code for reference on graded reviews and the final exam.

Programming Exercises (PEX's)

Programming exercises are graded events and thus the help and documentation policies apply (see details below).
Programming exercise files must be submitted electronically, uploaded to the course web site, prior to the beginning of class on the lesson they are due for full credit.
You must submit a hardcopy printout of your programming exercise files at the beginning of class on the lesson they are due.
Late penalties accrue on programming exercises at a rate of 25% for each 24-hour period (including weekends) past the on-time turn-in date and time. The late penalty is a cap on the maximum grade that may be awarded for the late work. Thus zero points will be awarded for a programming exercise submitted 72 hours or more late.
In exceptional situations, your instructor may allow you to submit a programming exercise late for full credit. Any requests for late submission must be made at last 2 days prior to the on-time submission time.

Graded Reviews (GR's) and the Final Exam

Both graded reviews and the final exam will be a series of programming problems that you will solve on your laptop in the exam room.
You will have 90 minutes to complete each GR and 3 hours and 50 minutes to complete the final exam.
Your instructor will provide you with practice GRs so you know what to expect.
The final exam will have the same format as the GRs but will have more problems.
If you score below a 50% on the final you will fail the course.

Course Project

The course project will be an open-ended programming project that should incorporate all of the programming skills you have learned in CSE 150. The project will require you to develop a Graphical User Interface and work with data files.
The project will include a design (no code) turn-in and an implementation (code) turn-in.
You will be offered a default problem on which to work for the course project. You may request an alternative project that best suits your interests. In general, only students doing well in the class who present a compelling case for an alternative project will be allowed to work on a course project different from the default problem.

Laptops In Class

You must bring your laptop with charged batteries (or a power cord) and wireless capability to every CSE 150 lesson and lab period.
You may not use your laptop for non class-related work or play during class.
During the CSE 150 class periods and lab periods, you should not use your laptop for anything unrelated to CSE 150 unless you have completed the lab for the lesson or have your instructor's permission to do so.

Default Final Exam Validation and Minimum Passing Score Policy

The top 5% (floor(N/20)) of students in the course are exempt from the final exam. This ranking includes bonus and early turn-in points.
For courses with fewer than 20 students, at most one final exemption will be granted.
A minimum score of 50% on the final is required to pass the course.

Help Policies:

Help Policy for Graded Work (applies to CSE 150 Programming Exercises (PEX's) and the Final Project)

AUTHORIZED RESOURCES:

Any, except another students’s program.

NOTES:

· Never copy another person’s work and submit it as your own.

· You must document all help received from sources other than your instructor.

· You will receive a grade of F for any student who egregiously violates this Help Policy or contributes to a violation by others.

Requirements for Documentation of Graded Work (applies to CSE 150 Programming Exercises and the Project)

· You must document all help received from any source other than your instructor.

· The documentation statement must explicitly describe WHAT assistance was provided, WHERE on the assignment the assistance was provided, and WHO provided the assistance.

· If no help was received on this assignment, the documentation statement must state “NONE.”

· Vague documentation statements must be corrected before the assignment will be graded, and will result in a 5% deduction on the assignment.