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CS 161Introduction to Programming

and Problem Solving

Chapter 1The Instructor and You

Herbert G. Mayer, PSUStatus 10/12/2014

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Who is Your Instructor? Instructor is a German immigrant to the USA, who

has worked in the US computer industry and academia

Immigrated to the US, due to marriage with US citizen in Berlin; yes she is beautiful

Became naturalized US citizen in 1995 MS EECS (electrical engineering an computer

science) UCSD 1983; beautiful beach & campus! PhD CS (informatik) TU Berlin 1995; awesome city,

now united! Professional focus at Intel on compiler

optimization, alias analysis, programming languages, VLIW

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Who is Your Instructor? PhD Thesis on automatic generation of MP-object

code via alias analysis Retired in 2011 after 24 years at Intel Corp.

Managed compiler development for systolic array architecture 1980s

Managed Intel CPU tuning lab & CPU validation of new Intel processors

Teaching computer science since 1983 at SDSU San Diego, and since 1987 PSU

Teaching experience 2004 in Shanghai, at IIIST Loved China and teaching in China so much that I

volunteered to participate in the CCUT + PSU cooperation for CS and ECE

Back at CCUT this academic year spring 2015

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Goals of CS 161 Improve CCUT students’ command of English in

preparation for your possible studies in the US Lightly acquaint CCUT students with the American

culture, to reduce culture-shock in case of studies in Portland, OR

Discuss computing history Cover number systems with emphasis on binary and

decimal codes Highlight computer architecture from viewpoint of

programmer Explain compiler, assembler, interpreter, linker,

loader, computer

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Goals of CS 161 Show how the Software Design Process solves

computational problems Introduce C and occasionally contrast C with C++ Write simple C programs and elements, such as

execution flow, data, literals, input, output, logical and arithmetic operations, function, call, return

You design, write, document, execute, debug, and refine simple programs

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Conventions for CS 161 At start of class, we discuss key English language

terms used in the near future: vocabulary intro Being a non-native English speaker I experienced

how important language is for communication Vocabulary intro limited to a few minutes You should ask question in class, every time an idea

is not understood; this way you are always “in synch” with the instructor

This may not be a typical custom in Chinese academia, but will help you ease into the American life at a university

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Grading, Homework, Tentative Acquire up to 200 points total = 100%

Upper and lower 15% yield a + or – grade variation 2 homeworks at 100 points each = 200 points Homework to be emailed before the start of class on

the due date Homework emails should use the subject line “CS 161

HW x”, where ‘x’ is the homework number Work that is handed in 1 second up to a day late

experiences 10% deduction of the total points Each additional day late: another 10% deducted A Homework that is 5 days late or later is not

accepted

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Silver Bullet One single time each student is allowed to hand in

homework up to 3 days late without penalty This is called the CS Silver Bullet Silver Bullets cannot be split, traded, or sold on the

black market If in the end you did not consume the silver bullet,

you cannot trade it in for cash or a better grade While tracking homework grades, consumption of

the silver bullet is tracked Note that the maximally 3 late days worth of Silver

Bullet cannot be applied to 2 different late homeworks, even if they are both, say, just 1 day late each

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Extra Credit Extra Credit: is a way to improve your grade by up to

a half grade, i.e. up to a maximum of 50 points total Extra Credit is granted for good ideas expressed in

class, constructive questions and contributions in class, identifying errors in class material

Volunteers may present the HW or select topics in class, 10 min. each for a few extra credit points

Any error in class material, even the slightest typo –but only pointed out the first time– is worth some extra credit

Presenting smart homework solutions in class can deserves extra credit; you need to volunteer for such presentations proactively

Each time you catch and correct an error made by the instructor you receive extra credit

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Overall CCUT Context My portion of CS 161 is only a small part of your 16-

week long semester at CCUT Hence this portion is only one part for your final

grade, to be assigned by your class teacher Yet the CS 161 portion will be part of your final

grade, but the detail and weight is to be decided jointly with the semester’s professor

Hopefully, you learn a lot and enjoy my personal delivery method, refined by me in a quarter century of teaching Computer Science

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Who are You?Briefly, 2-6 students volunteer to articulate in class, explaining:

Your name, Chinese and English, if you have Your field of study and current progress Why do you take CS 161? What is your expectation of this class? What is your minimal goal for this class? Which is your ideal learning goal? Have you worked in the computer industry? Which computer subjects are you interested in? Anything else relevant to this course