CSCI 1111 Spring 2025

Lectures and labs

Lectures: Tuesday/Thursday 11:10AM - 12:25PM in PHIL B152 with Dr. Kinga Dobolyi

Labs:

  • Monday (Lab1: Sec 30) 11:10AM - 01:00PM in TOMP 405 with Ace Drucker and Brody Davidow
  • Thursday (Lab 2: Sec 31 and 33) 06:10PM - 08:00PM in SEH 1300 with Seth Kay, Y.G. Kim, and Brandon Oestreicher

Office Hours and grading

You can show up to office hours anytime listed below (without an appointment). Please come early in case other students are waiting.

Office Hours:

  • Ace Drucker (UTA): Mondays 1-3pm and Wednesdays 3:30-6pm in SEH 4th floor couches
  • Seth Kay (UTA): Wednesdays and Fridays 12:30-3:30pm in SEH 4th floor couches
  • Brody Davidow (LA): Tuesdays 3:45-5:00pm and Fridays 1:30-3:00pm in SEH 4th floor couches
  • Y.G. Kim (LA): Mondays 3-6pm in SEH 4th floor couches
  • Brandon Oestreicher (LA): TBD
  • Dr Kinga: SEH 4655 Tuesdays from 12:45pm-2:00pm, and Zoom on Wednesdays from 8:45am-10am, or email me for an appointment (between the hours of 9am through 4pm Monday through Thursday, schedule permitting, 15 minute appointment blocks)

Grading:

Objectives

  • Demonstrate familiarity with key concepts in a procedural programming language such as: variables, data types, control structures, methods, input and output.
  • Demonstrate the ability to use programming to solve problems appropriate to a beginning class in programming and software development.
  • Acquire familiarity with rudimentary processes of software development that include: design, coding, testing, and debugging.

The GW standard is that one credit hour corresponds to a minimum of 50 minutes of instruction plus 100 minutes of independent learning (e.g., homework and exam prep) per week. This is a 3 credit course, thus you should expect to spend 2.5-3 hours in class and 50 minutes in lab, plus four to five hours of independent learning per week, which may include completing programming assignments.

There is no prerequisite for this course. The amount of time you spend per week may be more or less, depending on the topic and the current assignments, but you should set aside time to complete your work for this class, both during lecture and out.

There is no required textbook for this course, and there are lots of free materials available online, though our lectures notes should also suffice. For an excellent summary and study guide, click here.

Grade breakdown

Your grade will be calculated as follows. Blackboard only reports raw scores and does not use the weights below.

  • Lecture/lab participation (via quizzes and exercises): 5%
  • Homework assignments: 10%
  • Coding quizzes (quizzes 1-6): 75%
  • Debugging quizzes (debugging 1-4): 10%
  • Professionalism: up to -5%

A (>= 92.0%) A– (>= 90.0%) B+ (>= 88.0%) B (>= 82.0%) B– (>= 80.0%)
C+ (>= 78.0%) C (>= 72.0%) C– (>= 70.0%)
D (>= 60.0%)
F (< 60.0%)

Lecture/lab participation (via quizzes and exercises)

Many lectures will have a short quiz on the lecture notes/reading (or on homework/project exercises) at the start of class. These quizzes will be completed on Blackboard and will be open for three minutes at the start of class. Late submissions will not be accepted. Other lectures and labs will have short participation exercises that students will submit; these will also count towards participation. We will drop the three lowest participation scores for the semester.

Homework assignments

Homework assignments are coding assignments, and will be graded based on what percent of the provided test cases they pass, as well as use of good coding style. We will drop the lowest homework score when calculating final grades. When using the submitserver, your grade will be the score you see on the submitserver. Make sure you leave yourself ample time before assignment submission to get help with any issues that you may run into when submitting your code.

Coding quizzes

Coding quizzes 1-6 are graded and will be completed individually, usually during lab; students will generally recieve 30-40 minutes for such a quiz. You will usually have an option to retake the quiz for a higher grade, as indicated on the schedule. We will NOT be dropping the lowest such lab quiz grade.

You must attend the lab you registered for to take your quiz; we cannot accomodate students who wish to switch labs due to travel, etc.

Debugging quizzes

There will be four debugging lecture quizzes (on paper), with one attempt each. We will NOT drop the lowest such debugging quiz grade. You will have the opportunity to take a single makeup debugging quiz as indicated in the class schedule.

Missed classes, late submissions and extensions

We do not accept any late submissions and we do not offer extensions. However, students will be able to drop their lowest homework assignment grade. You will also be able to re-attempt many coding quizzes for a higher grade using a makeup slot (see the course schedule). We do not offer makeups for makeup quizzes. If you miss the last coding quiz (quiz 6) or debugging quiz (debugging quiz 4) you will recieve an incomplete for the course and will need to make it up by the first two weeks of the following semester via an in-person oral exam.

Students who miss lecture or lab sessions are responsible for covering the material on their own. We do not accept late submissions due to absences.

If you are missing class due to a extended unforseen absence (such as hospitalization) or documented scheduled absence (such as surgery or court) please email the professor to let them know and send along the documentation for these events. Makeup work will be at the professor’s discretion; extended abscences such as vacations will not be excused, for example. We do not require, and are not permitted to accept, doctor’s notes to excuse short-term illnesses (that do not require hospitalization); instead, we drop the lowest of various missed assignments or allow for a makeup according to the class schedule. For situations that fall outside what is described in this syllabus, a note from Dean Zara will be required.

Grading, re-grade requests and grades on Blackboard

It is your responsibility to make sure that Blackboard reflects your correct scores within two weeks of an assignment due date; we will not adjust scores after this deadline. You can calculate your grade in the course at any time by referring to the raw scores on Blackboard, and using the weights above to calculate your grade in the class. No assignments will be accepted for re-grade requests after final grades have been recorded on Blackboard. You have 48 hours to notify the professor of any issues with final grades recorded to Blackboard once they have been posted there; we will not entertain regrade requests and other related questions after that time.

Regrade requests will only be considered for either 1) a grade being incorrectly recorded on the submitserver/Blackboard or 2) a grading rubric was not followed correctly. Please do not request to meet to “discuss” grades before emailing the instructional staff why your situation falls into one of these two situations first.

We also do not entertain any requests to arbitrarily “bump up” grades, and we do not offer grades for effort – see the professionalism policy below. If you wish to have the professor review how your final grade was calculated according to the grading policy above, you may do this via email, or in-person. If you choose to do it in person, please email to schedule a meeting and include your own calculations for reference. Final grade questions will not be answered in regular office hours.

Professionalism

Students are expected to treat each other, the TAs, and the instructor professionally both in-person and in online communications and work. If unprofessional behavior is observed, a student will first receive a warning. Afterwards, their final grade in the course may be reduced up to 5% for additional acts of unprofessionalism.

Knowingly asking the professor to violate or go against policies set in this syllabus will count as unprofessional behavior.

Students who exhibit unprofessional behavior, including but not limited to honor code violations, will not receive letters of recommendation from the professor for TA applications, graduate school, scholarships, etc.

Academic honesty

If you feel pressured about an assignment, please email the instructor instead of cheating. All work that you submit in this course for a grade should be your own as stated above. In cases where group work is permitted, please list all the names of the students you worked with. If we detect cheating, we reserve the right to assign the student a 0 on the assignment, or an F in the course for more egregious violations. We will also be using automated software to be checking for cheating with code that is submitted to us. All code you submit must be your own work and not copied from the Internet (for example, you may NOT get code from ChatGPT unless explicity allowed). If you use code we did not cover in class, you need to cite your sources with comments in your submitted code.

You are not allowed to collaborate on and graded assignment unless explicitly told to. Please refer to the academic integrity policy linked from the course web page. This policy will be strictly enforced: Academic Integrity Policy

You are not allowed to use code you copied off the internet (including LLMs such as ChatGPT) unless explicitly instructed to do so. Staff will not help you debug ChatGPT code during office hours or on Ed, and submitting such code can be grounds for an honor code violation.

Selected university policies and recommendations

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see the instructor during the first week of class, and contact the Disability Support Services Office. All academic accommodations must be arranged through DSSO.

Students must notify faculty no later than three weeks prior to the absence, of their intention to be absent from class on their day(s) of religious observance. If the holiday falls within the first three weeks of class, the student must inform faculty in the first week of the semester. For details and policy, see “Religious Holidays” at provost.gwu.edu/policies-procedures-and-guidelines.

GW’s Colonial Health Center offers counseling and psychological services, supporting mental health and personal development by collaborating directly with students to overcome challenges and difficulties that may interfere with academic, emotional, and personal success. healthcenter.gwu.edu/counseling-and-psychological-services.

  • Monitor GW Alerts and Campus Advisories to Stay Informed before and during an emergency event or situation
  • In an emergency: call GWPD/EMeRG 202-994-6111 or 911
  • For situation-specific actions: refer to GW’s Emergency Response Handbook and Emergency Operations Plan
  • In the event of an armed Intruder: Run. Hide. Fight.

Students are encouraged to use electronic course materials, including recorded class sessions, for private personal use in connection with their academic program of study. Electronic course materials and recorded class sessions should not be shared or used for non-course related purposes unless express permission has been granted by the instructor. Students who impermissibly share any electronic course materials are subject to discipline under the Student Code of Conduct. Please contact the instructor if you have questions regarding what constitutes permissible or impermissible use of electronic course materials and/or recorded class sessions. Please contact Disability Support Services at disabilitysupport.gwu.edu if you have questions or need assistance in accessing electronic course materials.

All people have the right to be addressed and referred to in accordance with their personal identity. In this class, we will have the chance to indicate the name that we prefer to be called and, if we choose, to identify pronouns with which we would like to be addressed. I will do my best to address and refer to all students accordingly and support classmates in doing so as well.

Instructor communication

We encourage active communication and feedback between the instructor and students. Please make sure to check Ed at least each weekday, as the instructors will post all important information there about the course. The instructor may also periodically reach out to students via an email check-in. Of course, communication goes both ways: we would love to hear from you at any time during the semester about anything you’re stuggling with (or enjoying) in the course – please do not hesitate to reach out via email (and/or have an office hours session).