University of Toronto - Fall 1997
Department of Computer Science

CSC 148H: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE


This Week's Announcements

Friday 19 December: Grades are ready

Unofficial final course grades are now posted on my corkboard. Averages and distributions are also posted.

Have a great holiday, and I hope to see many of you next term in 228.


Tuesday 16 December: Leftovers to the CSSU

All unreturned assignments and tests (including A4) for all sections are now at the CSSU office.

Both professors Fich and Horton have a few special cases and remarks to sort out after the exams are all graded. These will go to the cssu as well. If you are waiting to hear about a special case or remark, don't panic -- we haven't forgotten you, and every single one will be dealt with before we submit the grades. It's just that there has been the small matter of marking 200-some-odd final exams (not to mention the exams for our other courses) to keep us busy.


Monday 15 December: A4's all ready

I believe all the A4's are now marked. They're in a box outside my door, 24 hours a day. At some point, I'll carry them and any other leftovers to the cssu, and will post a message here so that you know they're there.

Wednesday 10 December: Some A4's are ready

About 1/4 of the A4's are marked, and I expect more to arrive this afternoon. They are available outside my office door during my office hours.

Wednesday 10 December: Corrections to Review homework

Questions 22 and 23 have been revised to fix some problems in them.

If you think you have found an error in a question, do let me know.


Tuesday 09 December: Online homework -- exam review

The last online homework, whose purpose is to help you study for the final, is now available on the 148 Online Homework page.

Monday 08 December: Assignment 1 autotest results

Your assignment 1 mark has been mailed to you on your cdfpc account.

The speed contest has also been run, and the winner was Mikhail Kapoustine, from the morning section. Congratulations Mikhail!


Friday 03 December: Term marks are posted

Term marks (except for A4 and the automarking of A1) are now posted on the corkboard outside SF 2302. Please check your marks before the final. See here for info about reporting errors.

Friday 03 December: Advice about 228

Some advice for those taking csc228 this spring is available through the main 148 page, under "End of term stuff".

Tuesday 02 December: Assignment 3 solution

A complete solution to assignment 3 is now available on the 148 assignments page.

Friday Nov 28th: Sasha's students

Assignment 3's for students in Sasha's tutorial were to be returned in lecture today, but unfortunately I forgot to send the assignments to class. I will bring them on Monday.

Thursday Nov 27th: Tutorial changes in Fich's class

In case anyone missed the announcements in lecture: All students who were in Wei's tutorial in room MP203 should go to Piotr's tutorial in MP134. All students who were in Richard's tutorial in room LA241 should go to Rimon's tutorial in UC85.

Friday 21 November: Bring your handbook

Please bring your 148 Handbook to tutorial on Wed (the 26th). You'll be using it.

Tuesday 18 November: Assignment averages

Averages and distributions of marks for assignments 1 and 2 are now available on the "marking statistics" web page.

Tuesday 18 November: Didn't get back an assignment?

If you handed your assignment 1 or 2 in on time, then it's marked and your professor probably has it in her office. Come at office hours to get it.

If you handed your assignment in late or under special circumstances, it may not be marked yet. Such assignments are brought to class when it's ready.


Friday 14 November: Midterm solutions

Solutions for Horton's morning and evening midterms are now available on the "test" web page.

Thursday 13 November: Career Event tomorrow

Recent alumnus Craig Wilson will be giving a short presentation in Sanford Fleming room 1105 at 4:00 Friday. Details: 
   As part of this presentation I will be discussing
   the newly formed (forming) Alumni Association for Comp Sci students.
   Also, I will discuss my experiences thus far as a Software Designer at
   Newbridge Networks Corp. and - assumning no technical difficulties -
   offering a demonstration of the Network Management product that I
   currently work on.

   This event is presented jointly by the CSSU and the CSAA.  Refreshments
   will be served.

Tuesday 11 November: Important announcement for Professor Fich's students

As announced in lecture, Professor Fich's midterm will only be offered in MP 203 (the lecture room). All students normally in other sections must write it there.

Tuesday 11 November: Interested in an undergraduate program in computer science?

Interested in an undergraduate program in computer science? Come to an information session at 3:10 p.m., Wednesday, November 26, in Sidney Smith room 2111. I'll talk about what the programs are like, how to apply, and what you need to get in. You don't have to come to this session in order to apply. In fact, I won't tell you anything you couldn't find out from calendars, handbooks, etc. But it might be helpful all the same. If you don't come (... or if you do!), the way to apply is to follow the instructions in the on-line application form.

Tuesday 11 November: Three Simple Proofs

I have put solutions to the three simple proof questions (from pages 192-194) in the course folder on reserve in the Engineering Library.

Friday 07 November: Students in Brian's tutorial

Important: Students in Brian Benwell's tutorial will write the midterm next week with Karen Reid's tutorial group, in the lecture hall.

Thursday 06 November: Horton's next midterm

For my own sections, the midterm next week may cover anything from the beginning of term up to and including this week's material from class. Although I may ask you something that relates back to material from September, I will focus on what was not covered on the first midterm. That includes OOP, correctness of iterative code, searching and timing analysis, recursion, and correctness of recursive code. I may also ask you about the online homework (up to and including recursion), or the assignments (up to and including assignment 3).

Working on assignment 3 is excellent preparation for any questions on recursion.


Tuesday 04 November: Small revisions to recursion homework

FYI: I made some small revisions to the online homework on recursion today. There were a couple of confusing things, and some typos.

Tuesday 04 November: Office hour change this Thursday

This Thursday, my usual 3:00-4:00 office hour will be held from 3:30-4:30 instead. My 5:30-6:30 office hour that day will go ahead as usual.

Tuesday 04 November: Problems with your electronic submission of A0 or your algo for A1?

A number of students have contacted me because either If you haven't heard back from me, don't worry -- I have not forgotten you! I will look into all of these as soon as I can, and contact each of you by email of in class.

Monday 03 November: Online homework on recursion is ready

The online homework on recursion is now available on the homework page. It will help you with assignment 3, so give it a high priority.

Monday 03 November: Free conference on Women in Technology in Canada

A conference on Women in Technology in Canada is going to take place at the International Plaza Hotel in Mississauga on Tuesday November 11, 1997, from 4:30 to 9pm. It is FREE and its purpose is to encourage women to enter and stay in computer science and engineering. A workshop on Technology and the Futures of Women will also be held at the "CASCON" conference on November 12, 1997.

Women in Technology is sponsored by IBM Canada, Ltd. and is being hosted by John Wetmore, IBM Canada's CEO and President. The keynote speaker for the evening will be Dr. Monique Frize, P.Eng., Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering.

In addition to the keynote speaker, a panel of distinguished women in IT from academia and industry will address the issues and identify the necessary actions to pave the way for future generations of women. The Women in Technology Conference will offer the opportunity for students, educators, industry and government representatives to learn, network, and gain valuable insight on the issues involved and the actions required.

More information can be found here.

Special Note: IBM will be awarding an IBM Personal Computer to a deserving woman student during the conference. To be eligible, you must complete an entry form by Wednesday November 5 and then attend the conference. Copies of the form are available in an envelope on the door of SF 2301B.


Hallowe'en: Assignment 3 available

Assignment 3 is now on the web (see the Assignments page). Any spare printed copies are this afternoon's lecture will be put out on my corkboard.

Thursday 23 October: Assignment 1 is out of 90

The marking sheet that you got back with your marked assignment 1 shows a mark that is out of 90, not 100. Those last 10 marks will be as a result of the electronic testing of your assignment. You will receive an email message telling your that mark, just as you did for assignment 0.

Thursday 23 October: Missing Assignment 1 algorithm?

For students who handed in the algorithm but not the rest of the assignment the algorithm has not been marked. This is because we expect that most of these students have dropped the course. If this applies to you but you did not drop the course, contact Professor Fich and we will arrange for your algorithm to be marked.

If you submitted both parts of the assignment didn't get back the algorithm, it was almost surely just an error in cross-referencing the two parts. Contact Professor Fich and we will dig out your unmarked algorithm so that it can be marked.


Thursday 23 October: Assignment 0 is marked

Your assignment 0 mark has been / is being mailed to you now. Students who do not get a perfect mark will receive an explanation of where they lost marks. The test cases to which this explanation refers will be posted on the web soon.

Wednesday 22 October: Online Homework 4 (ADTs)

The next online homework, on the topic of ADTs, will be available later this week. It will be treated as the previous ones -- your answers will not be submitted and the mark will be a freebie.

Monday 20 October: Assignment 2 announcements and advice page

There is now an Announcements and Advice page for assignment 2.

Friday 17 October: Assignment 2 on the web

The handout, starter code, and sample applet page are now up on the web.

Friday 17 October: To Diane's 10:00 class

We're going to move quickly ahead in Monday's lecture, and will begin the section on Proof Methods. In order to prepare for Wednesday's tutorial, you should do the reading for that section: "Understanding Induction", found in the course Handbook.

Thursday 16 October: Marking statistics for midterm 1

Averages and distributions of marks for midterm 1 are now available on the "marking statistics" page.

Thursday 16 October: Requests for remarking midterm 1

If you think there is a mistake with your midterm 1 mark and you think it should be reconsidered, you must follow the instructions given on the "getting something remarked" page.

Wednesday 15 October: Learn your TA's name

Looking at the midterms, I can see that quite a few students don't know their TA's name. So that we can get your work back to you and not lose your marks, and for the sake of politeness, you should learn your TA's name. Just ask in tutorial.

Wednesday 15 October: Afternoon midterm solutions

The solutions to the afternoon midterm (Fich's section) are now up on the Tests web page.

Tuesday 14 October: Professor Fich's office hours

Some students have not noticed that Professor Fich's Monday 2-3 office hour (listed on the course information sheet) has been reschedule to Tuesday 1-2 for the remainder of the term. This was announced back in September.

Note that students are welcome to attend the office hours of any 148 professor -- not just their own.


Friday 09 October: Corrections

The solution posted for assignment 0 doesn't work in the 3-by-3 case. We'll post a correction next week, but in the meanwhile, you should know of the problem in case you're basing your A1 work on it.

Also, there was an error in the final code for the linked lists online homework. The if-condition at the very end was wrong. It has been revised.


Friday 09 October: Midterm solutions

Midterm solutions for Horton's morning and evening sections are now available under the "tests" page. Contrary to what I said in class, you do not need a postscript viewer to look at them -- I decided to convert them to html. This means I won't bother putting hard copies in the library.

Wednesday 08 October: Solution to Assignment 1, part 1

A solution is now available on the Assignment 1 announcements and advice page.

Tuesday 07 October: Midterm tomorrow

Induction will not be covered on the test tomorrow. Your professor has announced in class exactly what is covered. Remember that if you miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed.

Sample midterms and finals are in the handbook. The order of topics in 148 has changed from year to year, so of course some test 1 questions on old exams (such as questions on induction) would not be appropriate for test 1 this term. And old test 2's and finals will contain some questions that would be appropriate.


Monday 06 October: Where to Hand in A1

From the csc148 Handbook:
"All assignments must be submitted to the 148 drop boxes on the second floor of the Sandford Fleming Building, near room 2305A. This is between the elevators and the bridge to the D.L. Pratt Building. Turn left as you exit the elevators and left again immediately. The boxes are labelled. Assignments will not be accepted anywhere else."

Monday 06 October: Handing in A1, part 1

Don't forget to write on the top of your page not just your name, but also: your lecturer's and tutor's names, and your student number.

Thursday 02 October: Online homework #3 is ready

The third online homework, on the topic of Linked Data Structures, is now available under the homework page. This homework will be like the last one: it will not be marked. Everyone will simply be given full marks for it.

Doing this homework will help you prepare for the midterm test next week.


Thursday 02 October: Examples from class

The code for the deleteLast example, used in my lecture last night, is now available on this web site. See the "examples" link on the main 148 page. This example will be of interest to students in the day sections also.

I have also put up some examples from recent tutorials.


Thursday 02 October: Marking Assignment 0

It will probably take us a couple of weeks to complete the marking of Assignment 0. When we are done, you will each receive an email message (to your cdfpc account) telling you how your program performed on our test cases, and what your mark is. I will post a message here when that mail has been sent.

Thursday 02 October: VisualAge in stock

The Computer Shop, on the third floor of the Koffler Centre, asks me to tell you that they now do have Visual Age for Java in stock.

Wednesday 01 October: Handing in your algorithm for Assignment 1

When handing this algorithm in, do not use an envelope. The whole thing must fit on one sheet of paper, so the envelope is unnecessary (and in fact a nuisance for the marker). But make sure it fits on one sheet of paper! If you can't print double-sided on your printer, then photocopy your work to get it double-sided.

Tuesday 30 September: Assignment 1 advice

There is now a separate page with announcements and advice about assignment 1, available from the general assignments page. You should read it regularly.

Monday 29 September: Class photos again

Student photos taken after 2:00 Friday were apparently lost. If you went after 2:00, please have your photo taken again. The cssu will take pictures up until Wednesday afternoon. Their hours are posted on their web page, for which you can find a link on the main 148 page.

Monday 29 September: Help with Assignment 1

Two new things are up on the 148 web site that will help you with assignment 1:

Monday 29 September: Office hour changes

Due to time conflicts, on the following days my 3-4 office hour will be held one hour earlier, from 2-3: 
        Tuesday  30 September
        Tuesday  07 October
        Thursday 09 October

Friday 26 September: Assignment 1

Assignment 1 was handed out in lecture this week. It is also now up on the web site, along with the code you need to run your timing experiments for part 3 of the assignments.

Thursday 25 September: Password problems with homework 2?

Some students have been unable to log into the homework page on References and Memory. I have fixed the problem and everyone in the course should now be able to access that page. Let me know if you have a problem.

Thursday 25 September: No blanks in file names or directories

Filenames or directories with spaces in them won't work with handin. Make sure that you remove any spaces before using the handin command.

Thursday 25 September: Running the JDK

Quite a few students have downloaded the jdk but can't figure out how to use it. I have written a brief explanation, which is available under "Java Links" on our course page.

Wednesday 24 September: Online homework #2 is ready

The second online homework, on the topic of References amd Memory, is now available under the homework page.

Because of technical problems (arg! -- it's a long story), this homework will not be marked. Everyone will simply be given full marks for it. I'm sure that you will want to benefit from doing it anyway.

To access this homework, you will have to identify yourself by logging in to the web page. See the homework page for more details.


Tuesday 23 September: Capitol "G" in "Grid.java" and other concerns re handin

Question: I have just attempted to hand in my version of Grid, using the icon in applications. I am concerned that I could not convince my home directory to accept a capital at the beginning of the name of my file. Is this a problem?
Answer: You're right; apparently it's impossible for you to make it "Grid.java". So "grid.java" is what you should use.
Question: I want to hand in the assignment but I'm not sure how the computer will recognize who's assignment it is marking..
Answer: Don't worry; the "handin" command knows your account name, and that uniquely identifies you.

Tuesday 23 September: How to hand in Assignment 0

The "handin" facility is now installed, so you can hand in your assignment 0 any time before the due date. You will find "handin" in the applications folder on your desktop. If it's not there, log out and in again.

For this assignment, you only need to hand in the Grid class, contrary to what the assignment handout says. So this is what to do:

  1. Export your completed Grid class from VisualAge into a file called "Grid.java". You must use the name "Grid.java"
  2. Click on the "handin" button. It will prompt you for the file you wish to hand in.

Tuesday 23 September: This week's online homework

The second online homework, on the topic of References and Memory, will be available tomorrow morning. This is the first one that counts for marks, and it was originally due Friday at 4:00. Because of the delay in posting this homework, the due date is extended until Monday at midnight.

Tuesday 23 September: More free Java software

On the main 148 page, you'll find a link to Kawa, a Java development environment that you can use for free for one month. I have not checked it out myself yet, but one student reports that it is similar to VisualAge.

Monday 22 September: Last batch of accounts ready

The last batch of 148 accounts is ready. You can find out your account name using the Search link on the main 148 page.

Friday 19 September: More advice

I just posted more advice about assignment 0. Keep an eye on that page for any further announcements about the assignment.

Thursday 18 September: Advice about Assignment 0

I have started a page containing announcements about assignment 0, advice, answers to common questions, etc. You can find it from the main Assignments page.

Thursday 18 September: Really important

Question: I tried the HelloWorld described in the guide. I saved the workspace upon logoff but there was no HelloWorld the next time I logon. Could you tell me what the problem might be?
Answer: You need to "export" your work before you log out, or it will be lost forever. See page 34 of the Don't Panic Guide.

Thursday 18 September: Class Photos

Each year, the Department of Computer Science produces a composite photo sheet for each course. This really helps professors get to know their students.

Please go to the CSSU office on the ground floor of the Engineering Annex to have your photo taken, by next Friday the 26th. It only takes about 2 minutes, and you get to redo the photo if you don't like it. The CSSU office is usually open 12:00 noon to 7:00 pm; the official hours are posted on the door.


Thursday 18 September: Bookstore woes

As you've noticed, the bookstore has been running out of various 148 materials. Only the bookstore can tell you when more copies will arrive. In the meanwhile, if you can't buy the Handbook, Lecture Notes, PC 97 guide, or the Don't Panic Guide to visualAge, you can look at the copies that I've put on reserve in the Engineering Library.

Thursday 18 September: Online homework

Question: For the online homework, once I have done with the questions, how am I certain that my answers are submitted for mark? The online Homework page mentioned that only students currently enrolled in the course have access to the homework pages. However, I managed to read the online HW page without having to enter login id and passwd to gain access.
Answer: The first online homework (on parameters) is not for marks, so I decided not to make students log in to the page to get it. This is also why you can't tell if you answers were submitted -- they weren't, because we aren't marking them. For homework that's marked, you'll click on a button to send us your answer. It will give you feedback to confirm that it was sent.

Tuesday 16 September: New accounts are ready

The latest batch of accounts is ready. It is posted on my corkboard. You can also check for your account name (or some else's) by following the "search" link (under "Other Links") on the main 148 page.

Monday 15 September: Appendix A is here

The free photocopies of Appendix A from Standish are now here. You may pick up a copy from the boxes outside SF 2302. Please take only one copy, and only if you were unable to buy the book.

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