University of Toronto
Department of Computer Science
Summer 1997

CSC 148H: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE


Past Announcements



Aug 7: Solution to A3

We've posted a solution to A3. Please see the assignments page.


July 29: Announcements for A5

I just put up some announcements for A5. Now that most people have started the assignment, announcements will probably be put up more often, so check back regularly. Please ask lots of questions if you don't understand something.


July 28: Exam Timetable

is finally posted online.


July 25: Assignment 4 is now marked

Assignment 4 is marked. Your results will be e-mailed to you. Please see the assignments page for a solution and the test cases we used. Many students made a poor use of recursion, so we put together some comments to identify the problems, and to help you write good recursive code.


July 24: Exam Timetable

The exam timetable has been issued by the faculty of Arts and Science. I can't find an online version of it yet, but you can certainly find it in the normal locations like the libraries.


July 24: Continuing in computer science

The department is now accepting applications for admission to its restricted programs -- the Major in Computer Science and the various Specialist programs. There is an on-line application form.


July 18: Small changes to lab hours schedule

There have been two changes made to the Tutor Office Hours schedule. On Tuesday July 22, Joanna will be in the lab from 7:00-8:00 p.m. instead of 2:00-3:00p.m. that day. On Tuesday August 5, Joanna will be in the lab from 6:00-7:00p.m. instead of 2:00-3:00p.m. This change has been made to the office hours web page.


July 18: Comments on marking of A3

Look on the assignments page for some comments from the TAs who marked assignment 3. We will post a solution soon. If you have questions about re-marking, then write a note and submit it with the assignment to your instructor.


July 16: Assignment 5

Assignment 5 is now online. Please tell me if you have problems downloading and running the code.


July 4: Assignment 4

Assignment 4 is now online. It's a small assignment, due one week after assignment 3 is due.


July 3: Phil Edmonds away next week

For the evening section, Phil Edmonds will, unfortunately, have to away from July 5 to July 15, inclusive. Karen Reid will fill in for the lecture on July 9. If you have questions or problems please don't hesitate to contact Karen Reid. Details of her office hours and e-mail are here. Good luck with the assignment, and see you when I return, Phil.


July 2: Solutions to the evening midterm

Solutions are on the evening announcements page.


June 26: Assignment 2 is marked

Assignment 2 is marked, and was handed back this week. Check your marks on the marks page above. Comments from the markers have also been posted in the assignments section. If you have questions or comments about how your assignment was marked, please put them in writing and submit them with your assignment to your instructor or TA. Or see the markers directly: day section - Adley Lo, evening section - Qin Liu, but even they would prefer a written query.


June 24: Assignment 3

...is now on the web page. It includes an announcements and hints page that you should check regularly.


June 19: THE MIDTERM TEST

The midterm is this coming week:
  • Day section: Tuesday, June 24, in tutorial.
  • Eve section: Wednesday, June 25, in tutorial.

The midterm will be 50 minutes long.

The midterm will be open book. You may bring anything you like to the test except computers and calculators.

The midterm will cover everything we've done up to and including trees. That includes: software engineering, ADTs, pointers, searching, analysis (Big O), queues, stacks, sets, trees, etc.


June 17: Assignment 2: cover sheet

Please make a photocopy of a cover sheet from one of the sample assignments in the handbook. Attach the cover sheet to your envelope. Alternatively, make your own, but be sure to include all of the information requested on the cover sheet.


June 16: Big O Analysis on Assignment 2

Q: are we to analyze the specified subprograms using the same methods we used last week? By first finding the total assignments/comparisons, and from that finding the Big O?

A: No. We expect a much more general answer. Look at how many times the loops iterate. Are any functions called that take time also? You can even figure it out from the algorithms. For example, the delete subprogram of the orderedSet class (array implementation) takes O(n) time because we have to shift over items. In the worst case, we would have to shift over all the items. Since each shift is O(1) (i.e., constant time), the whole thing will be O(n).


June 13: Missing slides in lecture notes

Slides 241-244 are missing from some copies of the lecture notes. You can download this postscript version, which you can print on the printer in the CDF lab (or at home home if you have the appropriate software). Sorry, we don't have them in a different format. Copies will also be distributed in class this week.


June 12: Assignment 2

More important announcements have been posted. Look in the assignmnents page.


June 9: Switching to CSC108

If you are considering switching to CSC108, now is the time to act. The deadline for making the move is this Wednesday, June 11. You should talk to your college registrar to make the change, and to the instructor of the course, John Hofbauer, to find out what they have covered so far.


June 9: Assignment 1: marks

Assignment 1 is marked. Look on the assignments page for a solution, and for our test cases. You can also look up your mark. If you think that your mark is incorrect, then talk to your instructor, but make sure you've tested it on our test cases before you ask.


June 9: Assignment 2: Announcements and Hints

We'll put announcements and hints about assignment 2 in one place. Check the page regularly, as we'll probably add stuff frequently. This page is also accessible through the assignments page, above.


30 May: Quiz #1

The first quiz takes place this week in tutorial. Day section: June 3rd. Evening section: June 4th. It will be half an hour long at the beginning of tutorial. [Student's in Piotr Sliz's evening section tutorial (LM123) should write in MP102, since Piotr will be away.]


28 May: Assignment 1: the strintok bug.

In your version of WinOOT, there may be a bug in the strintok function, which we used in the driver. There is no need to worry, since we use the corrected version of this function in our driver. Here is a fix provided by Tom West of Holt Software.

Replace the call to strintok with mystrintok and add the following at the beginning of the program:
function mystrintok (s : string) : boolean
    for i : 1 .. length (s)
	if s (i) < "0" or s (i) > "9" then
	    result false
	end if
    end for
    result true
end mystrintok

27 May: Assignment 1: What is alphabetical order?

Don't worry about whether the party name has upper case or lower case letters. Keep it simple and use =, <, or > to compare the strings. Do not change the case of the name or sort the party names as if all the letters had the same case. This means that "PC" < "liberal" , but this is okay. It just means that "P" is less than "l" according to ASCII (the computer's character set) ordering. So if the PC candidate and the liberal candidate were tied, the PC candidate would win.


26 May: OOT Sale Tomorrow

Don't forget the OOT sale tomorrow. Info is here.


26 May: Assignment 1: Question

Q: Do we have to check if there are candidates with identical names from different parties. This has happened before in a local election in Etobicoke. Should such a test be ignored?

A: Yes, you can assume that all names are unique.


23 May: Assignment 1: Timely anecdote

Here's an excerpt from the latest comp.risks posting about some reported election results in Britain. Does your program have this bug? comp.risks is a moderated news group about the risks of computing to the public. It is quite interesting to read.


22 May: Assignment 1: What if there's a tie in a riding?

You should rank candidates that receive the same number of votes alphabetically by party name. That means in cases of a tie, the winner will be the one with the party name that comes sooner, alphabetically. It also means that if there are no votes cast in a riding, then the winner will be the candidate with the first party name, alphabetically. [So, it's best to have a party name like "AAAAAParty".]


21 May: More accounts

The latest set of accounts have been created. A list of the new account names has been posted on the cork board outside SF2302, or use the finger service. Please check sometime this week to make sure your account works. Remember that your initial password is your student number.


21 May: First tutor hours

We've scheduled the following lab hours for this week. They take place in the SigSam CDF-PC facility. Hours for the rest of the term will be posted soon.

  • Wednesday, May 21, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, May 22, 4:00-5:00 p.m.


20 May: Assignment 1: How many ridings should we assume?

You can assume a fixed maximum number of ridings and parties. Numbers on the order of what we have in Canada would be appropriate. So, say approximately 300 ridings maximum, and approx. 10 parties maximum.


16 May: Usernames on corkboard now

A list of the account names with student names has been posted on the cork board outside of SF2302. This cork board will be used occasionally for this sort of posting. (Or use the `finger' service in the announcement below.)


15 May: More on accounts

All accounts are now created, unless you registered after Friday, May 9, in which case you'll have to wait a little bit longer. To see if your account has been created, look up your username.


15 May 1997: OOT Sale

You can buy OOT for your home computer at a reduced price on May 27, 2-7p.m. only. At other times you pay the normal (higher price). Here's the full information, including location and a form to fill in, from Holt Software Associates.


15 May 1997: Can I use the version of WinOOT that came with the Grogono text?

The version of WinOOT that came with the Grogono text for CSC108 is 2 years out of date, and is no longer supported. They have fixed a few bugs, and added a few features for the newest version. The Grogono version might be enough for this course (and it should be enough for the first assignment), but beware that we are not responsible if problems arise. For more details, talk to Holt Software Associates.


15 May 1997: Computer Accounts

There was a problem setting up some accounts at CDF-PC. They will be set up very soon.


12 May 1997: Welcome

Welcome to the CSC148.
You can find assignment 1, including the starter code, in the assignment section listed above.

Last modified: Fri Aug 8 15:07:51 EDT