COMP 1671, Section 1, Fall 2008

COMP 1671, Section 1 Fall 2008
Course Information and Syllabus

Scott Leutenegger
Professor and Director Game Development Programs
leut@cs.du.edu
Office: JGH 323, x12821
Office Hours: Monday 9:30 - 11:30, Tuesday 1:50 - 2:50, Thursday 1:50 - 2:50, or by appointment

Kav Shrestha
Teaching Assistant
kshresth@cs.du.edu
Office: CS Annex room #1
Office Hours: Wednesday 5 - 7 and Thursday 2 - 4.

Swayanti Das
Teaching Assistant
swaydas@cs.du.edu
Office: CS Annex room #1
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 12 - 2

About This Course

This course will cover inroductory computer science topics including control structures, classes/objects, and object-oriented programming. Implementation of solutions will be in Java using the Greenfoot IDE. The objective is to learn the fundamental programming techniques using 2D game programming as project assignments.

Course Meeting Times

The lecture is held in JGH 316 on Tue/Thu from 10:00 PM to 11:50.

Required Resources

A laptop and Ethernet card/cord
Software: You need to download in install both Greenfoot and Inkscape. Both are free and both work on Windows and Mac (10.4 and higher). Here are the links:
- greenfoot.org
- inkscape.org
Book: There are no good books for the approach we are using. We will be putting notes online throughout the quarter.

Optional Resources

The following are possible reference books on Java. They are not "needed" for this class, but, if you have the money and like having reference books, you might find these useful. The first book is the book that will be used this year in COMP 1672 and COMP 2673, so, that may perhaps be the best choice for a reference book. The second is a tried and true well respected Java book.

Introduction to Programming in Java: An Interdisciplinary Approach, by Sedgewick and Wayne
Java: An Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming, by Savitch

Grading

projects	36%
in-class labs (can drop 2)	14%
midterm	25%
final	25%

The 36% for the projects will be 9% each.

Final Exam

The final is scheduled by the University for Tuesday Nov 18, 10:00 - 11:50 AM. There are no exceptions to this time, plan any travel for AFTER the final.

Late Assignments

You are granted one "grace period" for the quarter. You can trade in the "grace period" for a 48 hour extension on a project, not a lab. After your grace period is used you must turn in what you have, finished or not. The idea is that work builds on previous assignments, hence, we are not allowing you to fall behind. {\bf NOTE, you can NOT use your grace period on the final project.} demo the game in class with everyone else.}

Missed Labs

Your lab grade is calculated based on the labs you do in class the day they are assigned. There is no outside makeup of labs. Labs are graded at the end of the hour as {0, 50%, or 100%}. You will be allowed to miss two labs without penalty, after those two misses are used up you can NOT make up labs. The two free miss days are intended to accommodate illness, necessary trips, snowboarding, whatever!

Collaboration and Academic Honesty

You will be working in grops of two. The basic presumption is that the work you hand in was done by you two, and ONLY you two. Occasionally on your programs (but never on exams!), it may be necessary to ask someone for help. You are permitted to do so, provided you meet the following two conditions.

You specifically acknowledge the help on the work you hand in.
You understand the work that you hand in, so that you could explain the reasoning behind the parts of the work done for you by another. Note, exams will test this knowledge also, so it is in your best interest to fully understand the problem.

We shall not deduct credit for small amounts of acknowledged assistance. Such shared interest can be beneficial to all concerned. We do reserve the right to give less than full credit in circumstances where it appears that there has been large-scale division of labor, and you are not getting as much learning out of the assignment as you should. Unacknowledged help will be deemed as cheating and will result in a grade of F for the course and cheaters will be brought to the attention of the Dean. Cheating on an exam will be result in a grade of F for the course and cheaters will be brought to the attention of the Dean.

Course Calendar and Assignments

The calendar below contains links to homework assignments, links to programming projects, as well as important dates for you to keep in mind. First is brief topic guide, followed by the full calendar. Note, this is a guide, we may deviate from this order.

Topic Guidline

Weed 1 Greenfoot and Java Intro, Actor Class Methods
Week 2 Members, Methods, Simple Flow Control
Week 3 Constructors, For-Loops
Week 4 Lists, List Iteration
Week 5 Arrays, Looping
Week 6 MIDTERM, Mouse Control and Using Pre-defined Classes
Week 7 Booleans, Non-Event Driven Programming
Week 8 OO Concepts: Classes, Objects, Information Hiding/Encapsulation
Week 9 Input/Output, Data Processing
Week 10 Catch up and Review

Calendar

Tue Thu

Sep 9
Chapter 1 (PDF)
Chapter 2 (PDF)
Chapter 3 (PDF)
RedHoodFinal.zip

Lab 1

Sep 11
Lab 2
Assignment 1

Sep 16
Example_game0

Lab 3
Sep 18
Example_game1
Lab 4

Sep 23
Example_game2
Example_game3
Example_game4

Lab 5
Assignment 1 due Sep 25
Example_game5
Example_paddleBall

Lab 6
Assignment 2

Sep 30
Class paddle ball example so far
Example_newPaddleExample

Lab 7
Oct 2
ListExample1
ListExample2
ListExample3

Lab 8

Oct 7

Lab 9
Lab 10
Oct 9

Lab 11: Play Boolean Logic Game
Lab 12: Midterm Practice

Oct 14

Assignment 2 due Oct 16
MIDTERM

Oct 21

Assignment 3
Greeps Scenario
More Info (flyer)
Oct 23

Oct 28

Assignment 3 due Oct 30

Nov 4

Nov 6
ScanCatsAndDogs.java

Assignment 4

Nov 11

Nov 13
final practice problems
finalListQuestionAnswers.txt
ass4_people.txt
ass4_pets.txt

Assignment 4 due

Section 1 FINAL: Tuesday November 18, 10 - 11:50

Tue	Thu
Sep 9 Chapter 1 (PDF) Chapter 2 (PDF) Chapter 3 (PDF) RedHoodFinal.zip Lab 1	Sep 11 Lab 2 Assignment 1
Sep 16 Example_game0 Lab 3	Sep 18 Example_game1 Lab 4
Sep 23 Example_game2 Example_game3 Example_game4 Lab 5 Assignment 1 due	Sep 25 Example_game5 Example_paddleBall Lab 6 Assignment 2
Sep 30 Class paddle ball example so far Example_newPaddleExample Lab 7	Oct 2 ListExample1 ListExample2 ListExample3 Lab 8
Oct 7 Lab 9 Lab 10	Oct 9 Lab 11: Play Boolean Logic Game Lab 12: Midterm Practice
Oct 14 Assignment 2 due	Oct 16 MIDTERM
Oct 21 Assignment 3 Greeps Scenario More Info (flyer)	Oct 23
Oct 28 Assignment 3 due	Oct 30
Nov 4	Nov 6 ScanCatsAndDogs.java Assignment 4
Nov 11	Nov 13 final practice problems finalListQuestionAnswers.txt ass4_people.txt ass4_pets.txt Assignment 4 due
Section 1 FINAL: Tuesday November 18, 10 - 11:50

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