TL;DR¶
Show up to class.
Ask questions in class as soon as they come to your mind.
Don’t procrastinate on assignments.
Study for exams early and often.
Reach out for help when you need it (aka office hours).
Sleep well and eat healthy.
If you fail to do any of these things, you will likely struggle in this course. Especially number 6.
Class Policies¶
I (Prof. Araújo) want to make this course as enjoyable and rewarding as possible for you. To that end, I have a few policies that I want to share with you upfront. I also want to mention that as this is my first time teaching this course, I am open to feedback and suggestions on how to improve the course for future semesters.
Regarding Technology in the Classroom¶
This course requires significant work outside of class, so classroom time is precious for learning core concepts. To maximize your focus and engagement during lectures, do not use phones or laptops during class, unless you have a documented accommodation that requires you to do so. I know it might be hard at first, but I promise you that it will pay off in the long run.
I am also aware that some of you want to take notes on your laptops. Experience and research show that taking notes by hand helps you retain information better than typing them. If you really need to use a laptop for note taking, please sit in the back of the class to minimize distractions to your peers.
Regarding Attendance¶
Class attendance is optional. Come to learn. Take it seriously. Show up.
Lab attendance is required and critical to your success. Skipping lab will likely result in poor performance in the course.
Missing class due to illness: if you are going to miss class due to (physical or mental) illness, please send me an email before class.
Regarding Disabilities and Accommodations¶
Calvin University is committed to providing access to all students. If you are a student with a documented disability, please notify a Disability Coordinator in Student Success (located in Hiemenga Hall 227) to discuss necessary accommodations. If you have an accommodation memo, please come talk to me in the first two weeks of class.
If you are a student needing reasonable modifications for pregnancy and related conditions, please contact the Title IX Coordinator in Student Life (located in Spoelhof University Center 364).
Regarding Diversity and Inclusion¶
Inside and outside of the classroom, I work to treat every person with equal respect, regardless of racial identity, gender identity, physical ability, brain chemistry, nationality, political leanings, and religious background.
Whoever you are, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God delights in diversity and I do, too. We humans need diverse viewpoints because every viewpoint, on its own, has blind spots. This has been proven true in technology-related fields, where certain groups remain significantly under-represented in the workforce. When companies work hard to rectify this, they find their products and services improve. We have found this to be true in Computer Science classrooms as well.
Regarding Academic Integrity¶
We take academic integrity very seriously. Cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this course. If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing, your situation will be dealt with in accordance with Calvin’s policies on Academic Honesty. Likewise, giving another person your work to submit as their own constitutes academic fraud and may result in a failing grade (F) for both parties.
Feel free to discuss ideas with us or with your classmates, but don’t copy code (i.e., plagiarize). Here are examples of what plagiarism looks like:
You copy a program from an online source, change some small things (e.g., variable names, output messages), and submit the code without attribution.
Your roommate writes some code, which you add to your program. You add documentation that shows you understand their code, but never indicate the source of the code.
You find an online tutorial that walks you through the construction of a system that you then submit without attribution.
You use a generative model (e.g., ChatGPT) to produce your code, review it, perhaps edit it a bit, and then submit it without attribution.
Consider these rules of thumb:
If you find it efficient to use copy/paste or use a generative language model to create more than one or two lines of your application, you must document the original source of the code.
If the moment you figure out how to do something occurs while you are looking at a website or at the output of a generative language model, you should document that website.
Note that these rules of thumb apply to the code supplied in this course’s materials as well.