Essential Tools for Computer Science

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Lectures

Syllabus

Course Details

Term: Fall 2024

Instructors: Ajay Gandecha (agandecha@unc.edu) and Noah Smith (nsmith2@unc.edu)

Section: In-Person W 2:30p to 3:45p in Fred Brooks Building FB009.

Office Hours: By appointment (contact the instructors)

Course Description, Target Audience, and Prerequisites

This course introduces students to essential computer science tools and technologies not taught in other classes. Students will also learn methodologies to help them plan, develop, and present their own software projects. By the end of this course, students will expand their computer science toolbelt, gain experience with tools used extensively in industry, and be well-prepared for taking upper-division computer science classes and to begin working on their own extracurricular projects.

The target audience for this course are Undergraduate Computer Science majors, or prospective Computer Science majors, who either are currently enrolled in COMP 210, or COMP 211 / 301. Students past COMP 211 and COMP 301 are better served enrolling in COMP 423: Foundations of Software Engineering instead.

Prerequisite(s): Previously enrolled, or placed out of, COMP 110; Pre- or corequisite, COMP 210.

Goals

The goal of this course is to teach students about essential tools for the computer scientist toolkit, including but not limited to:

1. Introduce students to essential software engineering tools commonly used in both UNC Computer Science classes and in industry, such as the shell and command-line interface, git, GitHub, containerization with Docker, basics on HTTP servers and APIs, deploying to the web, vim, generative AI tools, and more.
2. Teach students one the most vital skill for any computer scientist - learning effective strategies for self-learning through reading documentation and research.
3. Teach students how to create software side-projects, research and learn new technologies needed to complete side projects, give students the opportunity to experiment with the programming language of their choice, and present their projects in a visually appealing and informative way on GitHub.
4. Expose students to the undergraduate UNC Computer Science community, showcase student organizations, and survey some higher-level elective courses.

Course Modality and Attendance Policy

This course will meet in-person every Wednesday from 2:30pm-3:45pm in FB009. Attendance is required and will make up a decent part of your final grade.

During lecture, you will be able to critically engage in the material, ask questions, talk to your peers, and make friends in the UNC Computer Science community. This course is designed to be interactive, and students’ participation and interaction with the course and their classmates is the most valuable asset of this course! We only meet once a week, a total of 15 meetings in the semester, so we plan on making each meeting count. If you do not plan on attending class regularly, we recommend you opt for a different course.

To account for unexpected situations, such as illness or otherwise, each student is permitted to be absent for one (1) lecture meeting without any penalty, prior approval, or instructor notification, regardless of absence type (university approved or otherwise). After one missed lecture, absences will count against your in-class activities and participation grade unless they are university or instructor approved.

Grading Criteria

Grading Scale and Grade Breakdown

This course will follow the following grading scale:

A	A-	B+	B	B-	C+	C	C-	D	F
93-100	90-92	87-89	83-86	80-82-	77-79	73-76	70-72	60-69	<60

A	93-100
A-	90-92
B+	87-89
B	83-86
B-	80-82-
C+	77-79
C	73-76
C-	70-72
D	60-69
F	<60

Your course grade will consist of the following breakdown:

Component	%
Participation	30%
Assignments	30%
Final Project	40%

Participation (30%)

The participation component of your grade is broken down into two parts:

Attendance to Lecture (20%): As emphasized in the modality portion of the syllabus, this course meets in-person once a week. Earn these points simply by showing up each week.
Participation in Lecture (10%): The remaining portion of the participation grade is earned based on the quality of your participation in lecture and your overall contributions to the class and your classmates! This will be determined by the instructors at the end of the semester and there is no strict rubric, but here are some examples of actions that may impact your participation grade:
- Good: Raise your hand in class, good-faith participation in class discussions, remain engaged in lecture, pay attention, show self-initiative.
- Bad: Do not participate in class, stay quiet in group discussions, not engaging in course content during class (surfing the web, texting, etc), do not engage in class materials, readings, or supplemental activities.

Assignments (30%)

The assignment component of your grade will be the average scores of the assignments that are assigned in-class. Assignments will be clearly marked on the course website, and grading criteria for each will be provided. You can keep track of your assignment grades through GradeScope, and these grades will be uploaded to Canvas at the end of the semester.

Final Project (40%)

This course will have a final project, which will consist of developing a plan to create an extracurricular software side project of your choice. By the end of the project, you will learn about how to develop software project ideas, research new technologies, read documentation, and develop a timeline to make meaningful progress on such ideas. In addition, you will have a real, tangible plan for creating a project that you can follow in your free time!

The project will be broken down into the following parts (subject to change):

Proposal (30%)
Getting Started Tutorial (30%)
Action Plan (25%)
Presentation (15%)

Final Presentations

In lieu of a final exam, we will use our scheduled final exam time for final project presentations. Presentations will occur IN-PERSON in concordance with the UNC Final Exam schedule on Friday, December 6th at 8:00AM in FB009. This will contribute to the Presentation component of the Final Project grade.

Late Submission Policy

All assignments will have a 5:00am deadline on the morning after the due date. Effectively this means that an assignment due on a Sunday, for example, is really due at 5 AM the following Monday.

Assignments with 5:00am deadlines will have late periods open for 72 hours. If an assignment is submitted late, a 15% penalty will be applied to the submission. Submissions cannot be made outside of the late period window. If you are unable to submit an assignment due to an emergency or extenuating circumstance, please contact the instructors before the due date.

Honor Code and Collaboration Policy

All students are expected to follow the guidelines of the UNC Honor Code. Students may use artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT to reinforce or explain concepts, but never to complete assignments, generate code to submit on assignments, or generate text to submit for assignments - especially on the final project submission. Doing so is an Honor Court violation and will result in a 0 on that portion of an assignment. For programming assignment submissions, you must understand and be able to explain any code snippet, derivation, or generated code you make use of in your work if asked by an instructor.

Collaboration may be permitted on some assignments: if so, it will be clearly listed on the assignment itself. When collaborating with others, make sure to write the full name of the peers you are collaborating with.

Additional Information

Diversity Statement

The instructors value the perspectives of individuals from all backgrounds reflecting the diversity of our students. We broadly define diversity to include race, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation, political background, and physical and learning ability. We strive to make this classroom an inclusive space for all students. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to improve; we appreciate suggestions.

Title IX Resources

Any student who is impacted by discrimination, harassment, interpersonal (relationship) violence, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, or stalking is encouraged to seek resources on campus or in the community. Please contact the Director of Title IX Compliance (Adrienne Allison – Adrienne.allison@unc.edu), Report and Response Coordinators in the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office (reportandresponse@unc.edu), Counseling and Psychological Services (confidential), or the Gender Violence Services Coordinators (gvsc@unc.edu; confidential) to discuss your specific needs. Additional resources are available at safe.unc.edu.

Counseling and Psychological Services

CAPS is strongly committed to addressing the mental health needs of a diverse student body through timely access to consultation and connection to clinically appropriate services, whether for short or long-term needs. Go to their website: https://caps.unc.edu/ or visit their facilities on the third floor of the Campus Health Services building for a walk-in evaluation to learn more. (source: Student Safety and Wellness Proposal for EPC, Sep 2018)