234 A/B Syllabus Fall 2002

Instructor Info:
Bill Siever (Please call me Bill)

Office(s): CS 344, ERL 3rd Floor
Hours: TR 1:30-2:30 or Appointment (E-mail me)
Policies:
If my CS door is open, I'm around the area - either wait a little while or search for me.
If I'm not in, e-mail me and suggest a time to meet.
Feel free to stop by anytime.

Class: CS 234: Introduction to Computer Organization
Class Homepage: http://www.mst.edu/~bsiever/cs234fs2 (for notes, assignments, and homework)
Meeting Time/Place:
Section A: 9:30-10:45 TR CS204
Section B: 11:05-12:20 TR CS204
Text: Computer Organization & Design: The Hardware/Software Interface

Prerequisites:
CS153: Data Structures I
CS158: Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science

It's assumed that you are competent entry level C/C++ programmers.
As such, you should be able to write simple functions to determine string length,
work with multi-dimensional arrays, work with character strings, and
compute simple mathematical formulas.

Schedule:
A tentative schedule of reading, assignments, and due dates is available from the web page.
Although no major changes are planned, minor corrections may be made throughout the semester.

Tentative Assignments/Grades:
50% Tests - 3 tests
25% Homework/Quizzes
25% Labs (Not evenly divided)
Labs must be demonstrated to me to be graded.
A demo time sign up sheet will be passed around class, then posted near the due date.

Grade assignment will not be higher than the following:
90-100% A
80-89%   B
70-79%   C
60-69%   D
0-59%     F






Policies

Neatness:
Neatness counts - Sloppy work will be returned un-graded without the opportunity to redo the work!!!

Due Times:
All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date.

Late Work:
Late work will be accepted and penalized at my discretion.
(The usual penalty is 15% off the base grade per day late)
Work is not typically accepted more than two days late.

Cheating/Copying Work:
Copying someone else's work will not be tolerated - both parties will be given 0's.
Unless you are working on a group assignment, you should not discuss work with other students.
If you have problems with an assignment, please contact me.

Makeup Work:
Makeup work will be given at my discretion.

Low Scores:
All homework & quizzes will be worth an equal portion of the grade and the lowest score will be dropped.

Drops:
If I feel that you will not get at least A 'C' in the class, I will drop you from the course or recommend that you drop the course. Most likely I will review grades prior to the "WD" date, near midterm, and near the last withdrawal date and attempt to contact you if you're doing poorly. If you refuse to follow my recommendation to drop the course, I may prevent you from dropping the course (by not signing your drop slip).
I may also drop students who are disrupting the class, cheating, and/or not taking the course seriously.

Reading:
All reading is required - quizzes may be given to test over the reading material.

Extra Credit:
Extra credit work will be given at my discretion.

Class Attendance:
Attendance is highly recommended - There will be no opportunities to make-up quizzes. In addition, there will occasionally be material and handouts that is not covered in the book. Finally, students with unaccused absences will be given lowest priority during office hours.

Syllabus Modifications:
I reserve the right to modify the syllabus, however I will notify you a week prior to the changes taking affect.

Outside Material:
If you have trouble understanding something presented in class PLEASE look for different presentations.
Some possible places to look for outside help:
The Slides of the material provided by the authors of the text book
my on-line outlines of this semester and previous semesters
other books (at the library for example)
on the web
etc.