Syllabus: CS111 Green

CS111 Green is a new section of Introductory Computer Science Program Design I (CS111) offered for the first time by the UIC Computer Science Department in collaboration with the Department of Biological Sciences. The class is for students who have no (or very little) previous programming experience.

This course will take its examples, the things that we write programs about, from biology, ranging from DNA and genes to population dynamics and evolution. The course will be team taught by a Computer Science professor and a Biological Sciences professor, and will include substantial introductory biology content. The programming language will be Python.

Formally, the learning outcomes are that by the end of this course you will:

• Be able to discuss the importance of algorithms in the problem-solving process 

• Be able to use Python to implement, test, and debug algorithms for solving simple problems
• Have a basic understanding of biological concepts and how to understand and analyze them as a Python programmer
• Answer basic biological questions using computational solutions
• Appreciate what computer scientists do and the key concerns of computer scientists

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ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION:

CS 111 Bio Web Page , Blackboard , Piazza

Most materials, such as lecture slides, and updated syllabus and schedule, will be posted to the world-readable webpage for the course that you can show your mom and your best friend.

Grades, assignments, and video captures of the lectures (if the lecture capture works) are available on Blackboard. There is also a forum for course help at Piazza. You are responsible for checking Blackboard regularly and making sure you are doing all the work. You are responsible for knowing about all of the material distributed for this class, whether it is mentioned in the syllabus, posted on the class website, posted on Blackboard, posted on Piazza, or announced during lecture. 
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COURSE MATERIALS

Required Text

Computing for Biologists: Python Programming and Principles

by Ran Libeskind-Hadas & Eliot Bush, Cambridge University Press.

[ISBN-10: 1107642183; ISBN-13: 978-1107642188].

Optional Texts

• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive Edition, a free online interactive book at http ://interactivepython.org/runestone/static/thinkcspy/ index.html, based on an open source book by Jeffrey Elkner, Allen B. Downey, and Chris Meyers.
• Lubanovic, Introducing Python: Modern Computing in Simple Packages (UIC has 4 electronic copies available through Safari)
• Zelle, Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science (either 2^nd or 3^rd edition, 3^rd edition is supposed to be out approximately today)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS (GRADING)

Subject to change at any time for any reason

COURSE POLICIES

Attendance and Participation Policy

You will be expected to attend all lectures, having completed the assigned reading and ready to discuss them with your classmates. Your lecture participation grade will come primarily from answering clicker questions (not graded for correctness). We will excuse absences from the first three classes (so you can shop the other sections).

Lab quizzes will be given almost every week. You must be present at the lab to get credit for the quiz. We will drop your two lowest lab quiz scores.

Policy for Missed or Late Work

All programming assignments (lab and projects) are to be turned in electronically via Blackboard. Lab assignments will be due at 11:59 pm Wednesday; programming projects will come with a deadline.

In general, no late lab or project assignments will be allowed for this course. However, you have three "late day" passes that you can use on the programming assignments, so you can turn in three programming assignments 1 day late without penalty, or a single assignment 3 days late, etc. Once you have used your late days, late assignments will not be accepted. If you wish to use late days for a lab or project assignment, you must fill out the form on Blackboard before the time it is due.

Student Courtesy Policy: No laptops or phones in class

If you absolutely cannot take notes without a laptop, please come talk to Prof. Sloan. Otherwise, no laptop use in class. It is distracting to others, and it keeps you from being fully engaged. Likewise, no phone use in class, and of course silence your phone before class.

Academic Integrity Policy

As an academic community, UIC is committed to providing an environment in which research, learning, and scholarship can flourish and in which all endeavors are guided by academic and professional integrity. All members of the campus community - students, staff, faculty, and administrators - share the responsibility of insuring that these standards are upheld so that such an environment exists. Instances of academic misconduct by students will be handled pursuant to the Student Disciplinary Policy.

Consulting with your classmates on assignments is encouraged, except where noted. However, submissions are individual, and copying code from your classmates is considered plagiarism. For example, give the question "how did you do X?", a great response would be "I used function Y, with W as the second argument. I tried Z first, but it doesn't work". An inappropriate response would be "here is my code, look for yourself".

To avoid suspicion of plagiarism, you must specify your sources together with all submitted materials. List classmates you discussed your assignment with and webpages from which you got inspiration or copied (short) code snippets. All students are expected to understand and be able to explain their submitted materials. Plagiarism and cheating, as in copying the work of others, paying others to do your work, etc, is obviously prohibited, is grounds for possibly failing the course, and will be reported. We will be running an automated plagiarism detection tool on your hand-ins.

Students are advised that it is a violation to copy, or allow another to copy, all or part of an exam or program.

Student Disabilities

If you have a disability that might impact your performance in this course, or requires special accommodation, please contact instructors as soon as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Support is available through the Disability Resource Center. You will need to contact them to get your disability documented before accommodations can be made.

Incomplete Grade Policy

The UIC Undergraduate catalog states that in addition to needing excellent justification for an incomplete grade, a student must also have been "making satisfactory progress in the course".

Therefore, no matter how good your excuse, we will not grant you an incomplete grade if you have less than a C average at the time you ask for an incomplete.

CALENDAR OF SELECTED MAJOR COURSE EVENTS AND DEADLINES

Date	Event
Thursday, Oct 6 (tentative)	First hour exam
Monday, Aug. 29	First Lab meetings
Tuesday, Aug. 23	First lecture
Friday, Dec. 2	Instruction ends
Friday, Oct. 28	Last day for undergraduate students to use optional late drop in college office and receive grade of W on academic record.
Friday, Sept. 2	Last day to complete late registration; last day to add a course(s) or make section changes; last day to drop individual courses via Student Self-Service without receiving W (Withdrawn) grade on academic record.
Wednesday, Aug. 24	Register your clicker and do assigned reading before 2nd meeting of class
Thursday, Nov.10 (tentative)	Second hour exam
Monday, Aug. 22	UIC semester begins
Final Exam	Wednesday, December 7, 3:30-5:30