Syllabus calendar

Click on a day to see full information for that day, including topic list, suggested readings, questions, and other information. This page will be updated throughout the term.

Wk T R
1 [no class] 11 Jan
Introductions, Algorithms and preciseness
2 16 Jan
Procedures, Elements of well-specified algorithms
Bring laptops
18 Jan
Conditionals, Operations, expressions, Order of operations, Algorithms with expressions
Bring laptops
3 23 Jan
Spreadsheets, Exprs referring to cells, Parameters (abs cell refs)
25 Jan
Repetition in spreadsheets
Bring laptops
4 30 Jan
Spreadsheet builtin functions, Using IF and conditions
Bring laptops
1 Feb
IF and conditions, cont'd
Research paper topic/source list due
Bring laptops
5 6 Feb
Representing text, ASCII, 8 bit codes, Unicode, RGB pixels, Representing images
8 Feb
Manipulating images
Bring laptops
6 13 Feb
Place-value notation, Binary and hex
15 Feb
Developing algorithms, Converting 2-10-16
7 20 Feb
Fractional numbers, Scientific notation, Limitations of floating point
22 Feb
Negative numbers
8 27 Feb
Negative numbers, cont'd
Research paper Paper 1 due
29 Feb

Exam 1
9 [no class] [no class]
10 12 Mar
Basics of compression, Run-length encoding, Compression ratios
14 Mar
Lossy vs lossless compression, Sliding window compression, Standard file formats
11 19 Mar
AND, OR, NOT gates, 2-input truth tables, Simple digital circuits
Bring laptops
[no class]
12 26 Mar
XOR, NOR, NAND, Circuit equivalence, Circuits from truth tables, Converting between representations
Bring laptops
28 Mar
Boolean algebra
Bring laptops
13 2 Apr
Reducing boolean expressions, Circuit design and simplification
Bring laptops
4 Apr
Parts of a computer, Evaluating systems
14 [no class] 11 Apr
Error detection (parity bits, Luhn)
Research paper Paper 2 due
15 16 Apr
Error correction (2D parity)
18 Apr

Exam 2
16 23 Apr
Event-based programming (Scratch)
Bring laptops
25 Apr
Using variable, Writing a simple game
Bring laptops
Final exam 1 May