CS 290W -- Course Information

(This page last modified . Please send any comments or suggestions to Becky Koutsis.)

CS 290W -- Advanced World-Wide Web, Spring, 1999

COURSE PERSONNEL

Instructor: Dr. H.E. Dunsmore E-Mail Address: dunsmore@cs.purdue.edu Office: CS 170 Phone: 49-41996 Class Time: 3:00 - 4:15 Tuesday & Thursday Class Room: PHYS 112 Course Administrator: Becky Koutsis E-Mail Address: koutsis@cs.purdue.edu Office: Math 416 Phone: 49-47918
Teaching Assistants

Dave Corcoran -- corcordt@cs.purdue.edu 
Jochem Clarke -- clarke@cs.purdue.edu
Holly McCray -- cray@ecn.purdue.edu
Saugata Bose -- saugata@ecn.purdue.edu
David Meyer -- meyerdp@cs.purdue.edu
Atul Ankola -- ankolaar@cs.purdue.edu
David Whittinghill --  davewhit@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu

TEXTBOOKS

There is no required textbook for CS 290W. There will be links from the course syllabus to material concerning what is being covered each week. You can either read this material online or print a copy if desired.

We suggest that a good reference book is Core Web Programming, Marty Hall, Prentice Hall, 1998, ISBN 0-13-625666-X. This book is pretty hefty at 1277 pages and costs about $50. But, it does cover HTML, JavaScript, and Java.

Another good reference book is Programming Perl, Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen, Randal L. Schwartz, 2nd Edition,O'Reilly, 1996, ISBN 1-56592-149-6. This book is 670 pages and costs about $40. It is the definitive Perl language reference.

HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, Elizabeth Castro, Peachpit Press, 1998, ISBN 0-201-69696-7, 336 pages, $17.95.

Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, Elizabeth Castro, Peachpit Press, 1999, ISBN 0-201-35358-X, 272 pages, $18.99.

Oracle8: The Complete Reference, George Koch, Kevin Loney, Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1997, ISBN 0-07-882396-X, 1334 pages, $59.99.

EMAIL TO THE CS 290W STAFF

It is best to send email questions to the entire CS 290W staff by using the address cs290w@cs.purdue.edu.

CS 290W NEWS GROUP

The CS 290W news group (purdue.class.cs290w) is an unmoderated forum for discussing issues related to the CS 290W class material, assignments, and exams. It can be used by the professor, the TAs, and any students in the class.

CLASS ATTENDANCE

Class attendance is extremely important in CS 290W. We have noticed that people who attend class regularly do much better on assignments and exams. To strongly encourage your class attendance, there will be 10-12 in-class quizzes. Their dates will NOT be announced in advance. They will be any time from the beginning to the end of class (maybe even in the middle). Each will be a short answer quiz over any material covered in the last few classes -- even including that day. Be sure to bring a pencil and a piece of notebook paper to each class in case there is a quiz that day. Quizzes cannot be "made up" by taking them earlier or later for ANY reason. But, there will be enough quizzes so that missing any one will not be fatal. Also, we will drop your lowest quiz score.

LAPTOPS, PAGERS, CELL PHONES

It is permissible to bring a laptop (notebook, palmtop) computer to class for the purpose of taking notes. However, it must be used QUIETLY ... that is, no clicking, clacking, or sound effects. If your laptop becomes a distraction to others in the class, you will be asked to turn it off and to NOT bring it back. Similarly, we will not tolerate beeping, chirping, ringing (or any other sound) from a pager or cell phone in class. If you must use your cell phone for any reason, you MUST leave the room.

GRADES

Your grade in this course will be determined according to the following weighting factors:

  45%  Programming Assignments
  45%  Three Exams (15% each)
       Exam 1: Thursday, Feb 25, in class
       Exam 2: Thursday, Apr 1, in class
       Exam 3: Thursday, May 6, 10:20 am, WTHR 200
  10%  Quizzes

IMPORTANT -- Exams can only be "made up" in extraordinary circumstances if arrangements are made with CS 290W Course Administrator Becky Koutsis. Such arrangements should be made at least one week before the exam. "Made up" exams must be taken before the time the rest of the class takes the same exam. Quizzes cannot be "made up" ... see above.

In CS 290W it is most likely that we will use the following grading curve:

  90-100 = A
  80- 89 = B
  70- 79 = C
  60- 69 = D
below 60 = below D

If you have a question about grading, please talk to your assigned teaching assistant about it. If you have a question about course policy or related material please talk to Becky Koutsis or Dr. Dunsmore about it.

One final note about grading. It will never be a valid complaint to say "I know that I did xxx, but what I really meant was yyy" or "I know that I did xxx, but I was really thinking about zzz". We can only grade what you did -- not what you meant or what you were thinking about.

LECTURE and PROJECTS

LECTURE -- [3:00 - 4:15 pm Tuesday and Thursday]
Prof. Dunsmore will discuss advanced World-Wide Web concepts and illustrate them using HTML and various languages.

PROJECTS -- [scheduled on your own time]
CS 290W does not have an assigned lab with it. Therefore, you as the student will be required to set aside time on your own to work on the projects outside of class, before their respective due dates.

CONSULTING

CS 290W Consultants (Teaching Assistants) will have office hours at various times during the week. Unless identified with a room number, office hours will be in AGAD 018/022.

HELP SESSIONS

CS 290W staff will conduct Help Sessions every Wednesday and Thursday 7:00-9:00 pm in SC 277. These sessions will not be required, but students are urged to attend and expand their knowledge of concepts with the consulting staff.

POLICIES

(1) The current "standard" Web browser at Purdue University is Netscape 4.05. This Web browser is available in all labs supported by the Purdue University Computing Center (PUCC). Thus, this will be our "standard" Web browser for CS 290W. Your TA will grade all your assignments using Netscape 4.05. Be sure to test all HTML files, JavaScript, Java, and Perl using Netscape 4.05. If you do not have a copy on your personal computer, you may download it from us. Save the cb32e405.exe file (10.5 MBytes) in your temp directory. Double-click that and it will install Netscape 4.05 on your machine.

(2) You should direct questions concerning a project to a staff member, rather than a classmate. But, when you come to us, be sure that you have specific questions and can show evidence that you have spent some time on your own attempting to solve your problem.

(3) NO LATE projects will be accepted. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule except under extreme circumstances approved in advance by your teaching assistant, Becky Koutsis, or Dr. Dunsmore. Failure to turn in a project results in a loss of all the points allocated for the project.

(4) WE ALWAYS WELCOME YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS. Please do not hesitate to bring any shortcomings to our attention.

COURSE ETHICS

All CS 290W course work must be done individually. We encourage discussion of any topic, but under no circumstances will exchange of programming code via written or electronic means be permitted between CS 290W students. It is considered dishonest (that is, cheating) either to read someone else's solution or to provide a classmate with a copy of your work.

In accordance with Purdue University policy, anyone discovered cheating will be reported to the Dean of Students. Penalties for cheating are severe and usually result in a failing grade for the course. In some circumstances, cheating results in expulsion from the university.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that superficial changes in a program (such as altering comments, changing variable names, or interchanging statements) will avoid detection. If you cannot do the work yourself, it is extremely unlikely that you will succeed in disguising someone else's work.

We are adamant that cheating in any form will not be tolerated. Even the most trivial assignment is better not submitted than if you cheat to complete it.

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