Project-intensive study of advanced topics and best practices in software development, including advanced language features, modular decomposition, and development tools.
The following major concepts are covered in this course:
Note that, because this is a three-credit course, you should expect to invest nine hours peer week of attention to it.
The semester will begin with small, individual assignments that are designed to build core competency. Expect an assignment submission to be due before each class meeting. We will be moving towards small group work around midsemester. The last half of the semester will be devoted to a team-oriented six-week project.
Your learning is commensurate to your participation, and so attendance is expected. There is a low but non-zero chance of graded activities taking place during class, and these cannot be "made up" if they are missed.
You are responsible for learning regardless of attendance. If you miss a class meeting, you should consult with trusted classmates to ensure you have the appropriate notes. I will not repeat myself unnecessarily over email, during office hours, or by appointment. Indeed, if you miss class and then ask me if you "missed anything important," I will take this as a sign that you are inadequately prepared for a university education.
Meetings begin at the time scheduled, and you are expected to be ready to begin at this time. Late admittance is prohibited.
All files must be submitted in open file formats. Good examples include HTML, PDF, OpenDocument, and my personal favorite, plain text.
Formal examinations are not expected for this class, although the instructor reserves the right to modify the pedagogy to serve the needs of the class. Note that we will have a class meeting during the university-scheduled final exam slot, as required by university regulations. This meeting will be Monday, April 29, at 7:30A.M.
A student's grade in this course will be determined according to the scale provided below. The instructor reserves the right to adjust the weights as deemed appropriate.
You should familiarize yourself with my grading rubric, on which all of my grading is based.
Late work is worth no credit.
Students who come to office hours are helped on a first-come, first-served basis; no appointment or prior contact is required. If a student wishes to make an appointment to meet outside of office hours, he or she should email the instructor the request along with several possible meeting times.
All email communication to the instructor should be from a BSU-affiliated address. This policy ensures that senders can be correctly identified and protects your privacy. Email sent from other domains may not be answered.
The instructor may access email through services not affiliated with the University. Please note that such messages necessarily pass through the campus firewall in an unencrypted format, and they may be stored on servers not owned or managed by Ball State University. It is therefore advisable to restrict confidential information to office hours or appointments.
If you are emailing regarding questions in a computer program, it is recommended that you send a copy of the code in question in your email. The preferred method is to copy the code into the body of your message, using plain text and following standard formatting conventions; attachments are an unnecessary hassle. Alternatively, if the code is in a publicly-readable repository, email the URL.
Although the instructor's office telephone number is listed, email and face-to-face communication are strongly preferred.
Students and faculty are bound by the Student Academic Ethics Policy of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
It behooves you to be aware of fundamentals of copyright law and the university's intellectual property policies for student-created work.
We will be using Google Docs and other connected technologies to coordinate community activity. If you do not already have a Google account, you will need to create one. Using two-step verification is strongly recommended.
All students have free access to The Writing Center.
If you need adaptations or accomodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with the instructor, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment as soon as possible.