CS345/545 Syllabus, Spring 2008

Course Information

Course Title
Graphical User Interfaces
Section
001
Meetings
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M., in RB104
Credits
3
Prerequisite
CS232
Instructor
Dr. Paul Gestwicki
Office
RB479
Email and Office Hours
Refer to Dr.  Gestwicki's homepage

Overview

The Undergraduate Catalog provides the following description for the course.

Introduction to the principles of design and implementation of user interfaces emphasizing graphical user interfaces. Topics include design goals, user interface standards, event-driven programming, application of object-oriented design and programming to GUIs, menus, and dialog boxes.

More specifically, we will focus on the three knowledge domains listed below.

  1. Models and methods for Usage-Centered Design, which will be investigated by following the presentation by Constantine and Lockwood. Students will develop critical analysis skills regarding the design of graphical user interfaces.
  2. Effective use of Java's Swing library, which will be explored through readings and programming assignments. We will use The Swing Trail of The Java Tutorial as a primary source.
  3. Software architectures for graphical applications, which requires and builds upon the other two domains. We will use a variety of Web and print materials in order to understand the relationship between software design and interface design.

Required Books

Course Website

This course is managed using Moodle, which is hosted locally at http://csweb.bsu.edu/moodle. At the time of this writing, csweb is only accessible from within the campus firewall.

Grading

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.

Students should keep copies of all graded materials until the end of the semester. If a student suspects that a grading error has occured, the instructor must be notified within one week of returning the graded submission.

Late work is worth no credit.

The instructor's grading rubric is available online at http://www.cs.bsu.edu/~pvg/misc/grading.html.

Communication

Office Hours and Appointments

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. Appointments can generally be made within two working days of the request.

Email

All email communication to the instructor must be from a bsu.edu address. This policy ensures that senders can be correctly identified. Email sent from other domains may not be answered.

The instructor may access email through third-party servers such as Google Mail. Please note that such emails 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 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.

Telephone

The instructor's office phone number is provided for reference, but it should not be used by anyone except for Mrs. Gestwicki. Email communication is the most reliable way to contact the instructor.

Academic Integrity

Students and faculty are bound by the Student Academic Ethics Policy of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Notice for Students with Disabilities

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.