/CS50x-Miami

Syllabus for CS50x Miami

CS50x Miami

CS50x Miami Puzzle Day

Introduction

CS50x Miami is The Idea Center @ Miami Dade College's adaption of CS50, Harvard University's introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science, and the art of programming, for MDC students and the South Florida community.

But what does that mean?

Well, CS50x Miami is a course that teaches you how to design and implement solutions to problems. But more than that, it teaches you how to think more critically, more methodically, and more computationally, if you will.

In fact, computer science itself isn't really about computers (or programming for that matter), it's really about information. How do you think about it? How do you represent it? And with what methods or algorithms can you process it?

So, we'll first learn how to program with Scratch, a graphical programming language via which we'll explore some fundamental programming constructs, by dragging and dropping puzzle pieces.

We'll then quickly transition to a more traditional text-based language called C, that's actually been around quite a while. And as such, it doesn't come with that many features out of the box, so to speak. So anything you want the computer to do, you're going to have to teach it to do yourself; from the simplest of algorithms, to the most sophisticated.

The problems we'll solve in this course are inspired by real-world domains: cryptography, finance, forensics, gaming, and more.

Over the course of CS50x Miami, you'll be part of a global community solving those same problems, surrounded by classmates, by Dylan, by Gregory, and so many others on CS50x Miami's team.

But the most successful outcome ahead is to do something, ultimately, that we've not taught you. Indeed, what ultimately matters in this course is not so much where you end up relatively to your classmates, but where you end up relative to yourself when you began.

And when you do end up there, will you be able to say proudly, just like I can, "I took CS50".

Let's get started.

Table of Contents

  1. tl;dr (too long; didn’t read)
  2. Expectations
  3. Schedule
  4. Tools
  5. Assignments
  6. Events
  7. Academic Honesty
  8. Books
  9. Miscellaneous
  10. Acknowledgement & Authorization

tl;dr (too long; didn’t read)

  • Course Title: CS50x Miami
  • Starts: September 20th, 2017
  • Ends: December 20th, 2017
  • Schedule:
    • Lectures
      • What: New topics introduction
      • When: Mon/Wed, 6-8:30pm
      • REQUIRED
    • Sections
      • What: Current topics breakdown & Q&A in smaller groups
      • When: Your choice of Wed 12-2pm OR Sat 12-2pm
      • REQUIRED and must consistently show up to one
    • Coding Hours
      • What: One-on-one tutoring & peer collaboration
      • When: Wed/Sat from 2-5pm
      • Term: Fall
  • Problem Sets are
    • Weekly homework assignments
    • Due on Wednesdays OR Sundays (see Problem Sets)
  • Credits for:
    • COP 1334 - Introduction to C++ Programming (4 credits)
    • CTS 2842 - Developing Websites Using PHP/MYSQL (4 credits)

Expectations

You are expected to

Schedule

Cohort 7 of CS50x Miami will

  • begin September 20th, 2017 and
  • conclude December 20th, 2017.

A list of class functions (subject to change) are listed at CS50xMiami.com/calendar with descriptions found below. In the event of a change, this calendar will be the first to be updated. We encourage you to subscribe to the calendar.

Lectures

CS50x Miami officially meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm in The Idea Center, MDC Building 8, Floor 5, Room #8525. A typical lecture runs roughly as follows:

  • 10 min: A short recap of the prior lecture
  • 60 min: Watching a portion of the lecture taught at Harvard
  • 10 min: A small break
  • Asking students for their pain points
  • Lead instructor’s lecture based on the day’s topics + potential pain points
Lead Instructor Contact
Ken Loomis kloomis@mdc.edu

A schedule of lectures, subject to change, appears below.

Lecture Topic Date Part 1 Video Date Part 2 Video
Week 0 Scratch 9/20 0:00-45:46 9/25 45:46-1:18:40
Week 1 C 9/27 0:00-59:53 10/2 59:53-2:10:03
Week 2 Arrays 10/4 0:00-1:1:20 10/9 1:1:20-1:50:53
Week 3 Algorithims 10/11 0:00-40:19 10/16 40:19-1:25:17
Week 4 Memory 10/18 0:00-56:18 10/23 56:18-1:51:42
Week 5 Data Structures 10/25 0:00-54:40 10/30 54:40-1:46:43
Quiz Review & Quiz #0 11/1
Week 6 HTTP 11/6 0:00-58:37 11/8 58:37-1:44:36
Week 7 Machine Learning 11/13 0:00-??:?? 11/15 ??:??-?:??:??
Week 8 Python 11/20 0:00-1:14:20 11/22 1:14:20-2:12:59
Week 9 SQL 11/27 0:00-38:38 11/29 38:38-1:51:47
Week 10 JavaScript 12/4 0:00-44:12 12/6 44:12-1:43:09
Week 11 Github & Project Pitches 12/11 0:00-38:26 12/13
Quiz Review & Quiz #1 12/18
Final Project Presentation Fair 12/20

Sections

Lectures are supplemented by weekly, 120-minute sections led by the teaching fellows. Sections provide you with opportunities to explore the course’s material in a more intimate environment, with only your teaching fellow and a handful of classmates present, as well as to dive into hands-on activities.

Although you can attend multiple sections if your personal schedule allows, you are required to attend the same section you signed up for during selection at minimum.

A schedule of sections and instructors, subject to change, appears below.

Days Teaching Fellow Contact Room
Wed 12-2pm Dylan Tackoor dylan@cs50xmiami.com TBA
Sat 12-2pm Gregory Barreto gregory@cs50xmiami.com TBA
Topic/Slides Videos Dates
Scratch 9/30 (Super Section)
C 10/4 OR 10/7
Arrays 10/11 OR 10/14
Algorithms 10/18 OR 10/21
File I/O 10/25 OR 10/28
Data Structures 11/1 OR 11/4
Quiz #0 Review TBA
HTTP 11/8 OR TBA (Veteren's Day)
Machine Learning 11/15 OR 11/18
Python 11/22 OR TBD (Thanksgiving Holiday)
SQL 11/29 OR 12/2
JavaScript 12/6 OR 12/9
Git & GitHub TBA
Quiz #1 TBA

Coding Hours

Coding hours are opportunities for assistance with problem sets alongside the course’s teaching fellows and course assistants. Office hours schedule sometimes overlap with sections but their help is always available as there will be multiple teaching fellows on hand. They take place in the same room as that day's section.

Day Time Room
Monday 2-5pm TBA
Wednesday 2-5pm TBA

Tools

Accounts

You will need,

Resources

You will utilize a number of resources and services throughout the course.

  • ide50: A web based IDE, or Intergrated Development Environment, in which you will be coding. If internet access is intermittent, an offline version of the IDE can be ran by following these instructions.
  • Style Guide: The styling portion of your grades is checked against this style guide. Ensure your styling is up to par, or at least consistent!
  • Reference50: A comprehensive encyclopedia of C Standard library functions as well as CS50's library.

Commands

  • update50: Updates the IDE to the current version
  • check50 [problem_name] [file_name]: Command line tool built into CS50 IDE to run automated checks on your code
  • style50 [program_name]: Benchmarks your code for good style against the course style guide
  • submit50 [program_name]: Submits problem for grading via CS50.me
  • help50 [program_name] : Provides help for compiler error messages

Assignments

Problem Sets

Nine problem sets are assigned during the semester. Each is due by midnight on a Wednesday or Sunday (see dates below). Late work is not ordinarily accepted, except in cases of emergency. A schedule of problem sets, subject to change, appears below.

  • Pset 0: Due Wednesday, 10/4 at midnight
  • Pset 1: Due Wednesday, 10/11 at midnight
    • Implement Hello
    • Implement Water
    • Implement either of:
    • Implement either of:
  • Pset 2: Due Wednesday, 10/18 at midnight
    • Implement either of:
    • Implement any two (2) of:
  • Pset 3: Due Wednesday, 10/25 at midnight
  • Pset 4: Due Wednesday, 11/1 at midnight
  • Pset 5: Due Wednesday, 11/8 at midnight
  • Pset 6: Due Wednesday, 11/29 at midnight
    • Implement either of the below exactly as specified but in Python:
      • Mario, less comfortable, in a file called mario.py in pset6/
      • Mario, more comfortable, in a file called mario.py in pset6/
    • Implement either of the below exactly as specified but in Python:
      • Greedy, less comfortable, in a file called greedy.py in pset6/
      • Credit, more comfortable, in a file called credit.py in pset6/
    • Implement any (one) of the below exactly as specified but in Python:
      • Caesar, less comfortable, in a file called caesar.py in pset6/
      • Vigenère, less comfortable, in a file called vigenere.py in pset6/
      • Crack, more comfortable, in a file called crack.py in pset6/
    • Implement Sentiments in pset6/sentiments/
  • Pset 7: Due Sunday, 12/3 at midnight
  • Pset 8: Due Sunday, 12/10 at midnight
    • Implement Mashup in pset8/mashup/

Grading

Problem sets are graded on three axes. They, along with some pertinent questions to consider, appear below:

  • Correctness: “To what extent is your code consistent with our specifications and free of bugs?”
  • Style: “To what extent is your code readable (i.e., commented and intended with variables aptly named?”
    • Can I easily tell (via braces/indentation) the boundaries of each block of code?
    • Is it clear what this variable does, based on its name? (:joy::poop::triumph:)
    • If I didn’t understand C code, would I be able to tell what is happening based on comments alone?
    • Are there so few or so many comments that I am distracted by their presence or absence?
  • Design: “To what extent is your code written well (i.e., clearly, efficiently, elegantly, and/or logically)?”
    • Can I eliminate:
    • Is there a “shorter” way to accomplish the same thing?
    • Should this code have been broken out into its own function?

Quizzes

The course has two 90-minute quizzes. These quizzes are "closed-book," but you may utilize during each quiz one two-sided page (8.5" × 11") of handwritten or typed notes, blank scrap paper, and a pen or pencil, nothing else.

When final grades are computed, your scores on these two quizzes are weighted equally.

Unless arranged with the course’s heads in advance, quizzes cannot ordinarily be taken at alternative times even if missed by accident, except in cases of medical emergency.

A schedule of quizzes appears below.

Number Date
Quiz #1 TBA, 6-8:00pm
Quiz #2 TBA, 6-8:00pm

Final Project

The climax of this course is its final project. The final project is your opportunity to take your newfound savvy with programming out for a spin and develop your very own piece of software. So long as your project draws upon this course’s lessons, the nature of your project is entirely up to you, albeit subject to the staff’s approval. You may implement your project in any language(s) as long as the staff approves. You are welcome to utilize any infrastructure, provided the staff ultimately has access to any hardware and software that your project requires. All that we ask is that you build something of interest to you, that you solve an actual problem, that you impact campus, or that you change the world. Strive to create something that outlives this course.

Inasmuch as software development is rarely a one-person effort, you are allowed an opportunity to collaborate with one or two classmates for this final project. Needless to say, it is expected that every student in any such group contribute equally to the design and implementation of that group’s project. Moreover, it is expected that the scope of a two- or three-person group’s project be, respectively, twice or thrice that of a typical one-person project. A one-person project, mind you, should entail more time and effort than is required by each of the course’s problem sets. Although no more than three students may design and implement a given project, you are welcome to solicit advice from others, so long as you respect the course’s policy on academic honesty.

Extensions on the final project are not ordinarily granted, except in cases of emergency. Lateness of submissions is determined down to the minute by submissions' timestamps. Submitting more than seven minutes late is equivalent to not submitting at all.

Milestone Date
Proposal TBA
Status Report TBA
Hackathon TBA
Implementation TBA

Events

Puzzle Day

The first Saturday of the class is our Puzzle Day, open to CS50x Miami students (and friends). Solve non-programming related logic questions. Teams of 2, 3, or 4 encouraged but not required. Every member of your team should register anytime before Friday, TBA. Invite friends to register as well!

We will have pizza, candy, soda, music, a DJ, and a photobooth!

Hackathon

On Saturday, TBA, is the Hackathon, an epic hacking session during which you can dive into your final project’s implementation alongside classmates and staff. If you choose to partake, you’ll be asked to propose three milestones for yourself that evening:

  • a "good" one that you intend to achieve no matter what;
  • a "better" one that you think you can achieve;
  • and a "best" one that you hope to achieve.

Also in attendance are candy, soda, and pizza (noticing a trend yet?).

Project Fair

From 6pm until 8pm on TBA is the Fair, an epic display of final projects. Not only is the CS50x Miami Fair a venue at which to see classmates' projects and demo your own, it is an opportunity to mingle with students, family, faculty, and staff from across campus as well as recruiters from industry. Attendance is expected of all students.

Academic Honesty

This course’s philosophy on academic honesty is best stated as "be reasonable." The course recognizes that interactions with classmates and others can facilitate mastery of the course’s material. However, there remains a line between enlisting the help of another and submitting the work of another. This policy characterizes both sides of that line.

The essence of all work that you submit to this course must be your own. Collaboration on problem sets is not permitted except to the extent that you may ask classmates and others for help so long as that help does not reduce to another doing your work for you. Generally speaking, when asking for help, you may show your code to others, but you may not view theirs, so long as you and they respect this policy’s other constraints. Collaboration on the course’s test and quiz is not permitted at all. Collaboration on the course’s final project is permitted to the extent prescribed by its specification.

Below are rules of thumb that (inexhaustively) characterize acts that the course considers reasonable and not reasonable. If in doubt as to whether some act is reasonable, do not commit it until you solicit and receive approval in writing from the course’s heads. Acts considered not reasonable by the course are handled harshly. If the course refers some matter for disciplinary action and the outcome is punitive, the course reserves the right to impose local sanctions on top of that outcome that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted or for the course itself. The course ordinarily recommends exclusion (i.e., required withdrawal) from the course itself.

If you commit some act that is not reasonable but bring it to the attention of the course’s heads within 72 hours, the course may impose local sanctions that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted, but the course will not refer the matter for further disciplinary action except in cases of repeated acts.

Reasonable

  • Communicating with classmates about problem sets' problems in English (or some other spoken language).
  • Discussing the course’s material with others in order to understand it better.
  • Helping a classmate identify a bug in his or her code at office hours, elsewhere, or even online, as by viewing, compiling, or running his or her code, even on your own computer.
  • Incorporating a few lines of code that you find online or elsewhere into your own code, provided that those lines are not themselves solutions to assigned problems and that you cite the lines' origins.
  • Reviewing past semesters' quizzes and solutions thereto.
  • Sending or showing code that you’ve written to someone, possibly a classmate, so that he or she might help you identify and fix a bug.
  • Sharing a few lines of your own code online so that others might help you identify and fix a bug.
  • Turning to the course’s heads for help or receiving help from the course’s heads during the quiz or test.
  • Turning to the web or elsewhere for instruction beyond the course’s own, for references, and for solutions to technical difficulties, but not for outright solutions to problem set’s problems or your own final project.
  • Whiteboarding solutions to problem sets with others using diagrams or pseudocode but not actual code.
  • Working with (and even paying) a tutor to help you with the course, provided the tutor does not do your work for you.

Not Reasonable

  • Accessing a solution to some problem prior to (re-)submitting your own.
  • Asking a classmate to see his or her solution to a problem set’s problem before (re-)submitting your own.
  • Decompiling, deobfuscating, or disassembling the staff’s solutions to problem sets.
  • Failing to cite (as with comments) the origins of code or techniques that you discover outside of the course’s own lessons and integrate into your own work, even while respecting this policy’s other constraints.
  • Giving or showing to a classmate a solution to a problem set’s problem when it is he or she, and not you, who is struggling to solve it.
  • Looking at another individual’s work during the test or quiz.
  • Paying or offering to pay an individual for work that you may submit as (part of) your own.
  • Providing or making available solutions to problem sets to individuals who might take this course in the future.
  • Searching for or soliciting outright solutions to problem sets online or elsewhere.
  • Splitting a problem set’s workload with another individual and combining your work.
  • Submitting (after possibly modifying) the work of another individual beyond the few lines allowed herein.
  • Submitting the same or similar work to this course that you have submitted or will submit to another.
  • Submitting work to this course that you intend to use outside of the course (e.g., for a job) without prior approval from the course’s heads.
  • Turning to humans (besides the course’s heads) for help or receiving help from humans (besides the course’s heads) during the quiz or test.
  • Viewing another’s solution to a problem set’s problem and basing your own solution on it.

Books

No books are required or recommended for this course. However, you might find the below books of interest. Realize that free, if not superior, resources can be found on the course’s website.

Miscellaneous

Parking

Parking in the MDC Building 7 parking lot will be provided to all students! Visit the Student Life Office, Room 2101 Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to pick up your pass.

Acknowledgement & Authorization

The Idea Center plans to record audio, photos, and video of CS50x Miami lectures, sections, office hours, seminars, and other events and activities related to CS50x Miami, with the aims of making the content of the course more widely available and contributing to public understanding of innovative learning. The recordings, or edited versions of them, may be made available to other Miami Dade College students, to students at other educational institutions, and to the broader public via the Internet, television, theatrical distribution, digital media, or other means. It is also possible that the Recordings may be used to make other derivative works in the future. Students may elect not to appear in photos and video and may still participate fully in CS50x Miami.

When you submit Problem Set 0, you agree to the Acknowledgement and Authorization in the following form:

I understand that, if I do not wish any photos or video of me to be used, I should so inform the course’s instructor by emailing heads@cs50xmiami.com within one week of enrolling in CS50x Miami. In that event, I understand that I should sit in the designated "no-film" zone of CS50x Miami classrooms and should not walk in the field of view of the cameras. I understand that The Idea Center will take reasonable steps, with my cooperation, to avoid including identifiable photos and video shot in classrooms and other course locations after I opt out as just described. I understand that I am free to opt out of photos and video in this way, and that doing so will not affect my grade or my ability to participate in course activities.

Unless I opt as described above and take the steps that will be outlined by the instructor to avoid being filmed, I authorize The Idea Center and its designees to record and use photos and video of my participation in CS50x Miami and activities related to CS50x Miami. I understand and agree that the captured media may include my image, name, and voice. I also understand and agree that, even if I opt out, my spoken name and voice may be picked up by microphones outside the "no-film" zone and may be recorded.

I understand and agree that The Idea Center and its designees will have the irrevocable, worldwide right to make, edit, modify, copy, publish, transmit, distribute, sell, publicly display, publicly perform, and otherwise use and make available its respective recordings and any other works that may be derived from those recordings, in any manner or medium now known or later invented, and to authorize others to do so as well. I hereby transfer to The Idea Center any rights, including copyrights, I may have in the recordings that The Idea Center makes. I will remain free to use and disseminate any ideas, remarks, or other material that I may contribute to course discussions.

I acknowledge and agree that I will not be entitled to any payment, now or in the future, in connection with the recordings or any works derived from them. This Acknowledgment and Authorization is a binding agreement, and is signed as a document under seal governed by the laws of the State of Florida.

Unless you opt out as described in the Acknowledgment and Authorization, you are agreeing, by attending CS50x Miami, that your participation in CS50x Miami and related activities may be recorded and used by The Idea Center without further obligation or liability to you, even if you do not sign any authorization.

If you have any questions about the above, contact heads@CS50xMiami.com.

This is CS50x Miami!

© Dylan Tackoor 2017

© David Malan 2017