Welcome to COSC1337

About the Course

This is an intermediate course in computer programming using C++. It covers moderately complex computer science concepts that relate to programming using the C++ language. Unless you have considerable programming experience, this course will likely require a significant amount of time and effort. Students should budget at least 5-10 hours per week to study the material and complete the assignments. Naturally, time requirements are influenced by a variety of factors such as previous experience, skills, and exposure to technical academic work. 5-10 hours is only an estimate and considerably more time may be required.

 

Above All Else - Code

There is a great deal of material to cover in this course with C++, especially in an intermediate course as complexity moves beyond rudementary stages. To learn software development or a new language, there is no substitute for exposure to the craft of coding. We will use the powerful Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

It is critical to your success in the course that you code the examples. After you have coded an example, verify that it functions as expected. Then save the working version and make copies to work from so that you do not risk corrupting your original, working version.

 

Student Success Factors

Student Success Factors (SSFs) are those components required for student success in this course.

SSFs

1. Quality Content - The material in the textbook supplies all of the information required to complete the assignments and prepare for the exams. In addition to the textbook, the vast information provided by online sources is also extremely valuable, especially in those situations when a student wants to exceed assignment requirements and go beyond course material.
2. Prior Preparation - While there are no official prerequisites for the course, the student should be comfortable with general personal computing concepts such as file/folder management, word processing, and website navigation.
3. Time Commitment - The student must have sufficient time to study the material and complete the assignments. Naturally, the time required will depend upon each student's current skills and previous experience. A reasonable approximation is that somewhere between 5-10 hours per week will be necessary for success.
4. Following Directions - Computing is an engineering discipline and as such, detailed written instructions are customarily supplied to specify program requirements. Therefore, it is imperative that students read the specifications carefully and implement them completely and correctly in code. Read with discernment to understand and apply course information and instructions correctly.
5. Motivation to Succeed - This is the most important of the SSFs. If the student has basic computing skills and the time to complete the course work, then success depends on the student's desire to succeed. There will be challenges such as software incompatibilities, inexplicable code errors, system errors unrelated to assignments, hardware crashes, data loss, other time responsibilities, etc. However, through it all, if you want to acquire the knowledge and skills offered by the course, then success is essentially guaranteed.