BU CAS CS 113
Introduction to Computer Science II with Intensive C
Fall 1997


News Flashes


Last Modified: Thu Jul 29 19:58:56 1999

This page has information of a timely nature pertaining to the course. News Flashes appear in reverse chronological order.

18 Nov 97
The deadline for HW7 is Tuesday, November 25, as mentioned in class, not December 12. December 12 is the deadline for the last assignment. Also, You will not be penalized for late days from Wednesday, November 26 through Sunday, November 30, since many of you will be out of town and unable to do any work on those days. Thus anything turned in by 11:59pm on Monday, December 1 will be only one day late. (And if you turn one half -- perhaps the deletion code--before you leave on break, then you will only get a half-day penalty for if the rest is turned in on Monday. Be sure, however, not to resubmit unchanged files, since it is the last date submitted which determines late charges.

One set of typos in Makefile.a7 has been fixed. Download it again.
27 Oct 97
A small typo in the hw5 web pages has been fixed. Your search should run in time O(logn) and not merely O(n log n).

Also, just to make sure there is no trouble later, I will make the following comment regarding file names for hw5. DO NOT NAME ANY FILE hw5-types.h or hw5-types.c. FILES WITH THOSE NAMES WILL BE DELETED WHEN YOU RUN THE MAKEFILE!!! The names should be hw5-types1.c, hw5-types2.c, etc. The makefile will copy those files to hw5-types.c and hw5-types.h, thereby deleting anything else with that name. If you follow the directions, you should have no problems.

22 Oct 97
I have made some updates to HW5, adding some additional helful information. Take a look. I also fixed one typo on the web page. The return type for SearchSortedArray() should be int, not ElementT. This was incorrect on the web page, but correct in the actual file used to compile your code.

10 Oct 97
Review materials for the midterm are now available.

9 Oct 97
The lab in the basement of the CS building will be closed Monday, 13 Oct.

Hints for HW4: If you did not attend the lab this week, be sure you at least check out the web page for it. Rob did a great deal of work to make your lives easier in the game of life part of the assignment. Be sure that your solution, if not patterned after his, is at least as well structured. Also, note that in the assignment I recommended using 1-dimensional arrays and doing the arithmetic to symulate 2-dimensional arrays. That was merely because it involves less memory allocation (and so you are more likely to get it correct on the first or second try), not because the other method (mentioned at the end of lab) is inferior. Either method is perfectly acceptable for this assignment.

Also there is now a faq for hw4.

2 Oct 97
In the approximation I gave in HW3 for centering the polygons, the constant should be 6 not 3. My apologies.

HW4 is basically ready. I will need to do some work before make and the test work, but the assignment is all set to go.

29 Sep 97
Take a look at the new FAQs for HW3 and for compiler errors.

Two student solutions to HW1 (chosen by the grader) have been posted. If you want to see what kind of work the grader gives good marks to or if you made mistakes on HW1 you should take a close look.

25 Sep 97
HW 3 is offically ready. I made a few minor changes in the assignment, so be sure to look at the new version if you have already started it.

23 Sep 97
Two comments regarding the PrintHistogram() function.
  1. First the name should be Capitalized (as it is below). This was merely a typo on the assignment sheet. It is correct in the program hw2-histogram.c and must be capitalized in your files to work correctly.
  2. In the prototype
    void PrintHistogram(int *scoresArray, int size, int lo, int hi, int step);
    
    scoresArray is to be treated as an array of integers of size size. Sorry if this was unclear. Nearly always when working with arrays in C, we will need to pass around a variable which gives the size (unless the size is determined by some constant) since that is the only way to avoid running off the end of the array.

There is now an FAQ for HW2. You are responsible for the information there.

Office hours: I am generally available after class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (catch me after class, I may not hang around if no one needs to talk to me) and before class on Tuesdays (10--11am). Feel free to send me email if you wish to arrange a time or to check that I plan to be around on a particular day. Else just stop by and see if I am available. Occasionally I may be in the lab accross the hall from my office. I am usually not available for office hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

12 Sep 97
HW2 is ready to go. It will be due on Thursday, September 25. HW3 will most likley be due on Thursday, October 2.

HW1 will now be due on Tuesday, September 16. A small number of you (the lottery winners, for example) are just now able to get accounts set up, so I have added one extra day. This also allows you to ask last minute questions on Tuesday. If you have finished HW1, get busy with HW2.

10 Sep 97
Good news! The books are in the bookstore.

Unfortunately, I could think of no better system to allow people into the course than a modified lottery. The lucky winners are:

  • Ken Noble
  • Chris Cummins
  • Thomas Casey
  • Konstantin Aizikov
  • Sophia Marangos

If you are a lucky winner, please bring an add slip for me to sign on Thursday or Friday. If you do not I will assume you no longer want to be in the course and give your seat away to someone else. If you have already decided not to take 112, please let me know. If you did not get one of the slots your options are:

  1. Wait until another semester.

  2. Take another course. In particular, you might try 112, which I believe still has some openings. Those of you taking 112 may also continue to attend my lectures for the next 2-3 weeks if you think that the review of C would be useful.

  3. Hope to get lucky. If either some more people drop or one of the winners elects not to take 112, so that more slots open up, I will hold another lottery for any additional spaces on thursday.

  4. Come to lectures unofficially. As long as there is space in the room (or if you are willing to sit on the floor) you may attend lectures but not go to lab or turn in programs for grading. For those of you need to learn c but don't need a course to meet a requirement, this may be an option.

Also, I made a few updates to the info on variables and printf(). I added some stuff about getting output to line up in columns.

9 Sep 97
Here is some info on variables and printf.

5 Sep 97
To set up your environment so that files used in this course are available to you, type ~cs113/rpruim/F97/section/setup the next time you log in. You only need to do this once. Each time thereafter that you log in, the environment will be established.

4 Sep 97
Photocopies of the pages of the book mentioned in HW1 are available on first floor of MCS in the cs113 slot. This is located a bit past the CS department office as you walk from the room where we have class.

A new feature has been added to the Makefile for assignemnt 1, namely a test to see that your program runs on the type of data that will be used to grade the programs. Type make test to run the test. (See HW1 for more information.)

Some basics of compiling with gccx will be discussed in lab on Tuesday/Wednesday next week. You can also read the FAQ and get started already now.
3 Sep 97
Information about tutorials available through IT is on the web. Be sure to take advantage of these. Look in particular for information on UNIX and EMACS.

The first assignment is ready to go. It will be due Monday, 15 September, but you should be done with it before then.

The books should be here any day; they were shipped from the publisher on 21 August.