| Instructor | Contact |
|---|---|
| Instructor | Torna Omar Soro, PhD. |
| torna.soro "at" umb "dot" edu | |
| Office | McCormack Building, 3rd Floor, Room 0201-32 |
| Schedule | Monday, Tuesday & Thursday, 6:00 - 7:30 PM |
| Classroom | Remote |
| Office Hours | Tuesday - 12-1pm and by appointment |
| Phone | TBA |
| Web | www.cs.umb.edu/~tsoro/ |
Math 115
Information Technology specialists do not spend most of their time programming, but they must perform many routine tasks to keep the systems they maintain in good working order.
Automating these routine tasks, allows this work to be performed quickly and consistently, freeing the specialist for work that requires time and judgement.
This automation is accomplished by writing small programs which are specific to the task at hand.
These programs are best written in programming languages which are simple and flexible.
This makes languages designed for large projects, such as Java and C++, unsuitable for this task.
To meet this need, scripting languages such as Perl, Python and PHP have been created.
These languages are designed to be easier to learn than more demanding programming languages such as Java, C and C++.
This course will teach the basics of a scripting language and show students how it can be used to automate routine system administration and workflow tasks.
The course will also address the ethics of applying the skills learned here to real world situations.
This course can be used as one of the two programming courses required for the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
The course will cover the following topics
Starting Out with Python (4th Edition) by Tony Gaddis
Pearson
ISBN-13: 978-0134444468
ISBN-10: 0134444469
Look
here
for details on an electronic version of the textbook.
ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct available from https://ethics.acm.org.
All programs will be written in Python 3.
Students may install Python on their own computers, but it is not a requirement for the course.
All students must apply for a Unix account for this course, and their programs must be copied to the student's class directory for the course.
All programs must run on the CS LAN Unix machine specified by the instructor.
This is a combined lecture and lab course.
I will speak for a while at the beginning of the class.
After my prepared material, there will be an ungraded quiz.
The purpose of the ungraded quiz is to help you remember the new material we have covered.
After you have completed the quiz I will ask you to work on the Class Exercise.
You will work on the exercise for the remainder of the class.
There will also be weekly graded quizzes.
In each class you will receive a Class Exercise, which consists of code that you must copy and run on our Unix systems.
You must work on each exercise in class so I can help you if you run into trouble.
If you cannot complete the exercise in class, you may finish it later.
Class Exercises for the week must be submitted by the following Sunday at 11:59 PM.
Each Class Exercise will be graded on completion.
If the code does everything it should do and does not show any errors, you will receive the full 100 points for that exercise.
There will be two types of quizzes
The Class Quizzes are administered at the end of each class and are not graded.
The purpose of the Class Quizzes is to help you learn the material.
Studies have shown that taking a quiz immediately after hearing new material helps you learn.
The Weekly Quizzes are graded.
Their purpose is to encourage you to study the material as we go along, and not postpone this until just before the exams.
All questions on the Weekly Quizzes come from the ungraded Class Quizzes.
They will usually cover the material from the previous week.
The weekly graded quizzes will be given in the first class of the week, starting in the third week of class.
If you miss this class your only other opportunity to take the quiz, will be the following class.
There will usually be a weekly reading assignment from the textbook.
There will be weekly homework assignments.
There will be two exams
I will take attendance in each class.
I do this to learn your names.
Your attendance will not directly affect your grade.
But I am more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when grading if you have been regularly attending class.
All homework and exams are subject to the University's Code of Conduct.
Plagiarism is not tolerated in any form.
Grades will be computed as follows
| Homework | 15% |
| Class Exercises | 15% |
| Weekly Quizzes | 20% |
| Mid-term Exam | 20% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
Final grades will be assigned based on the following standard scale
| A | > 100 - 93 (the Registrar does not accept an A+ grade) |
| A - | 92 - 90 |
| B + | 89 - 86 |
| B | 85 - 83 |
| B - | 82 - 80 |
| C + | 79 - 76 |
| C | 75 - 73 |
| C - | 72 - 70 |
| D + | 69 - 66 |
| D | 65 - 63 |
| D - | 62 - 60 |
| F | < 60 |
Scoring assignments takes a great deal of time.
In order to do this as efficiently as possible, I score each assignment once and only once.
All assignments are due on Sunday at 11:59 PM, but I do not score them until the following weekend.
I run a collection script many times during the week after an assignment is due, usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
If my scripts cannot find your assignment, you will get an email message to that effect.
You will lose 2 points for each day an assignment is late, and will get a 0 for the assignment if is not in the proper directory when I run the collection script for the last time on Saturday.
If you have a personal emergency, contact me I will give you an appropriate extension.
You will receive a grading sheet for all quizzes, tests, and graded quizzes.
You will also receive emails when a due date has passed for an assignment.
If a class needs to be cancelled due to a storm I will send an email to all students.
These will be sent to your UMB email address.
For this reason, it is important that you forward your UMB email to an account you check regularly.
Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities.
Students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center for Disability Services.
Their web site is https://www.umb.edu/academics/vpass/disability.
A student must present these recommendations and discuss them with me within a reasonable period, preferably by the end of Add/Drop period.
I put a lot of work into my classes.
If I see you looking furtively at your cell phone while I'm talking, I wonder why I am doing this.
If I hear you having an extensive conversation with your neighbor, it makes me feel that I am wasting my time here.
I could make more money doing other things, but I find this work important.
I work hard to teach you important material.
Please respect that effort while you are in this room.
If you have a laptop, you should bring it to class.
You will need it to work on the Class Exercises.
You should not use a laptop during the lecture part of the class.
Studies have shown that students who use laptops in class do less well than students who don't.
You can read a summary of these results here and here .
If you insist on using your laptop while I am speaking you must fill out a form that I will give you.
On this form you will enter your name, Student ID and date.
You must fill out this form for each class where you take notes.
Then you must email me a copy of the notes you took in class by Sunday at 11:59 PM.
If you do not, you will lose 5 points on the Weekly Quiz for each class where you did not email your notes.
If you believe you have a special need that requires you to use a laptop in class see me.
Most students at UMB have many demands on their time.
They work many hours outside of school and take several courses.
Under normal circumstances, most students can handle the load.
But sometimes life throws you a curve.
A family emergency, health issues, or problems at work can make it hard to keep up with your coursework.
If this happens see me.
Often I can help.
But you need to do this soon as you start to fall behind.
If you wait until the end of the semester there is much less that I can do to help.
The preamble to the Academic Honesty section the Code of Student Conduct of the University reads as follows
It is the expressed policy of the University that every aspect of academic life not only formal coursework situations, but all relationships and interactions connected to the educational process shall be conducted in an absolutely and uncompromisingly honest manner. The University presupposes that any submission of work for academic credit indicates that the work is the student’s own and is in compliance with University policies. In cases where academic dishonesty is discovered after completion of a course or degree program, sanctions may be imposed retroactively, up to and including revocation of the degree. Any student who reasonably believes another student has committed an act of academic dishonesty should inform the course instructor of the alleged violation.
You can find the complete text of the Academic Honesty Policy here.
Trust is essential for all human societies.
Cheating undermines trust.
The vast majority of people do not cheat, but some do.
Cheating will not be tolerated in this class.
Students who cheat on an exam will have their exam papers confiscated and will receive a score of 0.
The incident will be reported to the Provost's Office.
Copying assignments is cheating.
If copying is detected, both students will receive a 0 on the assignment an the incident will be reported.
If this happens a second time, both students will fail the course and the incident will be reported to the Provost's Office.
My office is Science 3-92A.
It has a pterosaur poster on the door, so it is hard to miss.
My office hours are Tuesday & Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM and 5:30 to 6:30 PM.
You do not need an appointment to see me during office hours.
I am usually on campus on Wednesday, but you will need an appointment to see me then.
If you need to see me but cannot make it to office hours, send me an email and we will make arrangements.
An IT student will be in the Unix Lab Monday, Wednesday and Friday to help you with Unix and other questions.
You can find details here.
This link also appears on the class web page.
If you are having trouble in any of your classes, you should reach out for help.
The University provides extensive Academic Support Programs.
To learn more about them go to https://www.umb.edu/academics/vpass/academic_support.
If you have questions about the material or the assignments, you should post them to the class discussion area.
This discussion area is provided by Piazza, which is a platform to help students share information.
You need to register for the discussion area, which you can do at https://piazza.com/umass_boston/spring2020/it1162.
The URL for the discussion area is https://piazza.com/umass_boston/spring2020/it1162/home
If you find yourself stuck on anything, post it here.
I will check Piazza frequently and answer question as they appear.
If you see a question and know the answer, you can respond to it on Piazza.
I will check these replies and approve or modify them as appropriate.
You can post questions anonymously on Piazza, if you prefer.
If you have questions about your status in the class, email me at Glenn.Hoffman@umb.edu.
If you have question about any of the material we cover in class or an assignment, post in on Piazza.