Computer Science 15-100, Fall 2009
Notes:  Bonus Lectures

• Bonus Lecture Schedule
• Bonus Lecture Overview
• Bonus Projects
• Bonus Projects Logistics

Bonus Lecture Schedule:

Bonus Lecture Overview:

Important note:  Bonus lectures are completely optional.  Even reading this document is optional!

Bonus lectures allow us to explore really interesting topics that lie just beyond the scope of 15-110. We will move very quickly through hard material, with the goal of giving you a taste of the material more than having you master it. For the motivated student, though, you can do bonus projects beyond what we cover in the lectures (see below). Meet with me individually if this interests you.

These are called "bonus" lectures because, in fact, you are awarded some small amount of bonus for attending (and participating! You must at least take really good notes during the lecture -- just sitting in the room and breathing while IM'ing and watching reruns of Gilligan's Island will NOT obtain any credit for you, but it WILL disrupt the event for everyone around you...).

By the standard course policy, you are awarded 0.1 points at the semester for each full hour of instructor-approved bonus. Thus, by attending and really participating in a bonus lecture, you typically obtain 0.2 points at the semester. Though exceptions are made in extraordinary cases, the usual maximum amount of bonus points allowed in the entire semester is 3.0, representing 30 hours of instructor-approved bonus work.

Now: do NOT attend the bonus lectures for the bonus points. This is a bad idea, and contrary to the spirit of these lectures! They are targeting students who wish to obtain a deeper, broader, and more complete understanding of the concepts related to introductory programming and computer science. If this is you, then please attend.

Also: unfortunately, there is no time that works for everyone. If you cannot attend bonus lectures, we apologize. If you are really motivated, and have a university-approved conflict with a bonus lecture, you could meet with me and we can devise a plan for you to cover the same bonus material in a 2-hour independent study. Still, attending the lectures is by far the preferred route, so do that if you can.

Also: to allow the most people to attend at least SOME bonus lectures, I may move the days and times around a bit. That said, we have few options -- it really has to be in the evenings, and then it can't really be on nights when homeworks or labs are due, and probably not on weekends. That basically leaves Tuesday or Wednesday nights, at least for now.

Finally: I am very open to exploring bonus topics of your choosing! If you have ideas for topics that you'd really like to explore, let me know!

Carpe diem.

DK

Bonus Projects:

The basic projects here are to substantially recreate the code that we wrote during the bonus lecture.  Beyond that, you can do more interesting things by applying and extending these ideas.   Also, you can find a pre-existing library that is related to the topics we covered (plenty exist for most topics) and learn how to use it.  Just be sure to run your proposal by the course instructor first, to ensure that it is bonus-worthy!

Bonus Projects Logistics:

1. Bonus points
   • Up to 2 hours of bonus for attending the lecture
   • Up to 8 additional hours of bonus for instructor-approved bonus projects
     • Note that you may not submit a bonus project unless you attended the bonus lecture!
2. Due date
   • These bonus projects are due by the last day of classes.
3. What to submit
   • A timesheet recording all the time invested in the project.
     • Note that there is not a 1-to-1 correspondence between hours reported and hours credited.
     • You are expected on the honor code to report your time accurately.
   • A list of names of anyone with whom you collaborated on the project.
     • Note that the collaboration policy is relaxed for bonus projects, and you can work with one or two other students as a group.  You may even submit a single group project, though you must submit one timesheet for each student.  Note that you still should not consult students outside of your group.  Of course, you may consult the instructor or CA's as always.
   • The actual project itself.
4. Project quiz
   • Depending on the nature of your project, you may be asked to take a short quiz (either written or oral) to demonstrate that you sufficiently mastered the material to warrant the given bonus hours.

carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem   -   carpe diem