CS161 Overview, Sections 1 and 220

Course Description

Prerequisites: CS160 or CS153 with a C or better; M124, M126 (both with a C or better).

CS161 is designed to introduce students to object-oriented programming by building on the understanding of procedural programming presented in CS160. As in CS160, the course is structured to interleave theory, discrete math, and programming concepts.

The core of the course is an extensive study of the use of Java classes and objects, and use of proof techniques from discrete mathematics in designing and analyzing a method or program.

See below for the required texts. To get a detailed understanding of the course topics, leaf through the core readings from our texts. The core readings from Prichard and Carrano will be, Ch. 3 (recursion), Ch. 4 (Data abstraction and introduction to classes), Ch. 5 (Linked lists and applications), and Ch. 6 (Recursion as a problem-solving technique). If you have the fifth edition of Rosen, the core readings will be Sections 3.1-3.3 (analyzing the efficiency of algorithms), Chapter 4 (mathematical induction and recursion), and 5.1-5.4 (principles of counting). Chapters 4 and 5 of the fifth edition are numbered 5 and 6, respectively, in the sixth edition. We allow either edition because the textbook is expensive and there are used copies of the fifth edition available. Last semester, almost all students used the fifth edition. There will be some reading handouts, and you will find your CS160 text to be a useful reference in this course.

This course is essential for majors and other students who intend to use object-oriented programming to solve problems and who intend to write complex software. The course would be useful to any student intending to pursue Computer Science or Information Technology as a career.

Textbooks

Data Abstraction and Problem Solving with Java: Walls and Mirrors, 3rd edition
Janet J. Prichard and Frank M. Carrano
Addison-Wesley

Discrete Mathematics and its Applications fifth or sixth edition (your choice)
Kenneth R. Rosen
McGraw-Hill.

Instructor for this section

Ross McConnell: Sections 1 and 220
   Computer Science Building 466
   Office Hours: MWF after class; if you can't make them, you can come to my CS520 office hours, MWF 10:50, CSB 325. You can attend other recitations besides the one you are assigned to, and ask for help from the T.A.
   my three initials {AT} @cs.colostate.edu (my middle initial is M)

Teaching Assistants

Nissa Osheim, Room 130, Computer Science Building
Office Hours: Mon. 3-5, Wed. 9-11, osheim at-sign rams dot colostate dot edu

Amanda Handler: Room 130, Computer Science Building
Office Hours: Fri. 11-1

Nathan Lighthart: Room 130, Computer Science Building
Office Hours: Fri. 3-5, nlighth1 at-sign rams dot colostate dot edu

Lectures

MWF Clark C 248, 2:00-2:50

Recitations

All recitations meet in the Computer Science Building, Room 215 No recitations the first week of class.

M. 11:00-12:40
W. 11:00-12:40
W. 4:00-5:40
Th. 2:00-3:40
Th. 4:00-5:40
F. 10:00-11:40

Recitation attendance: You are expected to attend one recitation a week.

Professional Conduct

We (the instructor and the GTAs) assume you are familiar with the policies in the student information sheet for the department. The guidelines outlined in these documents will be followed in this course.

I have been asked by the Department to post the Departmental Code of Conduct on this page.