CSc 110 – Computer Programming I

Asynchronous online

Course Description
An introduction to programming with an emphasis on solving problems drawn from a variety of
domains. Topics include basic control and data structures, problem solving strategies, and
software development tools and techniques. Specifically, the Python programming language will
be taught.

Browse the UA catalog for official UA course descriptions.

Instructor and Contact Information

Instructor:
Name: Reyan Ahmed
​ Office: GS 831
​ Email: abureyanahmed@arizona.edu
​ Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday 2:30-4:00 PM
​ Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/9351901953

There will also be some undergraduate/graduate TAs. See the D2L/Discord for their contact
info!

Course Format and Teaching Methods

This course is scheduled to be an asynchronous online course. This is a four-unit course. There
will be approximately 300 minutes of recorded lectures provided per week. The recorded
lectures will be posted in Panopto. There will be two lectures of approximately 50 minutes each
posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Course Objectives
By the end of the semester, you should be able to write complete, well-structured programs in
python.

Expected Learning Outcomes

This successful CSc 110 student will be able to:
●​ Use variables, control structures, basic data types, lists, dictionaries, file I/O, and
functions to write correct 100 - 200 line programs.
●​ Decompose a problem into an appropriate set of functions, loops, conditionals, and/or
other control flow.
●​ Find bugs when code is not working as expected using print statements and
computational thinking skills, and will be able to understand and resolve errors.
●​ Write clean, well-structured, and readable code.
●​ Follow a provided style guide to write clean, well-structured, and readable code.
 ●​ Explain the conceptual memory model underlying the data types covered in class, and
demonstrate the ability to convert integers and text to and from binary.

Makeup Policy for Students Who Register Late

If you register after the first class meeting you may make up missed assignments within your
first week of attendance. You are responsible for contacting the instructor within that first week
to have extensions set-up. The instructor will not be contacting you directly, you have to initiate
this process to make up for missed work. If you do not, the instructor will assume you are not
interested in making up missed assignments.

Course Communications
There will be various ways that communication will take place in this course, and it is
important that you keep track of all of them.
●​ The Syllabus: You are expected to be familiar with the policies in the syllabus. If
you have a question about the course expectations and policies, this is the first place
you should look for an answer.
●​ Lecture recordings: Sometimes things are announced in lecture recording, so
make sure you watch them within 24 hours after posting.
●​ Email: If I need to contact you individually, I will do so through your UA email, so
make sure you check that regularly.
●​ D2L: Announcements may be made on D2L, so make sure you check that page
regularly. I recommend checking both the announcements on a daily basis (at least
during the week). You can also keep up with your grades on D2L.
●​ Discord: Announcements may be made on Discord, which is also used for questions
and discussions about course content. Please do not use Discord to ask about
grades or request a regrade. Make sure you add yourself and check regularly for
announcements. This is especially important while assignments are out as any
updates or clarifications about the assignment will be announced on Discord.
●​ Gradescope: This site is where you will submit many of your assignments, and you
should use this site for checking graded work and submitting regrade requests for
those assignments. Exams will also be graded on Gradescope. A link to Gradescope
is here: https://www.gradescope.com. You should be added to the course
automatically, but if you are not, let me know, and I will sync the roster again.

Required Texts or Readings

We will not follow any textbooks. Everything required for this course will be mentioned in
the lecture recordings. Also, the slides used for the lectures will be posted in D2L.
Course D2L: https://d2l.arizona.edu/d2l/home/1457807

Assignments and Examinations: Schedule/Due Dates

There will be 50% points on assignments/projects and 50% on exams (see Grading Scale and
Policies). There will be around 10 short programming projects and 10 (long) programming
projects. After each major topic will be covered, a short programming project and a (long)
programming project will be posted in D2L. We will also announce it in Discord. And students
will get around 5 days to submit their work after the assignments are posted. Each short
programming project will have around 2 points and each (long) programming project will have
around 3 points.
The exams will be on:
●​ Midterm exam 1: 11 AM, Monday 30th June
●​ Midterm exam 2: 11 AM, Monday 21st July
●​ Final exam: 11 AM, Wednesday 13th August

You must keep these dates available. Do not schedule any flights, travel plans, or other conflicts
with these exams. The exams will be online at zoom. The students will turn on the video during
the exams so that the proctor can monitor them.

Final Examination
The final exam will be on: 11 AM, Wednesday 13th August
The date and time of the final exam or project, along with a link to the Final Exam
Regulations and Final Exam Schedule:
https://registrar.arizona.edu/faculty-staff-resources/room-class-scheduling/schedule-clas
ses/final-exams

Grading Scale and Policies

The breakdown of grades in this course is as follows:
●​ 15% midterm exam 1
●​ 15% midterm exam 2
●​ 20% final exam
●​ 20% short programming projects
●​ 30% (long) programming projects
The instructor and teaching staff will do their best to have grades back to students within 5 days.
This includes, but is not limited to, grades for midterm exams, programming assignments. Once
a grade has been entered for a particular item on the digital grade-book, students have at most
5 days to dispute the grade.

University policy regarding grades and grading systems is available at

https://catalog.arizona.edu/policy/courses-credit/grading/grading-system
A summary of the correspondence between percentage grade and numeric grade is as follows:

Greater or equal to 90% an A

Greater or equal to 80% at least a B
Greater or equal to 70% at least a C
Greater or equal to 60% at least a D
Anything less, at least an E / F

Incomplete (I) or Withdrawal (W):

Requests for incomplete (I) or withdrawal (W) must be made in accordance with
University policies, which are available at
https://catalog.arizona.edu/policy/courses-credit/grading/grading-system.

Honors Credit
Students wishing to contract this course for Honors Credit should email me to set up an
appointment to discuss the terms of the contact and to sign the Honors Course Contract
Request Form. The form is available at http://www.honors.arizona.edu/honors-contracts.

Scheduled Topics and Activities

This schedule is tentative. The official schedule is the schedule of Gradescope and will be
updated as the semester progresses.

Date Lecture topics

M 6/9 Python Basics (constants, variables,

comments, strings, print)

W 6/11 Python Basics (constants, variables,

comments, strings, print)

F 6/13 Operators and Expressions, intro to functions

M 6/16 Functions, input from user

W 6/18 Control Flow (if statements)

F 6/20 Control Flow (if statements)

M 6/23 Control Flow (while)

W 6/25 Control Flow (while)

F 6/27 Data Structures (lists)

M 6/30 Midterm 1

W 7/2 Control Flow (for loops), mutability, random

F 7/4 Independence Day Holiday -- no lectures

M 7/7 Control Flow (for loops), mutability, random

W 7/9 Control Flow (for loops), Dictionaries

F 7/11 Control Flow (for loops), Dictionaries

M 7/14 Files and strings

W 7/16 Files and strings

F 7/18 2D lists, nested for loops

 M 7/21 Midterm 2

W 7/23 Data Structures (tuples)

F 7/25 Data Structures (tuples)

M 7/28 Data Structures (sets)

W 7/30 Data Structures (sets)

F 8/1 Mutability

M 8/4 Control Flow + Data Structures

W 8/6 Control Flow + Data Structures

F 8/8 Sorting, Exception handling

M 8/11 Review

W 8/13 Final

Code of Academic Integrity:

All work you submit for grading in this course must be your own. Submitting work that includes
many (minor and/or major) components that are not your own work is considered plagiarism.
Instances of plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of Students.

Keep in mind that all assignments and practice problems provided in this course are meant to
help you to practice the skills that you will need for graded work (including on midterm and final
exams), so it is generally in your best interest to avoid taking shortcuts even on these
assignments.

Students are expected to adhere to the UA Code of Academic Integrity as described in the UA
General Catalog. See:
https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/student-rights-responsibilities/academic-integrity.

Uploading material from this course to any external website is strictly prohibited and will be
considered a violation of the course policy and a violation of the code of academic integrity.
Obtaining material associated with this course (or previous offerings of this course) on an
external site such as Chegg, Course Hero, etc. or accessing these sites during an exam is a
violation of the code of academic integrity. Any student determined to have uploaded or
accessed material in an unauthorized manner will be reported to the Dean of Students for a
Code of Academic Integrity violation, with a recommended sanction of a failing grade in the
course (faculty can replace this sanction with whatever sanction they plan to use for their
course).
Selling class notes and/or other course materials to other students or to a third party for resale
is not permitted without the instructor’s express written consent. Violations to this and other
course rules are subject to the Code of Academic Integrity and may result in course sanctions.
Additionally, students who use D2L or UA email to sell or buy these copyrighted materials are
subject to Code of Conduct Violations for misuse of student e-mail addresses. This conduct may
also constitute copyright infringement.

Classroom Behavior Policy

Students are required to refrain from posting, sharing, or engaging in discussions that contain
inappropriate material, including but not limited to offensive language, images, or links that are
irrelevant or harmful to the learning environment.

Safety on Campus and in the Classroom​

For a list of emergency procedures for all types of incidents, please visit the website of the
Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT): https://cirt.arizona.edu/case-emergency/overview​
​
Also watch the video available at
https://arizona.sabacloud.com/Saba/Web_spf/NA7P1PRD161/app/me/ledetail;spf-url=com
mon%2Flearningeventdetail%2Fcrtfy000000000003841​

University-wide Policies link

Links to the following UA policies are provided here:
https://catalog.arizona.edu/syllabus-policies
●​ Absence and Class Participation Policies
●​ Threatening Behavior Policy
●​ Accessibility and Accommodations Policy
●​ Code of Academic Integrity
●​ Nondiscrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy
●​ Class Recordings
●​ Additional Resources
●​ Preferred Names and Pronouns

Department-wide Syllabus Policies and Resources link Links to the

following departmental syllabus policies and resources are provided here,
https://www.cs.arizona.edu/cs-course-syllabus-policies :
●​ Department Code of Conduct
●​ Illnesses and Emergencies
●​ Obtaining Help
●​ Confidentiality of Student Records
●​ Land Acknowledgement Statement

Subject to Change Statement

Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy,
may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.