Syllabus

Previous
Versions

Waitlist

Description

Learning
Objectives

• Computationally solve problems in Python using:
  • sequential, conditional, and loop statements
  • strings, lists, tuples, sets, and dictionaries
  • objects and classes
  • recursion
  • interactive graphics
• Analyze code through code tracing to deduce the output of small programs
• Recognize patterns to identify possible solutions to a given problem
• Construct code using top-down design by breaking problems into smaller steps
• Apply debugging techniques to find and fix errors
• Design and implement a substantial program in Python with minimal guidance

Topic List
and Schedule

Schedule
of Classes

• Unless otherwise stated, course events are in-person only and not recorded.
• All times will be in Pittsburgh time (ET).

• We will NOT follow the recitation sessions assigned in SIO. For a more personalized experience, all students will instead be assigned to a cohort consisting of 3-6 students and one TA. Cohorts will meet for 1 hour per day in lieu of recitation.
• During the first week of the course, cohorts will be assigned randomly based on student availability. After the first quiz, students will complete a preference form and permanent cohorts will be assigned for the rest of the semester.
• Attendance is required in your assigned cohort. If you need to attend a different group for a day, please fill out the excused absences form on the resources page.

Office Hours
and Course
Resources

15-112 can be intense at times, but it is much more manageable if you use the course resources well. These resources include:

• The course notes are on the CMU CS Academy webpage, linked from the schedule. You are required to know the material in the course notes, and to carefully complete the checkpoints in them.

• OH times are shown below. These times are subject to change, and any changes will be announced on Ed-Discussion.
• Discussions may be one-on-one or group-based depending on attendance and what questions people have.
• TA office hours will be held at a table in the GHC 5th floor commons.



Instructor	Day	Time	Location
Lauren	Mon	3:30pm - 5:30pm	GHC 5001
Lauren	Tue	1:00pm - 3:00pm	GHC 5001
TAs	Wed	6:00pm - 8:00pm	GHC 5th Floor Commons, Table 1
Lauren	Thu	3:30pm - 5:30pm	GHC 5001
Lauren	Fri	1:00pm - 2:30pm	GHC 5001
TAs	Fri	5:00pm - 8:00pm	GHC 5th Floor Commons, Table 1
TAs	Sat	2:00pm - 4:00pm	GHC 5th Floor Commons, Table 6
TAs	Sun	2:00pm - 4:00pm	GHC 5th Floor Commons, Table 6

• You are responsible for carefully reading all of the content in all instructor posts on Ed-Discussion.
• You may also use Ed-Discussion to ask questions, but you must carefully read our Ed-Discussion posts and guidelines first.
• Note: If you need to get in touch with only the faculty, or a specific TA, email (using your andrew id) is best. Ed-Discussion is great for questions that are visible to all TAs since you will get the fastest response that way.

• To schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with Lauren, please email lsands@andrew.cmu.edu with your full availability over the next few days. The more times you provide, the more likely you can be accommodated.

Required
Materials

Responsiveness

Grading

• A: [89.5 - 100]
• B: [79.5 - 89.5)
• C: [69.5 - 79.5)
• D: [59.5 - 69.5)
• R: [0 - 59.5)

• B+: [87-89.5)
• B: [83-87)
• B-: [79.5-83)

• Attendance is required at all lecture and cohort sessions.
• Your first two unexcused absences do not affect your attendance grade. Each unexcused absence after that loses 10% of your attendance grade.
• Missing TP Showcase (during the assigned final exam slot) will immediately make your attendance grade 0 .
• The above rules only consider unexcused absences. Excused absences will never affect your attendance grade. To request an excused absence, please fill out the form on the resources page.

Homework

The 112 Homework Collaboration Policy: This policy is only for homework, and not for homework checks, projects, quizzes, or exams. For all homework problems, you may collaborate with anyone, and even use AI tools like ChatGPT, so long as you follow these rules:

• No-Copying Rule
  At no time can you copy code from any source. We take this very broadly. Not only does this mean you cannot copy-paste code from anywhere, it also means that you cannot manually type code that you are looking at, nor can you manually type code that someone is telling you to type. In addition, you cannot copy code even if you then edit it, even a lot. You simply cannot copy code, full stop.
• 5-Minute Rule
  To help prevent code copying, we have a simple rule: any time you look at 5 or more lines of code (or pseudocode or anything code-like) from external resources, then you must wait 5 minutes before you can edit your own code. This will prevent most cases of code copying, and is better for your learning.
• Debugging Rule
  You are allowed to help debug other students' code, and you are allowed to have other students help debug your code. However, all the rules above apply. You are allowed to make live edits with the debugging help of a friend, but you can't look at their code and directly copy it.
• Please keep in mind:
  
  • Homework may be graded at times against the 112 style guide. AI tools often violate these rules. You should expect that code derived from AI tools would often receive very low homework grades.
  • You will not have access to AI tools on homework checks, quizzes, or exams. These are worth much more of your grade than homework assignments.
  • If you rely too heavily on AI tools to complete your homework, you will not learn the material well. This will result in lower scores on quizzes and exams, and in an overall worse learning and grade outcome for you in the course.
  • The bottom line: while you may use AI tools, it is your responsibility to use them appropriately and effectively, and in a way that does not compromise your learning experience. If you are unsure if you are compromising your learning, it is best to simply avoid using them.

• CS Academy
  Homework exercises will typically be hosted in CMU CS Academy. A green checkmark next to a problem (in CS Academy) means it has autograded correctly and that you will receive credit for it. No green checkmark means it's not done yet. There is no partial credit for autograded homework problems.
• Unlocking Homework
  You must read the notes for the corresponding sections (including completing all checkpoints) to unlock the homework. While there is no official deadline for reading notes apart from the homework deadline, we strongly recommend reading the notes the same day as lecture (before or after is fine).
• Style and Code Reviews
  Some HWs will include style grading, or a "code review" between you and a TA, potentially also including other students. In these sessions, you will discuss the quality of your code regarding its design, algorithms, style, user interface, and perhaps more.
• Late Homework Policy
  
  • Students receive full credit for all assigned exercises that are completed by the HW deadline. Students receive 80% credit for all non-bonus exercises that are completed after the HW deadline but prior to the next course deadline (quiz, HW deadline, or first oral HW session).
  • Bonus exercises will only receive credit if they are completed by the HW deadline.
  • Regarding approved HW extensions: Students receive full credit for all assigned exercises that are completed by the extended deadline, but the late HW deadline is always 11am on quiz day.

• HW Checks are intended to help you assess whether you fully understood the work you did on homework. These are low-stakes, and should be straightforward if you do your homework with minimal assistance and understand your work.
• Some HW Checks will be oral check-ins with a TA. During orals, you will re-solve parts of the homework with a TA, explaining your algorithms and thought process as you go.
• Some HW Checks will be Parson's problems that are administered at the start of your quizzes.

Extensions
and
Excused
Absences

• 1-2 day extensions are granted for HW, but this does not change the late HW deadline. 2 day extensions are rare given the pace of the summer. Extensions of longer than 2 days may be granted in extreme cases, but must be discussed with faculty.
• Extensions are not generally granted for quizzes. Instead:
  • For excused absences on quiz days, the student is entirely excused from that day's quiz, so the quiz does not factor into the student's semester grade.
  • For unexcused absences, the student receives a 0 on that quiz.
• Extensions are not granted for projects, except in extreme extenuating circumstances. Please start early.
• Exams may be rescheduled to the earliest possible date when there is a qualifying reason on the date of the exam (see below).
• See the resources page for this semester's Extension Request Form.

In general, we may request some kind of confirmation for extension or excused absence requests, though we are very flexible in what that means (for example, if you are ill, we would accept any reasonable confirmation, including your Housefellow, RA, or academic advisor confirming this).

Here are the types of generally accepted reasons for approved extensions and excused absences:

• Illness or Medical Emergencies. This includes mental health.
• Family or Personal Emergencies.
• University-Related Absences. This includes multi-day athletic/academic trips organized by the university, in which case you may request an extension for the duration of the trip. Note that we will consider most job interview trips to fall in this category.
• Other Valid Reasons. There are too many to list here, of course, but other reasons include religious observations among others. If you are unsure, talk to the course faculty. We are here to help.

• Busy week (academically or otherwise)
• Computer or network issues
• Non-approved travel

Regrade Requests

• You cannot request a regrade request simply because you do not like your grade, or you want us to follow a different rubric. Regrade requests must include the specific grading error(s) that you believe you found based on the rubric that was used.
• Regrade requests will result in the entire problem being regraded, not just the possibly-incorrectly-graded part. Thus, it is possible that your grade goes down as a result of a regrade.
• Regrade requests must be filed no later than one week after the grade has been released.

Academic
Integrity

We begin by choosing to trust each of you individually. However, if you cheat, expect to be caught, and expect significant consequences.

These rules are meant to convey the spirit of our academic integrity expectations. For example, when we say "do not copy" we always mean visually, verbally, electronically, or in any other way, even if you copy and modify it. We additionally require you to understand and uphold CMU's more general academic integrity standards. If you are unsure of something, just ask us beforehand. If you do this and strive to understand the intent of this policy and exercise common sense, you have nothing to worry about.

Examples of academic integrity violations include but are not limited to:

• Copying materials (from any source) in violation of the No-Copying Rule and/or the 5-Minute Rule.
• Posting homework, quiz, or exam problem statements or solutions online. This is strictly forbidden, regardless of if or how anyone potentially uses your posted problem statements or solutions. Do not post problem statements or solutions online.
• Attempting to 'hack', decompile, disrupt, or misuse the autograder, testing environment, or course tools.
• Not securing access to your work, e.g., not having a password on your laptop where a roommate or friend could access your work without your knowledge.
• Answering in-class polls or forms when not participating in class.
• Intentionally misrepresenting your work, your effort, your participation, or any other aspect of your involvement in the course, especially if this was intended to inflate your grade.

Homeworks:

• For non-solo exercises, any violation of the No-Copying Rule, the 5-Minute Rule, the Citation Rule, or the Debugging Rule (see above) will be considered an Academic Integrity Violation.
• Before you might consider any such violation, we ask that you please consider:
  • Each homework is only worth about 2% of your semester grade. Each exercise is only worth a fraction of even that. That's just not much, certainly not enough to risk such major consequences.
  • You are allowed to collaborate extensively. Just follow the rules when you are doing so.
  • You always have ready access to wonderful support by our amazing TAs as well as the course faculty. We are here for you.

Assessments (Quizzes and Exams):
Examples of cheating on assessments (Quizzes and Exams) include but are not limited to:

• Referring to any external resources (people, electronics, websites, notes, books, etc) while completing the assessment.
• Accessing or copying any part of an answer from another student's work, even if it is very small.
• Attempting to access any unreleased assessment outside of your assigned testing time, or outside of a secured testing environment, even if you have already taken it.
• Providing or receiving links/passwords/codes to quizzes, exams, or other assessments to anyone else.
• Saving or copying any assessment materials so they are available outside of the online quiz/exam environment.
• Discussing any part of the assessment with anyone who hasn't taken it (or a very similar one) until we have released it publicly (including with non-112 students)
  • For example, taking a quiz and sending a message as simple as "I wish I hadn't spent so much time studying nested loops" (or some other topic) before the quiz is released.
• Violating proctoring policies, like continuing to work on the assessment (even briefly) after the proctors announce the stop time, or falsifying/fabricating a tech fail.

Retaking Course / Reusing Prior Material:
If you are repeating 112, your prior work in this course is treated just as anyone else's work. Consulting or copying your prior homework answers or term project solutions will only hurt your learning, and will be treated as an academic integrity violation.

Penalties:
Course penalties are decided by the course faculty, and vary based on the severity of the offense. Offenses can be severe even if the assignment/assessment is worth very few points. The course penalty for violations will always be more severe than if you were to leave the associated item blank. Possible penalties include but are not limited to:

• Receiving a 0 or -100 on the assignment or assessment
• Receiving a semester grade deduction, often a full-letter-grade
• Failing the course

Penalties are often accompanied by a report to the Dean of Student Affairs and/or the Office of Community Responsibility. This may lead to additional university-level consequences, such as being suspended or expelled, especially for repeated violations. University policy states that you may not drop the course if you have an academic integrity violation (except in rare cases where you are granted faculty approval).

Honesty:
To end this section on a more positive note, you should know that we put a high premium on honesty. If you get into an Academic Integrity situation, then the sooner and more completely you tell the entire truth, by far the better it is for you and for everyone else involved. The bottom line: If you regret a lapse in judgment, it is always better to let us know right away, to come clean, and be honest and truthful. You will feel better about it, as will we, and it will probably result in a better outcome for you as well.

Accommodations

Diversity
and
Inclusion

It is our intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well-served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength, and benefit. It is our intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity, including but not limited to: gender, ethnicity, race, sexuality, disability, age, religion, socioeconomic status, and culture. Whether in education or industry, inclusive representation creates richer experiences and equips us to solve new and exciting challenges. Please join us in our commitment to a more welcoming and equitable community.

CMU is a community of brilliant people from all over the world, and it's easy to feel intimidated or like you don't belong. If you find yourself questioning whether you deserve to be at CMU or in this class, we urge you to come talk to us, and we'll do everything we can to help you overcome those doubts.

Recording

Well-being &
Happiness

We care very much about your well-being and happiness. CMU students (and faculty) work very hard, but we must keep our balance and always attend to our well-being and happiness first. Achieving a better grade is almost never a matter of putting in more time! So be sure to get enough sleep, eat right, exercise regularly, and attend to your well-being and happiness.

Also, please know that we do care about you and take your well-being seriously. We want to help you learn while minimizing stress. Meeting the learning goals of 15-112 necessitates significant effort and a fast pace, but do not fall into the trap of working endlessly, as this will only reduce your efficiency (and more importantly, your happiness and well-being). It is not necessary, expected, or something to be proud of. We can help you improve your efficiency and work less, not more. We also seek to minimize the workload as much as is possible, while still meeting the learning goals of the course.

Finally, if you are feeling overly stressed, anxious, or unhappy about your performance or your general experience in this course: please come talk to us. We will listen. We are here for you and we will try to help.

Addendum: Here is a great summary of many CMU Student Support Services.