CSE 311: Foundations of Computing I

Course Overview

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the shared language and problem solving toolkit of computer science. These are required background for further computer science courses and indepensible for tackling difficult, real-world computing problems.

See the course information page for full details on the course structure, policies, and staff members.

Communication

In addition to in-person discussion, students and staff will communicate through the following means:

  • Course Mailing List: Used by the instructors to email the class with important announcements. (All students are auto-subscribed, but be sure to check your @uw email for these messages.)
  • Message Board (link): The preferred way to ask questions about course content and homework assignments. We will aim to respond to all questions promptly during normal, working hours.
  • Staff Mailing List (cse311-staff at cs): Used for private matters not suitable for the message board.
  • Anonymous Feedback (link): You can send feedback anonymously to the instructors via this tool.

Weekly Schedule

We have lectures Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, quiz sections on Thursday, and office hours spread throughout the week. The following table shows their times and locations.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
10:30–11:20 Lecture A
CSE2 G01
11:30–1:00 OH (Aruna +1)
CSE2 131
1:30–2:20 Lecture B
CSE2 G01
2:30–3:20 OH (Saket)
CSE 2nd floor breakout
3:30–4:20 OH (Saket, Alex)
CSE 2nd floor breakout
10:00–11:00 OH (Sam)
CSE 4th floor breakout
11:00–12:30 OH (Abosh)
CSE2 121
2:30–4:30 OH (Mitchell)
CSE2 150
4:30–5:20 OH (Aria)
Zoom
10:30–11:20 Lecture A
CSE2 G01
11:30–12:20 OH (Jacob +1)
CSE2 121
12:30–1:20 OH (Sam)
CSE2 150
1:30–2:20 Lecture B
CSE2 G01
2:30–3:20 OH (Saket)
CSE2 131
3:30–4:20 OH (Alan)
Zoom
4:30–5:20 OH (Kevin)
CSE 436
5:30–7:20 OH (Owen)
CSE 2nd floor breakout
10:00–11:00 OH (James)
CSE 440 or Zoom
9:30–4:20 Quiz Sections
see the time schedule
2:00–3:00 OH (Andrey)
CSE2 121
5:00–6:00 OH (Alysa)
CSE2 151 or Zoom
10:30–11:20 Lecture A
CSE2 G01
12:30–1:20 OH (Annika)
CSE2 131
1:30–2:20 Lecture B
CSE2 G01
5:00–6:30 OH (Andy)
CSE2 131

In addition to office hours, we also offer 1-1 meetings with TAs to discuss concepts and previous homeworks (not the current homework). See the 1-1 meetings page for more details.

The regular weekly schedule has the following exceptions:

  • There are no activities on holidays listed on the course calendar.

  • Occasional office hours may be cancelled for various reasons. When this happens, the staff member holding those hours will announce that on the message board.

  • There are no office hours during finals week or before Friday of the first week unless a staff member announces otherwise on the message board.

See the course calendar for further details of each day's required activities, including the due dates of homework assignments.

Section meetings

section time building room tas
AA 930 MGH 234 Annika Singh, Jacob Berg
AB 1030 BNS 117 Andy Yun, Sam Tacheny
AC 1130 MGH 242 Alysa Meng, Saket Gollapudi
AD 1230 MGH 271 Abosh Upadhyaya, Saket Gollapudi
BA 1230 MGH 295 Cleah Winston, Aria Tang
BB 1330 LOW 106 Alex Fu, Owen Boseley
BC 1430 SAV 168 Aruna Srivastava, Alan Li
BD 1530 SAV 136 Mitchell Levy, Andrey Risukhin