[
prereqs |
topics |
assignments |
exercises |
exams |
grades|
policies
]
Requirements
Prerequisites
- CSE351:
rudimentary knowledge of C programming; the ability to write,
run, and debug programs; familiarity with Linux and the use of
Linux compilation, editing, and debugging tools; a solid mental
model of the relationship between high-level code (C) and
assembly-level compiled code; simple data structures such as
linked lists, trees, hash tables, and queues.
Suggested
Approximate topic list
- C programming (<2 weeks)
- review of basic C programming and memory model from HW/SW interface course
- pointers, lvalues & rvalues, structs, casts
- arrays and strings
- 2-D arrays with and without pointers
- dynamic storage allocation (malloc/free)
- C preprocessor, multifile programs
- core C libraries (I/O, strings, etc.)
- idioms for error handling without exceptions
- Essential tools for C/C++ (1 week)
- compilers, debuggers, make
- advance tools (memory leak detection, performance profiling, code coverage)
- version control, code reviews, unit testing.
- Memory management and system interface (1 week)
- idioms for manual memory management; avoiding dangling
pointers and memory leaks
- memory management implementation
- linking and libraries: how a program is assembled
- relation between libraries and underlying OS services
- C++ programming (3-4 weeks)
- basic C++: “a better C”, C with classes
- class definitions, constructors, copy constructors, destructors, const, other details
- dynamic memory allocation (new/delete), classes with dynamic data
- classes and inheritance in C++; overloading, overriding
- using C++ templates and STL
- Best practices (1 week)
- class design and patterns in C++
- systematic program development and debugging
- profiling and optimization
- Concurrency in C/C++ (1 week)
- concurrent programming beyond HW/SW interface course
- asychronous I/O, networking, and user interfaces
- if time, a brief reintroduction to threads
- Security issues in C/C++ (< 1 week)
- discussed throughout where appropriate, e.g., safe vs
unsafe library functions
Assignments
This course is designed to give you substantial experience with
programming. There will be approximately one programming
assignment due per week; the assignments are designed to build on
top of each other, so it is in your interest to make sure that
earlier assignments are rock-solid.
All of our assignments assume you will be programming within a CSE
Linux environment. There are three ways to do this:
Exercises
Great programmers write great code. People become great programmers
writing lots of code and learningn from the experience.
We will be assigning one or two mandatory programming exercises each
and every lecture, due before the next lecture. These will be short
and simple, but they will reinforce the material from the lecture.
We will grade them, but the grading will be course-grained: 0 if you
don't complete an exercise correctly or if you violate the
programming style guideliness we set out, and 1 if you complete it
correctly. We expect most people will get several 0s early in
the quarter, and 1s later in the quarter.
Exams
We will have one midterm exam and a final exam. The dates are
listed on the course schedule, though the midterm date is subject to
change (with reasonable advance notice given).
Grades
Grades will be assigned approximately as follows:
- assignments: 45%
- exercises: 20%
- midterm: 15%
- final: 20%
Policies
(Many of these policies are taken verbatim from other CSE courses.)
Late Policy: For assignments, there is a 10% penalty for each
late day, or portion thereof, up to a maximum of two days late. You
will receive a zero for the assignment if it is turned in more than
48 hours late. Also, you get two free late days - two days of
lateness with no penalty - to use at your discretion.
For exercises, we will not accept any late; you must turn them
in on time.
Reasonableness: No set of rules can apply perfectly in every
setting. We will make reasonable exceptions, and in return, we
expect you to be reasonable as well.
Cheating vs. Collaboration: Collaboration is a very good
thing. On the other hand, cheating is considered a very serious
offense and is vigorously prosecuted. Vigorous prosecution requires
that you be advised of the cheating policy of the course before the
offending act.
For this course, the policy is simple: don't cheat. You know it
when you're doing it. We'll recognize it when you do it. As an easy
example, sharing assignment solution code with each other is
cheating. As another easy example, relying heavily on some resource
(e.g., some example code you found on the Web) without attributing
it in your turnin is cheating.
That said, collaborating is, for many people, an effective way to
learn. Learning isn't cheating. Helping each other write programs
that are not assignments or exercises isn't cheating.
Misrepresenting that you've learned something, or done the work that
implies you've learned something, almost certainly is.
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