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CISP 300: Algorithm Design/Problem Solving 		American River College Library logo
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Fall 2018 (4 Units, course code 11092)
Lecture: Friday 9:00am-12:05pm in CMC 406
Topics and assignment due dates are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.
Lesson Topics Assignment
Meeting 1: Fri, Aug 31
  • Syllabus Overview
  • Course Introduction
  • CISP 300 Website tour
  • How to be successful in this course
  • Using the ARC computing environment
  • The Calcomatic 1000

Activities and Exercises are due by midnight on the date due unless it is stated otherwise. All reading assignments must be completed prior to the indicated class meeting.
Monday, September 3: Labor Day holiday  
Thurs, Sept 6  
Read Chapter 1
Introduction to Computers and Programming
Due: Activity 1
Chapter 1 Review questions
Meeting 2: Fri, Sept 7
  • Begin Chapter 1
  • Hardware
  • How Computers Store Data
  • How a Program Works
  • Types of Software

Friday, September 7 is last day to drop this class to qualify for enrollment fee refund.

Due: Exercise 1
Syllabus review quiz, Survey, Ch1 pg 27 (4th Edition): 1-4
Thurs, Sept 13  
Read Chapter 2
Input, Processing, and Output
Due: Activity 2
Chapter 2 Review questions
Meeting 3: Fri, Sept 14
  • Begin Chapter 2
  • Designing a Program
  • Output, Input, and Variables
  • Variable Assignment and Calculations
  • Variable Declarations and Data Types
  • Named Constants
  • Hand Tracing a Program
  • Documenting a Program

Sunday, September 9 is last day to enroll and to drop this class without notation on record.

Quiz 1
on Chapter 1
Thurs, Sept 20  
Read Chapter 3
Modules
Due: Activity 3.
Chapter 3 Review questions
Due: Exercise 2.
Ch2 pg 77: 3, 4, 8, 9
Meeting 4: Fri, Sept 21
  • Begin Chapter 3
  • Introduction to Modules
  • Defining and Calling a Module
  • Local Variables
  • Passing Arguments to Modules
  • Global Variables and Global Constants
  • Module Pre- and Post-Conditions
Quiz 2
on Chapter 2
Thurs, Sept 27  
Read Chapter 4
Decision Structures and Boolean Logic
Due: Activity 4.
Chapter 4 Review questions
Meeting 5: Fri, Sept 28
  • Chapter 3, continued
  • Begin Chapter 4
  • Introduction to Decision Structures
  • Dual Alternative Decision Structures
  • Comparing Strings
  • Nested Decision Structures
  • The Case Structure
  • Logical Operators
  • Boolean Variables
Thurs, Oct 4  
Due: Exercise 3
Ch3 pg 120: 3, 5, 6, 9
Meeting 6: Fri, Oct 5
  • Chapter 4, continued
Quiz 3
on Chapter 3
Thurs, Oct 11  
Read Chapter 5
Repetition Structures
Due: Exercise 4.
Ch4 pg 168: 2, 5, 7, 9
Due: Activity 5.
Chapter 5 Review questions
Meeting 7: Fri, Oct 12
  • Begin Chapter 5
  • Introduction to Repetition Structures
  • Condition-Controlled Loops: While, Do-While, and Do-Until
  • Count-Controlled Loops and the For Statement
  • Calculating a Running Total
  • Sentinels
  • Nested Loops
Quiz 4
on Chapter 4
Thurs, Oct 18  
Read Chapter 6
Functions
Due: Activity 6
Chapter 6 Review questions
Meeting 8: Fri, Oct 19
  • Chapter 5, continued
  • Begin Chapter 6
  • Introduction to Functions: Generating Random Numbers
  • Writing Your Own Functions
  • More Library Functions
  
Thurs, Oct 25  
Read Chapter 7
Input Validation
Due: Activity 7
Chapter 7 Review questions
Due: Exercise 5
Ch5 pg 224: 1, 4, 7, 9
Meeting 9: Fri, Oct 26
  • Chapter 6, continued
  • Begin Chapter 7
  • Garbage In, Garbage Out
  • The Input Validation Loop
  • Defensive Programming
Quiz 5
on Chapter 5
Thurs, Nov 1  
Read Chapter 8
Arrays
Due: Activity 8
Chapter 8 Review questions
Due: Exercise 6
Ch6 pg 265: 1, 4, 7, 8
Meeting 10: Fri, Nov 2
  • Begin Chapter 8
  • Array Basics
  • Sequentially Searching an Array
  • Processing the Contents of an Array
  • Parallel Arrays
  • Two-Dimensional Arrays
  • Arrays of Three or More Dimensions
Quiz 6
on Chapter 6
Thurs, Nov 8  
Read Chapter 9:
Sorting and Searching Arrays
Due: Activity 9.
Chapter 9 Review questions
Due: Exercise 7
Ch7 pg 281: 1-4
Meeting 11: Fri, Nov 9
  • Chapter 8, continued
  • Begin Chapter 9
  • The Bubble Sort Algorithm
  • The Selection Sort Algorithm
  • The Insertion Sort Algorithm
  • The Binary Search Algorithm
Quiz 7
on Chapter 7
Monday, November 12

Veteran's Day holiday
Thurs, Nov 15  
Due: Exercise 8.
Ch8 pg 335: 1, 4, 7, 8, + problem TBA
Meeting 12: Fri, Nov 16
  • Chapter 9, continued

Tuesday, November 20 is last day to drop this class with a "W" notation.

Quiz 8
on Chapter 8
Thursday, November 22 through Sunday, November 25 Thanksgiving Recess
Thurs, Nov 29  
Read Chapter 10
Files
Due: Activity 10
Chapter 10 Review questions
Due: Exercise 9
Ch9 pg 375: 1, 3, 5, 7
Meeting 13: Fri, Nov 30
  • Begin Chapter 10
  • Introduction to File Input and Output
  • Using Loops to Process Files
  • Using Files and Arrays
  • Processing Records
  • Control Break Logic
Quiz 8
on Chapter 8
Quiz 9
on Chapter 9
Thurs, Dec 6  
Read Notes
on Records
Due: Exercise 9
Ch9 pg 375: 1, 3, 5, 7
Due: Exercise 10
Ch10 pg 427: 1, 3, 6, 8
Meeting 14: Fri, Dec 7
  • Records and user-defined data types
  • Records containing only standard data types
  • Records containing arrays
  • Arrays of records
  • Records and Files
  • Tracing and debugging programs
  • Final exam preview and practice
Quiz 9
on Chapter 9
Due: group Activity 11
Final Review questions, due at end of class
Quiz 10
on Chapter 10
Thurs, Dec 13  
Due: Exercise 11
See Assignments page for details
Final Exam: Fri, Dec 14
  • Final Exam, 9:00am-11:00am
    Quiz 11, 11:00-11:25am
Quiz 11
on Records
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