Com S 107 Fall 2008

Com S 107 is a purely online course. There is no regular meeting time. Students need to log onto the WebCT to see all the course materials.

Goals

To provide elementary programming skills in a high level programming language. Topics covered in this semester are:

• An Introduction to Visual Basic 2005
• Designing Applications
• Controls
• Variables and Constants
• The Selection Structure
• The Repetition Structure
• Sub and Function Procedures
• Arrays

Audience

Students desiring a terminal and practical programming course; any other students who want to learn how to program.

Class Structure

This class is to be offered in an entirely on-line format. All information that includes lectures, assignments, programs, TA and instructor interaction, tests and exams, submitting/reviewing work will be provided through the course website (WebCT Gold). Therefore the course work can be done anytime according to the student's schedule and anywhere from any personal computer with Internet connectivity. This type of approach requires that the student be geared towards "self-learning" and be able to structure their time to allow adequate time for the programming assignments.

Class Requirements

Students are required to access the course website in order to take the on-line lectures and become familiar with the material. The student should also daily examine the announcements and assignments to be submitted on-line. To write, compile and run a computer program in a high level programming language, students can install a programming environment in their own personal computer that must satisfy the system requirements announced via the course web page, or use computers in the computer lab of computer science department opened 24 hours a day-7 days a week. There are usually 5 programs assigned per semester. This is an essential part of the course, since learning basic programming is the major objective of the course. This class also requires students to take on-line quizzes. Besides that, there are two comprehensive exams in a proctored environment test center on the Iowa State University campus. Both the instructor and the teaching assistant observe on-line office hours and encourage students to take advantage of this when they have questions and experience programming difficulties.

Computer Requirements

Students must have access to Microsoft Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. In addition, students must have access to Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and up in order to take the tests including quizzes on the course website (WebCT Gold). No other type of browsers will work. Students are also required to have a speaker attached to the computer or a set of earphones in order to listen to the streaming lectures each week. Finally, students must have high-speed (at least at the DSL or Cable speed) Internet connection.

Examinations

Exams will be offered via the course website. Grading is based on the solution of 5 program problems, 4 quizzes, and 2 exams.

 Your final grade will be based on assignments, quizzes, exams, and class participation. These will be weighted as follows.

60% Assignments (5 Programming projects)
10% Quiz (4 quizzes)
10% Midterm exam
15% Final exam
5% Participation

All the assignments must be done individually.

On all the assignments, Late submission is not allowed and ONLY Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 that is part of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 must be used.

You will get a grade of 0 for the whole assignment if you miss any assignment submission deadlines or you do not use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (Visual Basic 2005).

Text book

Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Third Edition.,Diane Zak, Course Technology, ISBN 13: 978-1-4188-3674-0 © 2007 ISBN 10: 1-4188-3674-5

Prerequisites

No formal course prerequsite. PC literacy and skills in a Windows environment are necessary to navigate the website and utilize the compiler. Typing skills are useful since programs are entered from the computer.