Course Content and Activities #

Books #

In this course, we will use the following books:

• David Griffiths and Dawn Griffiths, Head First C: A Brain-Friendly Guide
• Allen B. Downey, Think OS: A Brief Introduction to Operating Systems
• Allen B. Downey, The Little Book of Semaphores

We have licensed Head First C in electronic form this semester, and you can access it using the link above. You may need to log in with your Olin credentials and/or be connected via the VPN to access it.

If you don’t have Olin credentials, please contact Olin’s IT department: helpdesk@olin.edu

Think OS and The Little Book of Semaphores are free to download. You can access them from their respective links above.

Homework #

Homeworks are primarily programming exercises from the course repository. They are primarily intended to help you learn, so they are evaluated on a coarse scale.

Late Homework #

Various circumstances can arise that may prevent or hinder you from submitting an assignment on time. To provide you some flexibility, you get 7 late days that you can use throughout the semester. You do not need to ask in advance to use a late day, and you can use late days for any reason. However, once you are out of late days, no further extensions will be provided, so please consider this before you use your late days.

Quizzes #

We will have quizzes throughout the semester covering material from the readings and in-class exercises. These are intended to evaluate whether you are keeping up with the class and understanding the content.

Make-up quizzes #

Occasionally, you may have to miss a quiz. The lowest two quiz grades will be dropped, no questions asked. If we have an in-class quiz that you end up missing, you will receive a default grade of 4/10 to limit the impact on your overall grade.

Projects #

We will have one or two projects in this course intended to help you develop depth in a particular course topic.