Comp 401: Senior Seminar

Course Promises / Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, you will:

• Get ready to apply for and interview for whatever are your next projects after college
• Learn basic software engineering skills that enable smoother group work on large projects
• Apply those skills to work on a large, months-long programming project
• Learn how to pitch a project and present your results to your classmates

Student Responsibilities

We have outlined the skills and objects this course promises to provide you. For this promises to be upheld, you will need to commit towards the policies outlined below. To succeed you should:

• Attend class.
  The primary introduction to course material is through class lecture. Additionally, we often do learning exercises during class, which give you immediate experience with the material we are covering. While I am more than happy to help with any material in office hours, priority will be given to students who attend and participate in lecture. Office hours are not to make up for missed lecture.
• Come to classes prepared.
  I will often require that readings be done before class. Please come to class having done the readings and be prepared to discuss
• Participate actively in learning process.
  Showing up is necessary, but not sufficient to success in the course. To fully develop your analytical skills, you are expected to participate in class discussion. This includes asking questions during lecture portions and engaging your peers during short class exercises. This is particularly important in a seminar course in which much of the course will be driven by the participants.
• Start the assignments early.
  I realize this one is not always easy to do, but if you can get in the habit of doing this, you will be much better off. As the labs get longer and more difficult, starting early will give you plenty of time to mull over the lab problems even when you aren't actively writing your solution.
• Respect Self-Imposed Deadlines
  This is particularly important when working on large projects. It is easy to get behind and convince yourself that you can catch up later. Please do not get stuck in that kind of cycle, it will end badly. Follow the software engineering processes we will discuss in class and when you fix a deadline, respect it (or have a really good reason why the objective had to be changed).
• Practice, practice, practice.
  The only effective way to learn the material and pass the quizzes and exams is to consistently do the labs.
• Seek help early and often.
  Because course material builds on previous material, it is essential to your success in this class that you keep up with the course material.