University of California, Berkeley
EECS Department - Computer Science Division

http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs3/
CS3 - Introduction to Symbolic Programming
Lecture 1 : Intro to the best class at Cal

"Computer science has such intimate relations with so many other subjects that it is hard to see it as a thing unto itself" ­ Marvin Minsky, 1979 [Gal-Ezer98]

"It has often been said that a person does not really understand something until he teaches it to someone else" ­ Donald Knuth [Gal-Ezer98]

"Actually, a person does not really understand something until he can teach it to a computer" ­ Judith Gal-Ezer and David Harel [Gal-Ezer98]

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Overview of today's lecture

• Welcome, congratulations
• Introductions
• CS3 ­ Common Questions
• CS3 ­ Details

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Welcome to CS3!

• Attendance
• Congratulations, last I checked (US News & World Report 2001)
  • Berkeley ranked top public school in the nation
  • Berkeley ranked #2 best undergraduate engineering school with Ph.D.program (behind MIT, tied with Stanford)
• If you enjoy this course and stick with computer science, you will have unbelievable creative potential at your fingertips! (Matrix video)
• ...But beware of the Dark Side! (Virus explained)

Introductions

Who am I?

• Dr. Dan Garcia, Lecturer (but you can just call me "Dan")
• MIT Undergraduate, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering undergrad
• Got my Ph.D. from Cal June 2000, taught at UC Berkeley as a GSI since 1992 (16 courses!)
• I love puzzles, games and graphics...going to use them to motivate material
• Office: 795 Soda, 642-9595 (x2-9595 from campus phones)
• Office hours: Monday 4-5pm and Tuesday 2:30-3:30pm...I have candy!
• Teaching Philosophy:
  • Empower you with all the tools for learning you'll need
  • Take "dictaction" out of the equation - handouts & web pages
  • I've built "knowledge hurdles", my goal is to prepare you as well as possible to clear them.
  • I don't need anyone to fail to maintain GPA requirements

Who are we? (Introduce TAs)

• Christopher Hirsch
• Lin Jiang
• Yin Lau
• Anjna Mehta
• Kurt Meinz
• Behrang Mohit
• Lisa Nguyen
• Clint Ryan

Who are you? (survey by show of hands, height indicates magnitude)

• Class (fr / so / jr / sr)?
• Major? (engineering / letters & sciences / business / undecided)
• (Mac / PC) at home?
• Programmed before in (HTML / Javascript / Java / C / C++ / Lisp / Other)?

CS3 ­ Common Questions

What is the prerequisite?

• High school algebra

What is this class about?

• Introduction to symbolic programming using Scheme, dialect of Lisp
  • Your first programming language is known as the "mother tongue"
  • Many people feel the first language "has a significant impact on the way you attack problems later on" [Gal-Ezer98]
  • Scheme was my first language, it's what's taught at UCB & MIT (two out of the top 3 Computer Science programs in the nation, Stanford doesn't)
• Functional programming (vs procedural programming)
• Expressions, functions, data types, control flow, data structures, recursion

How does this class fit into the curricula?

• This is NOT the introductory course in Computer Science
• Some people skip over it
• It is a "Computer Science Service Course"
• Mainly non-majors and majors who need or want brushing up take this
• Gentle introduction

What are other similar classes I could take?

• IDS110 - Interdisciplinary studies 110 : Introduction to computers
  • Not so much programming as using computers as a tool
• CS3S - Self paced CS3
  • Move at your own pace
  • Different course with different assignments covering same material
  • Orientation meeting today and tomorrow 5-6pm in 1 Pimintel
• CS61a - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
  • Introduction to Computer Science, recursion is prerequisite, 2pm MWF in 1 Pimintel, entrance exam today @ 7pm

What do I do if I'm on the waiting list?

• Check Enrollment often to see if there's an opening, and change to a less-full lab
• As of this writing there are 20+ openings in three Tuesday afternoon Etcheverry labs.
• If you're in a lab, you're in the course -- the lab sections are the constraint.
• Sproul takes care of all openings -- as people drop the course, folks are added from the waiting list.
• It's hard to determine the chance of someone getting in based on their position on the waiting list, please don't ask us.
• Yes, usually we have room for most (if not all UC Extension folks)
• I just checked and there are some labs free.
  • Take cs3s, the self-paced version
  • Register for one of the sections that is free with no wait list
  • Sit on the wait list and hope something opens up.
  • Take it next semester
  • Take cs61a if you are ready for it and pass the entrance exam tonight at 7pm

CS3 Details

Lecture

• cs3 will be broadcast on the internet this semester.
• All lectures will be archived for later viewing.
• We'll have the details of how to do this as soon as the video folks let us know.

Book

• "Simply Scheme, 2nd edition" by our very own Brian Harvey (co-teacher of CS61a) and Matthew Wright! (ISBN 0262082810)
• Do not buy the older first edition (binder title is in blue; the new edition has a smaller title in white)
• In general, get textbooks really cheap on the internet -- the CS3 web page has a link to search for the cheapest prices for you.

Reader

• There will be a reader, probably available in a week. We'll let you know where/when to pick it up.

Labs

• You must attend the lab section to which you're assigned.
• If you want to swap labs, OK it with the TA of both labs.
• Two hours long
• Held in one of two rooms:
  • 175 LeConte
  • 3116 Etcheverry
• Using Macintosh computers G3s and G4s
• Bring a 1.44Mb floppy with you to the Leconte lab
• If you are in Etcheverry you need to buy a Zip disk ($8 at buy.com)
• This is your chance to talk to a TA/GSI in person
• Labs are checked off, not graded
• Must be done with a partner
• Frequency: once a week
• When in lab, if you finish your lab early, feel free to do homework
• Labs are staffed by CS3 readers who grade your homework and CS3 lab assistants who help you with your labs
• They will start next week

Homework

• Graded
• Turned in (details to come)
• Frequency: ~once a week

Project

• Similar to a very long homework; we'll have three of these.
• Hard to juggle many project classes at once

Discussion (also known as "section")

• Taught by our experienced staff introduced earlier
• We're instituting "Buddy TAs", with many benefits to you
• Scattered about campus
• We'll try to have common "TA Notes" online, in theory it doesn't matter which section you attend.
• You're free to move discussion sections around to fit your updated schedule.

Web page

• http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs3/

Newsgroup

• ucb.class.cs3, a great way to connect with your fellow students!

Point breakdown

• We have absolute grading, no curve
• Roughly 90-100% = A, 80-90% = B, etc.

Item	Raw score	Percentage of final score
Homework	80	20%
Labs	40	10%
Project	40	10%
Midterm 1 (~week 4)	20	5%
Midterm 2 (~week 8)	50	12.5%
Midterm 3 (~week 12)	50	12.5%
Final	120	30%
Total	400	100%

What do I do in lab this coming week?

• 3116 Etcheverry: Open "Mac HD", then "ClASSES", then "CS3"
• 175 LeConte: Double-click on MOCHA.PROGRAMS, then CLASSES, then CS3 .
• MacGambit will be waiting for you
• No partner
• Questions?

Real life

• Hope everyone is excited about this coming semester!
• Who thinks Barry Bonds will break the home run record?
• Did anyone see the Tiger Woods / Jim Furyk duel yesterday?

Puzzle

• Cross river with boat that only holds you and one other object.
• You have fox, chicken, feed
• If you ever leave fox and chicken alone together, fox eats chicken
• If you ever leave chicken and feed alone together, chicken eats feed
• How do you do it?

Game

• You and a friend have a stack of 10 coins.
• On each person's turn, they remove either 1 or 2 coins from the stack.
• The person who removes the last coin wins.

References

• [Gal-Ezer98] Judith Gal-Ezer and David Harel "What (Else) Should CS Educators Know?" Communications of the ACM, Vol 41 Number 9, September 1998.
• [Grillmeyer98] Oliver Grillmeyer Exploring Computer Science with Scheme Springer, 1998.

WWW Maven: Dan Garcia (ddgarcia@cs.berkeley.edu) Send me feedback