CS106X: Programming Abstractions in C++

Announcements:

Week of March 11^th

• Hey there, CS106X peeps! Zach and the section leaders graded your midterms this morning, and we'll be releasing grades on Gradescope within a few hours. The median was a 19 out of 30, and scores ranged from 7.5 to 28. I've gone ahead and posted the original exam and the solution right here and here.
• Because the median was below an 80%, we curve the median up to an 80%, the highest grade up to a 100%, and everything else gets scaled up accordingly. That means a 10 gets mapped to a 60, a 14.5 gets curved up to a 70, a 19 gets curved to an 80, a 23.5 gets curved up to a 90, and a 28 gets curved up to a 100.

Week of March 4^th

• I've gone ahead and uploaded the repl we've been using in lecture the last three days to learn inheritance and class design, and that repl is right here. I made one minor change to the parser module, and that change was made so that assignment associates right to left instead of left to right. You'll see a helper function called shouldStop that isn't part of the official version as it's presented in the textbook, but that's there to support the correct associative ordering for assignment. Yay on that!

Week of February 18^th

• Michael Bernstein just shared a PDF of his DreamTeam lecture slides, and you can grab a copy of that PDF by clicking right here. And Gill Bejerano came through with a PDF of his slides, and you can download a copy of those right here. So many slide decks!

Week of February 4^th

• Hey there, CS106X peeps! Great job on Thursday night's exam. I thought the midterm—particularly Problem 3—was pretty challenging, so it's really wonderful to see so many people to do so well. Keep doing what you're doing for the rest of the quarter and everyone will be happy!
• TreeHacks is this coming weekend! Check out this flyer for more information.
• Finally, Chris Piech sent me the slide deck he constructed for his talk this past Friday, and he said I could share them with the class. You can download a copy (warning: 100MB+) of them right here.

Week of January 21^st

• I forgot to update a section of your Assignment 3 handout—specifically, the The computer's turn section—to reflect some changes I made to the assignment specification. I've updated the assignment handout online, and the part that changed on the last page has been printed in italics so you know where my mistake was in version in the older version and what it's become. My apologies for the error. Sometimes humans have compile errors as well. ☺
• Equally important: read this if you have any interest at all in section leading for our CS106 program! Anyone who's taken CS106B or CS106X by the end of the quarter is qualified, so if you've an interest in teaching and CS education and want to learn more, then read this, and get in touch with me, Zach, or any current section leader if you have questions.

Week of January 14^th

• I just posted a bonus problem right here. It's entirely optional, but if you want to take a stab at it, then you should definitely go for it. I constructed the problem a few years ago when I helped produce a regional programming contest, and the problem, while challenging, is 100% doable given what you've learned in CS106X and prior classes. And as an added incentive, those who submit a working solution will be treated to dinner out in Palo Alto with CS106X CA Zach Birnholz and yours truly. If ten of you submit working solutions, then all ten go to dinner! My only requirements are that you write your solution in C++ and that it compile and run in Qt Creator. Please send in solutions before our first midterm.
• Also, I recently received this in an email from Alex Ayers, who directs the Peer Learning and Tutoring Programs within the Center for Teaching and Learning. He writes: Want to meet with an experienced peer to discuss course concepts, think through a problem set, or prepare for an upcoming exam? CTL offers free drop-in and appointment tutoring for CS106X, in addition to tutoring for a number of other courses. For more information and to schedule an appointment, visit our tutoring appointments and drop-in schedule.

Week of January 7^th

• If you're here, I assume you're taking (or at least considering) CS106X this quarter. I'm more or less set to fire up on Monday, January 7^th at 10:30am, and look forward to meeting everyone!
• Between now and then, do a few things for little ol' me:
  • Register for the course on Axess if you haven't already. I'm expecting there to be about 40 students in the class this quarter, but I'd like an accurate enrollment figure sooner than later so that I can hire additional section leaders if necessary.
  • Hop over to Piazza and sign up for the class forum as soon as you've committed to taking the class. We'll be relying on Piazza for structured questions where students, section leaders, and I can all formally collaborate to make sure your questions about all things CS106X are answered.
  • Install the development environment as soon as possible, so that you can get started on Assignment 1 once it's published on Wednesday. Visit the CS106X Software page and install QT Creator. The installation process takes upwards of 90 minutes, although some 85 of those minutes is just spent waiting for files to be downloaded and copied to your hard drive. (This just in: some of the CS106B and CS106X staff will be leading a QT Creator tutorial this coming Wednesday from 7:00-9:00PM on the first floor of Tresidder.)
  • Finally, confirm that you're able to take each of my two midterms without drama. The first midterm is scheduled for Thursday, February 7^th from 7:00-8:30PM, and the second is scheduled for Thursday, March 7^th from 7:00-8:30PM. If you have a conflict with either or both of these times, email me and we'll work something out.