Programming assignments will be carried out in a prescribed high-level language. Minimal instruction in the use of this language will be provided, you will be expected to achieve sufficient competence on your own.

The course will include regular homework and programming assignments. All assignments will be graded on a pass/fail basis. If an assignment is "failed" it can be corrected and resubmitted as many times until it is "passed".

A first attempt for an assignment must be completed before the due date for it to be eligible for a "pass" or resubmission.

Reading assignments should be completed before the lecture covering the material. Not all reading material will be covered in the lectures, but you will be responsible for the material on homework and exams. Quizzes over the assigned reading may be given at any time.

Collaboration

See the GFU CS/IS/Cyber policies for collaboration and discussion of collaboration and academic integrity. Most students would be surprised at how easy it is to detect collaboration in programming—please do not test us! Remember: you always have willing and legal collaborators in the faculty.

Almost all of life is filled with collaboration (i.e., people working together). Yet in our academic system, we artificially limit collaboration. These limits are designed to force you to learn fundamental principles and build specific skills. It is very artificial but intensional for your own benefit. The only way for you to learn is by doing the work.

To be clear, do not:

• Copy other students work
• Copy code from an online sources such as Stack Overflow
• Generate code with "AI" tools such as ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot

Engineering Your Soul

The mission and vision statement of the Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS) program states that our students are distinctive by "bringing a Christ-centered worldview to our increasingly technological world."

As one step towards the fulfillment of this objective, each semester, the engineering faculty will collectively identify an influential Christian writing to be read and reflected upon by all engineering faculty and students throughout the term. As part of the College of Engineering, CSIS students participate in this effort, known as Engineering Your Soul (EYS). This exercise will be treated as an official component of every engineering course (including CSIS courses) and will be uniquely integrated and assessed at my discretion, typically as a component of the quiz grade.

Students have three options for satisfying the EYS requirement.

• Attend and post a reflection for the regular meetings scheduled throughout the semester . If you attend the meetings, you be prepared to discuss the material. These meetings also count for chapel elective credit.
• Read the book and write a brief reflection for each quarter of the readings.
• Read another student's post and write a response post.

The deadline for all of these options is the Wednesday the week after the group meetings.

All the reflections should be posted to the canvas EYS course. A reflection should be 100 or more words and should consist of your personal thoughts on the book and/or meeting, not simply a summary of the book.

Spiritual Formation

Besides EYS, I am always available to discuss the Christian faith if you have any questions or doubts. Send me an email, come by my office hours, or talk to my after class, Christ is the reason I am at GFU, I always have time to talk about faith.

Grading

The final course grade will be based on:

Each assignment is graded on a pass/fail basis. Failed assignments may be corrected and resubmitted, but the first attempt must be by the due date. Each assignment will be have the opportunity to be regraded once per day. The number of assignments you pass in each category determine your final grade. Your grade for the course will be the highest row you complete all the requirements for.

For the midterm and the final, your base grade may then be modified by your performance on each exam, as follows:

• If your score falls in the interval [85%, 100%], your base grade will be modified by a step up. (unless it’s an A; GFU doesn’t award A+ grades).
• If your score falls in the interval [70%, 85%), your base grade will be unmodified.
• If your score falls in the interval [50%, 70%), your base grade will lowered by a step i.e. B to B-
• If your score falls in the interval [0%, 50%), your base grade will drop by a full letter (3 steps down).

The modification from the midterm and final will be added together to produce the final modification. For example a step up and a step down cancel each other out. Also, two steps do add up to (almost) a full letter grade improvement, e.g. B to A-.

Tentative Schedule

1. GFU
2. CSIS
3. J. Walker Orr
4. CSIS 430