CSCI E-50a Syllabus

You are expected to

https://cs50.harvard.edu/cscie50a

All students must ordinarily submit all assigned problems and take the two quizzes in order to be eligible for a satisfactory grade unless granted an exception in writing by the course’s heads.

Final grades are determined using the following weights:

Programming problems are evaluated primarily along axes of scope, correctness, design, and style, with scores ordinarily determined by scope × (3 × correctness + 2 × design + 1 × style). Scores are normalized across TFs at term’s end, so mid-semester comparisons among students of scores are not reliable indicators of standing. Written problems are evaluated holistically.

Know that CS50 draws quite the spectrum of students, including "those less comfortable," "those more comfortable," and those somewhere in between. However, what ultimately matters in this course is not so much where you end up relative to your classmates but where you, in Week 14, end up relative to yourself in Week 0.

The course is not graded on a curve. The course does not have pre-determined cutoffs for final grades. Those less comfortable and somewhere in between are not at a disadvantage vis-à-vis those more comfortable. Each student’s final grade is individually determined at term’s end after input from the teaching fellows. Remarkable effort and upward trending are considered.

No books are required or recommended for this course. However, you might find the below books of interest. Realize that free, if not superior, resources can be found on the course’s website.

C Programming Absolute Beginner’s Guide, Third Edition
Greg Perry, Dean Miller
Pearson Education, 2014
ISBN 0-789-75198-4

Hacker’s Delight, Second Edition
Henry S. Warren Jr.
Pearson Education, 2013
ISBN 0-321-84268-5

How Computers Work, Tenth Edition
Ron White
Que Publishing, 2014
ISBN 0-7897-4984-X

Programming in C, Fourth Edition
Stephen G. Kochan
Pearson Education, 2015
ISBN 0-321-77641-0

Most lectures were recorded at Harvard in Sanders Theatre in Fall 2015. (A few lectures were recorded at Yale.)

For students taking CSCI E-50a, the pace of the course differs from CSCI E-50, which runs each semester in parallel. Below are dates on which lecture content will be made available to view through the course’s website.

Lectures are supplemented by twice-weekly, 45 to 60-minute sections led by the teaching fellows. Sections provide you with opportunities to explore the course’s material in a more intimate environment.

Sectioning begins in Week 1. Sections themselves begin in Week 2.

After sectioning is complete, a schedule of sections will appear below.

Office hours are online opportunities for assistance on problem sets with the course’s teaching fellows and course assistants. A schedule of office hours will appear on the course’s website. Office hours will begin in Week 2.

Integrated into a number of the course’s problems are "walkthroughs," videos via which the course’s staff offer direction on where to begin and how to approach a challenge. You are expected to watch walkthroughs before asking questions about problem sets at office hours or via CS50 Discuss.

Available after many problems' deadlines are "postmortems," videos via which the course’s staff explore actual solutions to problem sets. You are expected to watch postmortems for insights into how else you could have (or should have!) implemented your own solutions.

Twenty problems are assigned during the semester, each one a subset of what would be considered a "problem set" in CSCI E-50. Each is due by noon on either a Wednesday or a Saturday. Lateness of electronic submissions is determined down to the minute by submissions' timestamps. Submitting more than seven minutes late is equivalent to submitting twenty-four hours late. Late work is not ordinarily accepted, except in cases of medical emergency.

A schedule of problems, subject to change, appears below.

The course has two 60-minute quizzes. These quizzes are "closed-book," but you may utilize during each quiz one two-sided page (8.5" × 11") of handwritten or typed notes, blank scrap paper, and a pen or pencil, nothing else.

Unless arranged with the course’s heads in advance, the quiz cannot ordinarily be taken at alternative times even if missed by accident, except in cases of medical emergency.

The quizzes take place online for a period of 24 hours (you may begin at any time within the window, but have 60 minutes from when you start), with the due dates outlined below.

This course’s philosophy on academic honesty is best stated as "be reasonable." The course recognizes that interactions with classmates and others can facilitate mastery of the course’s material. However, there remains a line between enlisting the help of another and submitting the work of another. This policy characterizes both sides of that line.

The essence of all work that you submit to this course must be your own. Collaboration on problem sets is not permitted except to the extent that you may ask classmates and others for help so long as that help does not reduce to another doing your work for you. Generally speaking, when asking for help, you may show your code to others, but you may not view theirs, so long as you and they respect this policy’s other constraints. Collaboration on the course’s test and quiz is not permitted at all. Collaboration on the course’s final project is permitted to the extent prescribed by its specification.

Below are rules of thumb that (inexhaustively) characterize acts that the course considers reasonable and not reasonable. If in doubt as to whether some act is reasonable, do not commit it until you solicit and receive approval in writing from the course’s heads. Acts considered not reasonable by the course are handled harshly. If the course refers some matter for disciplinary action and the outcome is punitive, the course reserves the right to impose local sanctions on top of that outcome that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted or for the course itself. The course ordinarily recommends exclusion (i.e., required withdrawal) from the course itself.

If you commit some act that is not reasonable but bring it to the attention of the course’s heads within 72 hours, the course may impose local sanctions that may include an unsatisfactory or failing grade for work submitted, but the course will not refer the matter for further disciplinary action except in cases of repeated acts.

Harvard plans to record audio, photos, and video of Computer Science 50 (CS50) lectures, sections, office hours, seminars, and other events and activities related to CS50 (the "Recordings"), with the aims of making the content of the course more widely available and contributing to public understanding of innovative learning (the "Projects"). The Recordings, or edited versions of them, may be made available to other Harvard students, to students at other educational institutions, and to the broader public via edX, the Internet, television, theatrical distribution, digital media, or other means. It is also possible that the Recordings may be used to make other derivative works in the future. Students may elect not to appear in photos and video used in the Projects and may still participate fully in CS50.

When you submit Problem Set 0, you will need to sign online an Acknowledgement and Authorization in the following form:

Unless you opt out as described in the Acknowledgment and Authorization, you are agreeing, by attending CS50, that your participation in CS50 and related activities may be recorded and used by Harvard in connection with the Projects without further obligation or liability to you, even if you do not sign any authorization.

If you have any questions about the above, contact recordings@cs50.harvard.edu.