COMP 125 (Monday): Introductory Programming

Spring Semester 1999

Course Syllabus


Mr. Jack Corliss
Administration Building
Room 2332
Medical Center
Phone: (708) 216-8012 (LUMC)
Office hours by appt

E-mail: jcorlis@luc.edu
URL: http://homepages.luc.edu/~jcorlis


Course web site is located at: homepages.luc.edu/~jcorlis/cs125/mon.


Course Prerequisites:
Very little!

It is assumed that you have had some experience using computers, e.g., the keyboard and the computer mouse and have worked with Windows environment, preferably Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT.

I need to advise you that this course will involve work and will require a time commitment from you. Please plan to spend from 5 to 8 hours of your time outside of class each week -- on an average.

Class Times:
This class meets on Mondays from 6:00 p.m. through 8:40 p.m. We will meet generally in the Medical Center Information Systems (MCIS) training lab (Room 2712) located in the second floor of the north end of the Foster McGaw Hospital Complex, known as the old medical school, above the Medical Center Library at the medical center.

As a matter of courtesy, please call me or leave a message on my voice-mail, (708) 216-8012, if you are unable to attend a particular lecture.

Course Overview:
COMP 125 will be our opportunity for us to become familiar with computer programming and develop some basic programming skills using Microsoft Visual Basic, a programming language with a graphics user interface.

Some of you may be taking this introductory programming course in preparation for taking additional courses in the computer science program.

Some of you may be interested in developing some basic programming skills which you can use in working with a variety of applications and application development tools, e.g., Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access.

Course Materials:

You may need to go to Beck's Bookstore at the Lake Shore campus (in the Granada Center on North Sheridan Road just north of Devon Avenue in Chicago) to purchase the book. It may also be available at Beck's Bookstore at the Water Tower campus. You may not be able to find it at the medical center.

We will also be using online tutorials, handouts and reference materials which will be on room reserve in the university library, i.e., Medical Center library.

Grading Policy:
Components of the course grade will include:

Final course grades will be assigned as follows:

A 93 Points (minimum)
B+ 85 Points (minimum)
B 80 Points (minimum)
C+ 75 Points (minimum)
C 70 Points (minimum)
D+ 65 Points (minimum)
D 60 Points (minimum)
F less than 60 points

Course Lab Assignments:
You will be given a series of programming lab assignments. You are expected to work on these lab assignments by yourself. You may not ask or assist your classmates in programming assignments. Do not show anyone your programming code.

Students who share and/or copy their programs from another student or person will receive a score of zero for that programming lab assignment.

Any disputes regarding academic dishonesty will be resolved according to the rules of Loyola University Chicago. If you need help in doing a programming lab assignment, please see me, read the book or use the Visual Basic on-line help facility.

Failure to submit two or more projects for evaluation may lead to the automatic assignment of the grade of "F" for the course. Therefore, you are encouraged to submit your work by the due date in order to receive some credit for your efforts.

One obvious shortcoming for this course is that the medical center does not have a public computing center or public-access lab facility similar to what are available at the Chicago campuses.

Visual Basic is available at some public-access computing facilities at the Lake Shore, Water Tower and Mallinckrodt campuses.

It is most likely that the computing center advisors at the Lake Shore campus will be more able to help you work with Visual Basic than at any other campus. So please plan your work according.

Important Dates to Remember:

Jan 18: First day of class.

Feb 1: Last day to elect Pass/Fail or Audit (Monday)

Mar 8: Spring break -- no class

Mar 29: Last day to withdraw without a penalty grade (Monday)

Apr 5: Easter holiday -- no class (mistake here -- we will have class)

Apr 19: Last day of class

Apr 26: No class but lab will be open

May 3: Study day / review session (optional)

May 10: Final examination.


Do you have any questions, comments or suggestions? If so, please e-mail them to me at jcorlis@luc.edu.

To return to the COMP 125 (Monday) home page, click here.

To go to my home page, click here.

To go to the home page of Loyola University Chicago, click here.


Jack Corliss
Mathematical and Computer Sciences
Loyola University Chicago
Revised: 18 April 1999