Fall 2022 Registration
Registration for COMP 140 in the fall of 2022 is only open to incoming freshmen and rising sophomores. All seats in the in-person sections are reserved for freshmen. If you are a rising sophomore, you may only register for the 7pm section.
Please note that the different section types are fundamentally the same class. There is no substantive difference between them other than how you meet with your student group and the staff during scheduled class time. The fully online section is not an asynchronous, Coursera-like class.
Students who enroll in the fully-online section of COMP 140 will do all of the same exercises and activities as the students in the face-to-face sections. During class, you will meet in small groups of students and will interact with the staff. In the face-to-face sections, this will happen at a table in a classroom. In the fully-online section, this will happen in a video conference with the appropriate tools. All other aspects of the class are exactly the same.
All students in every section will have access to all of the resources in the class, including faculty, staff, and office hours (in-person and online).
The modern world is driven by computers. In the last week, what was the longest stretch of time you went without interacting with a computer in some way? Think of cell phones, cars, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Wikipedia. From research to real-world applications, computer scientists constantly discover ways to improve lives by creating bold new solutions that connect us to information and to each other in unexpected, forward-thinking ways. Few professions can turn ideas into realities so quickly. Few have such a direct and positive effect on people’s everyday lives. In this course, we will study the foundations of computational thinking and teach you how computer scientists use computers to solve problems in ways that will shape the 21st century.
The objective of this course is not to turn you into a programmer. Rather, this course is designed to give you an overview of computer science and teach you about problem solving in a way that utilizes computation. Upon completion of this course, you will have a feel for how to think about and structure problems in such a way that you can use a computer to help you solve them. Programming is necessarily a part of this process, but it is neither the only part nor the most important part.
COMP 140 is an introductory course designed for any student interested in using computation to enhance their problem solving abilities. No prior experience in programming is necessary. Mathematics at the high school level (e.g., algebra, trigonometric functions, geometry, elementary probability concepts) will be assumed.
Scheduling
COMP 140 is offered in both the fall and the spring. In the fall, there are both face-to-face and fully online sections of the course. In the spring, there are only face-to-face sections.
Fall 2022
In Fall 2022, there are five sections of COMP 140:
- Tue/Thu 9:25am-10:40am, Brockman 101
- Tue/Thu 10:50am-12:05pm, Brockman 101
- Tue/Thu 1:00pm-2:15pm, Brockman 101
- Tue/Thu 2:30pm-3:45pm, Brockman 101
- Tue/Thu 7:00pm-8:15pm, Online
Spring 2022
In Spring 2022, there were two sections of COMP 140:
- Tue/Thu 9:25am-10:40pm, Brockman 101
- Tue/Thu 1:00pm-2:15pm, Brockman 101
Registration
In the fall, Freshmen and Sophomores have priority for enrollment in COMP 140. No one will be allowed to audit the class and no graduate students will be allowed to take the class.
In the spring, COMP 140 is open to all undergraduate students. No one will be allowed to audit the class and no graduate students will be allowed to take the class.
What to do if you cannot register
If you are not able to register, you should go to one of the face-to-face sections (it does not matter which) on the first day of class. At that time you can discuss with the instructor whether it will be possible for you to take the class. You will also be able to place your name on our waiting list.
Be advised that we will do everything possible to accomodate every freshman who is interested in taking an introductory computer science class. However, that does not necessarily mean that you will get the particular section you want.
Upperclassmen
Upperclassmen who try to register for sections for which Freshmen and Sophomores are given priority will receive a cryptic "prerequisite or test score error" message. If you receive this message, it means that you will not be a freshman or sophomore at the time the class runs, so you are not allowed to register normally for the class. If you need the class for your major requirements, you should contact the instructor.
If you are a junior or senior who is interested in COMP 140, it is very unlikely that you will be able to take the class in the fall. Freshmen and sophomores have priority. If there are seats available after all interested freshmen and sophomores have been let in the class, then we will consider letting in upperclassmen. Be advised, though, that this is very unlikely.
Course Web Site
The course will use the Canvas learning management system. The site does not open until the semester begins. At that time, you will have full access to the site if you are registered for the course.
Materials
There is no required textbook for the course. After you start the class, if you feel like you need reference materials, there are some suggested Python references on the Canvas site, some of which are free, online sites and some of which are printed books.
No electronic devices are allowed in class. While you will need access to a computer outside of class to watch videos and do the homework, you do not need to bring anything to class other than yourself, a writing implement, and paper.
If you are in a fully online section, you will need your computer to join the class sessions. During your class session you may not use your computer for anything other than working on the class exercises and you may not use any other electronic devices.
Online Section of COMP 140
Students who enroll in a fully-online section of COMP 140 will do all of the same exercises and activities as the students in the face-to-face sections. The only difference is that instead of meeting in a classroom twice per week, "class" will instead consist of video conferences twice per week at a scheduled time.
Groups
Students will work in groups of 2 or 3 students during class time on designated exercises. Groups and meeting times will be determined during the first week of class. You will work with the same group throughout the semester, meeting twice a week at the same time, just as if you were in a conventional class.
The staff will join your video conferences, just as they would join your groups within the classroom.
Requirements
In order to be in an online section, you must therefore own a computer capable of video conferencing and a webcam that allows you to do so. You may not participate using audio only, you must participate using video.
Exams
Students in the fully-online section must be able to attend the midterm and final exams in person. You will take the exact same exams at the exact same time as the face-to-face sections.
If we decide to have online exams instead, they will be online for all sections of the class.