WELCOME TO Beginning Programming in Python
Can't See Something Here You Were Expecting (Like Forum Access)? Make Sure You Login To The Site Using Your BLUE UCSC Credentials At The Bottom Of The Page!
Lots Of Important Links Off To The Left!
Your Teaching Staff:
Instructor: Tracy Larrabee 
Office: the web
Office hour: Monday, 1:00pm (and via email and by appointment)
Teaching Assistants:
Andrea David (andavid@ucsc.edu)
Section E: Tuesday at 6:40 pm
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96611056387?pwd=NlB3Nmwxb0U3SVV2SlR6UjYrTlA3UT09
Section F: Thursday at 5:20 pm
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/93897000637?pwd=UFUvZzdSa3Y2WkJkUHpBT1IrMDNmUT09
Link to section notes: Click here
Kyle Oda (kynoda@ucsc.edu)
Section B: Monday at 7:10 pm
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/95936269875?pwd=Z0c5RHVTMDBIdDJOYnZoamwyNjZGZz09
Section C: Wednesday at 4:00 pm
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/96738237766?pwd=RTRvaHN0UStDWnJ2d3Z1VklBT0llZz09
Link to section notes: Click here
Michael Briden (mbriden@ucsc.edu)
Section A: Monday at 8:00 am
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/94386233099?pwd=dUZaU2g2RkZ0dWwrdEo1SkdTSUIrUT09
Section D: Friday at 12:00 pm
here is the zoom link: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/99329597704?pwd=L1JGYWVIZ2hnQ290RW1Xd0pleUFBZz09
Tutors:
how to sign up for MSI tutoring sessions:
https://lss.ucsc.edu/tutor-
MSI session schedule (ccortega@ucsc.edu)
Sun 1pm - 2:15pm
Mon 5pm - 6:15pm
Wed 11am - 12:15pm.
MSI Small group tutoring schedule (szin@ucsc.edu)
There are individual tutor times where tutors will help you one on one:
Tuesday 5:30pm-6:30pm Christine Lee zoom link
Wednesday 1:00-3:00pm Ria Dinesh zoom link
Wednesday 4:00-6:00pm Surya Suresh zoom link
Thursday 7:30-9:30pm Alan Brilliant zoom link
Friday 9:30-11:30am Danielle Laganiere zoom link
Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm Jackson Tran zoom link
Class Locations And Dates
Class location: Zoom (have to be logged in to your UCSC account to join).
Class time: T Th 1:30
FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, March 16, 4:00-6:00 pm (two hours, not three)
Textbook and Homework Assignments
We are using an online textbook which provides test examples and tutorials which will augment the lecture materials. To access this:
- Sign in or create an account at learn.zybooks.com
- Enter zyBook code: UCSCCSE20PatenWinter2021
- Subscribe
A subscription is $34.50. Students may begin subscribing on Dec 20, 2020 and the cutoff to subscribe is Mar 13, 2021. Subscriptions will last until Apr 03, 2021. Readings and exercises and programming assignments will use ZyBooks. For each lecture there is an associated "Reading" - see the assignments tab. Readings generally have a due date 48 or 72 hours after the lecture and consist of reading and participation activities. In addition, after each Thursday lecture there is a "Programming Exercise", due a week on Sunday after it is set. All Programming Exercises and Readings are due at midnight on their due date. Unless permission is explicitly gained, late submissions will get a zero.
Late Policy for programming assignments
You can turn in your programming assignment up to two days late for 50% credit. Other than that, permission to turn in an assignment late is very rare and would depend on something such as serious medical events or DRC accomodations.
Syllabus
introduction and mechanics
variables and expressions
types
branching
loops
functions
strings
lists and dictionaries
classes
exceptions
modules
files
inheritance
recursion
Assignments, Quizzes, and Grade Weights
Your grade will be:
5% attendance
15% zybooks homework
20% from the weekly quizzes
30% from the programming assignments
30% from the final exam (which you have to pass to pass the course)
Just work through all the exercises as you read through zyBooks and do the zyLabs exercises (ihcluding the ones at the end of each chapter).
There are no makeup quizzes in this class! However, your grade will come from your best 7 quizzes, so that should cover the odd family event or work emergency that causes you to miss a couple of quizzes.
Late Policy
Feel free to turn in partial programs, but there will be no late submissions accepted at all unless you have accomodations or an exceptional situation.
Communications
Please feel free to tell either the professor or the TA about any comments or suggestions you might have about how to improve the class. The best way to do this is by electronic mail, If you want to communicate anything to either of us anonymously, this is a good way to do it. You are always welcome to broadcast your opinions by using the webforum.
Disability Resource Center Student Accomodations
I welcome DRC students. Make sure you talk to me at the beginning of the quarter about your needs. As a note, I far prefer your emailing me a PDF of your DRC form instead of giving me a piece of paper.
Cheating
I hate to talk about cheating, because I like to assume there will be none, but the School of Engineering says I must: If a TA finds or I find conclusive evidence that you have cheated on a quiz or exam, you will fail that quiz or exam. If you touch a cellphone or unapproved calculator during a quiz or final exam, you will fail that quiz or exam. It will not be possible to pass this course with a grade of 0 on the final exam. You should know that if you have been officially charged with cheating, and the provost has ruled that you have cheated, you get a black mark on your record: this could lead to either suspension or expulsion from this university.
For programming, it is very important that you not work on code with anyone else. You can discuss high level concepts, and you can ask for help debugging from a TA or tutor, but don't work with others. The thing is, when you are new to a subject, if you work with someone else, the temptation to take the one way you see to do something as the only way to do it is overwhelming. Be active on the forums. Ask for help from the TAs or tutors, but don't work alone with another student (or previous student). It is OK to look things up online, but if you get a strong idea how to do something online, make sure you give credit to that online source in your code. Here is a video that might help you with the more subjective aspects of what is programming plagiarism.
If, on reflection, after turning in a programming assignment, you realize you collaborated inappropriately within 72 hours of the due date (and time) of the assignment due date, if you contact a TA or the instructor, you will be assured that you will have no academic misconduct charges brought against you, though you may get a zero on that programming assignment (depending on the violation). You can still pass--or even do well--in a course with one zero. Contact via email is fine. We will respect your privacy and will not mention this to anyone outside of the teaching team (unless, of course, you admit to collaborating with another student in the class--in which case we will need to speak to that student).
To receive credit for a weekly quiz, you must sit in one of the installed seats of the lecture hall, and you must put the names of your right and left neighbor on the top of your quiz page (put something like "end of row" if there is no one on one side). After you turn in your test, you must leave the lecture hall immediately, and if you have forgotten your backpack or other materials, you may not retrieve them until class time is over. You may not talk to anyone during the test time but the instructor or one of the TAs. Violations of this rule will result in a quiz score of zero on the part of the person doing the talking.
Just as something to keep in mind, you will have an assigned seat for the final exam. Don't grow too dependent on sitting with your friends during examinations.
This all sounds ominous, but honestly, it is just so we all know that everyone is on a level playing field.