Syllabus for CSCI E-50a

Introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming. This course teaches students how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently. Topics include abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Languages include C, PHP, and JavaScript plus SQL, CSS, and HTML. Problem sets inspired by real-world domains of biology, cryptography, finance, forensics, and gaming. Designed for concentrators and non-concentrators alike, with or without prior programming experience

This course represents the first half of CSCI E-50. When taken in conjunction with CSCI E-50b, this course effectively allows students twice as much time to work through CSCI E-50’s curriculum.

You are expected to submit five problem sets, take one quiz, and submit a writing assessment.

This course lives at https://cs50.harvard.edu/.

Visit the course’s website to watch videos, to get help, to download handouts and software, and to follow links to other resources.

All students must ordinarily submit all five problem sets, take the quiz, and submit a writing assessment 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:

Problem sets 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.

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, at the end of the course, end up relative to yourself at the beginning.

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 for this course. However, you may want to supplement your preparation for or review of some lectures with self-assigned readings relevant to those lectures' content from either of the books below. The first is intended for those inexperienced in (or less comfortable with the idea of) programming. The second is intended for those experienced in (or more comfortable with the idea of) programming. Realize that free, if not superior, resources can be found on the course’s website.

Most lectures were recorded at Harvard in Sanders Theatre on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1pm until 2pm. (A few lectures were recorded this year 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 (or close to which) we recommend that each week’s lecture(s) be viewed.

Lectures are supplemented by weekly, 60-minute sections led by the teaching fellows. Sections provide you with opportunities to explore the course’s material in a more intimate environment, with only your teaching fellow and a handful of classmates present, as well as to dive into hands-on activities.

Sectioning begins in the first week of February. Sections themselves begin in mid-February.

A schedule of sections will appear on the course’s website.

Office hours are opportunities for assistance on problem sets with the course’s teaching fellows and course assistants, both on campus and online. A schedule of office hours will appear on the course’s website.

Integrated into problem sets 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 problem sets' 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.

Five problem sets are assigned during the semester. Each is due by noon on a Friday. However, you have five "late days" that you may "spend" during the semester, each of which provides you with an extension of twenty-four hours. You may spend no more than one late day on any particular problem set. You need not inform the staff of your use of a late day; usage of late days is tracked automatically. Late work is not ordinarily accepted, except in cases of medical emergency. These late days cannot be spent on the course’s final project.

In Fall 2015, the course offered "late days," whereby Thursday deadlines could be extended until Fridays. Those late days have already been factored into Spring 2016’s Friday deadlines. All problem sets are thus due on Fridays (not Saturdays).

In order to accommodate students with different backgrounds, some problem sets are released in two editions: a standard edition intended for most students and a "Hacker Edition" intended for some students. Both editions essentially cover the same material. But the Hacker Edition typically presents that material from a more technical angle and poses more sophisticated questions. Hacker Editions are graded separately from standard editions, but those students who submit the former do not receive any form of extra credit outright. When determining grades at term’s end, however, we do bear in mind submissions of Hacker Editions.

To be clear, we encourage most students (including aspiring computer scientists) to tackle the standard editions. However, you may choose, week to week, which edition to submit. You may not submit both or some amalgam of the two.

A schedule of problem sets, subject to change, appears below.

The course has one 75-minute quiz. This quiz is "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 quiz takes place online. Students begin the quiz during a 24-hour-long window beginning at the time specified below and have 75 minutes to complete the quiz after they have begun.

CSCI E-50a also requires you to complete a writing assessment whereby you will use analyze a technology of your choosing. So long as your project draws upon this course’s lessons, the nature of your project and how you approach it is entirely up to you, albeit subject to the staff’s approval. More specific details about the assessment will be provided by the teaching fellows as the course progresses.

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 quizzes 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.

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.