Welcome to the IPL Zone

(Introduction to Programming Languages, Block 6)

Are you nervous when you see NCWEE? concerned when you see CIRC? perturbed when you see PBC? Visit Mr. Hansen’s fabled abbreviations page to make sense of those cryptic markings you see on your papers.

 

Schedule at a Glance (see archives for older entries)
Written assignments should follow the HW guidelines.

 

W 1/20/16
D

First day of class.

 

Th 1/21/16
E

No class.

 

F 1/22/16
F

Snow day. The assignment originally due today has been postponed until Monday. If Monday also turns out to be a snow day, you will need to check this page for additional assignments that will be due when school resumes.

 

M 1/25/16
G

Snow day.

However, the following HW assignment is still due today:

1. Send a test e-mail (double underscore required at beginning of subject line) in which you identify yourself by name. See Mr. Hansen’s contact information if you forgot to copy down the e-mail address in class on Wednesday.

2. Download Version 5.1.2 of the online textbook in PDF format by clicking here. Make sure you get the correct version.

3. Continue to monitor www.modd.net for additional assignments during the snow days.

 

T 1/26/16
A

Snow day. However, there is no additional assignment due until tomorrow, since IPL does not meet on A days anyway.

 

W 1/27/16
B

HW due:

1. Make sure that you have completed all the assignments for Monday (see above). The test e-mail requirement was eventually met (more or less) by everyone.

2. Read Chapter 1 (pp. 1-11) in the textbook that you downloaded. Double-check to make sure you are working with Version 5.1.2 of the textbook, not the draft of Version 6 that is still in progress. Reading notes are required, as is always the case for all reading assignments this semester. Click on the HW guidelines link (at the top of this schedule) for instructions on the required formatting for all reading notes and other written assignments.

3. Prepare for an open-notes quiz on Chapter 1. The terminology (defined in the glossary at the end of each chapter) is especially important. You may not use any computer-produced printouts during the quiz; only handwritten notes are permitted. (Rationale: Educational research has shown that handwritten notes are much more effective for learning than typed notes or copied-and-pasted notes. The reason seems to have to do with the fact that when we make handwritten notes, we are forced to summarize and rephrase what we have heard or read, and the process of thinking about the material helps us to remember it better. It is all too easy to take notes on a computer without ever thinking about what we are doing. As one researcher from the University of Virginia, Daniel T. Willingham, has said, “Memory is the residue of thought.”)

 

Th 1/28/16
C

No additional HW due. However, another open-notes quiz is possible.

 

F 1/29/16
D

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 2. Reading notes are required, as always.

2. Visit www.eclipse.org and attempt to download the Eclipse IDE and Java environments for your laptop, if you have one. (Otherwise, you can use a classroom PC.)

 

M 2/1/16
E

No class.

 

T 2/2/16
F

HW due:

1. Continue setting up Eclipse and the Java Runtime Engine set up on your computer. Some platforms are much easier than others. If you cannot get yours to work, you are welcome to use a classroom PC for your programming exercises.

2. Convert the following integers from binary to decimal (base 10) and also to hex (base 16). Remember that all hex values must be labeled with the 0x prefix or the h suffix. Try to do all the work on your own. You may check your answer with the Windows calculator program.

010010100110000101010000
11011010100110101010010101010101
1011010110101011010111010101101010111010

3. Convert the following hex integers to binary.

0xFACEB00C
0xF00ECABB
0x12345678ABCD

4. What is the largest possible dword hex value? Give answer in hex.

 

W 2/3/16
G

HW due:

1. Use the ASCII table distributed in class (or find one online) to convert the following 5 bytes of text to hex and then to binary:

                         STA#1

 

2. Convert the decimal (base 10) integer 357,895,840,561 to hex and then to binary.

3. Suppose that computer forensic experts have uncovered the following sequence of bits on a criminal’s hard drive:

                         0101001101010100010000010010001100110001

The prosecuting attorney says, “Aha! This proves that the owner is a St. Albans Bulldog supporter!”

(a) As a defense attorney, what do you say in response?

(b) Glance at this article. (Do not read the entire article! Just skim it quickly.) Then, state at least 3 possible meanings for the bit sequence 0101001101010100010000010010001100110001. With a little bit of thought, you can come up with many more than 3 possibilities. How many can you think of?

 

Th 2/4/16
A

No class.

 

F 2/5/16
B

HW due:

1. Complete Exercises 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3, using either your laptop or one of the lab computers. Be sure to record your results in writing for each exercise, especially 1.3.

2. Complete Exercise 2.3 (all parts). Make sure that you intermingle the printing of text and numbers so that the output of the program is intelligible to a human. For example, if the number of seconds remaining in the day is 50,345, the program should not output

50345

but rather something like this:

number of seconds remaining in the day = 50345

Also, please have your source code available for inspection, either as a printout or as something you can display at a moment’s notice on your laptop when homework is checked.

In class: new vocabulary words abend, pseudocode, rootkit.

 

M 2/8/16
C

HW due:

1. Clean up last week’s assignment so that it conforms to the HW guidelines. For Exercise 2.3, a source code printout is acceptable. If you are able to display your source code for Exercise 2.3 on a moment’s notice (e.g., on a laptop), that is also acceptable.

2. Be sure that your source code for Exercise 2.3 includes at least one comment. From now until the end of the semester, every program you write must include at least one comment, and the following information is required at a minimum: name of programmer, date of this version of the code, and purpose of the code. If you want to be a little fancier, here is an example you are free to copy and paste into your own code, with modifications:

/************************\
|                        |
|  Time of day exercise  |
|  Version: 1.01         |
|  Written by: M. Hansen |
|  Date: 20160205        |
|  Version: 1.01         |
|                        |
\************************/

This works, because slash-asterisk (/*) can be used in Java (as well as in C and C++) to indicate the start of a comment block, and asterisk-slash (*/) can be used to indicate the end of a comment block.

Fancy comments are not required, but every program must have at least one comment in its source code, and every source code listing must include the name of the programmer, the date, and the purpose of the program.

3. Every day, there are undoubtedly some tasks that you typically do between dinner and the time you climb into bed to go to sleep. Make a flowchart for your activities on a typical night between dinner and bedtime, and include at least one example of each of the following features:

(a) Simple statements (rectangles)
(b) Method/subroutine calls (hexagons)
(c) Return statements (ovals)
(d) Start and Stop statements (ovals)
(e) Decision statements (diamonds)
(f) Input/output statements (parallelograms)
(g) Abend (oval)

Off-page connectors (pentagons shaped like a home plate) are not required, but feel free to use them for style points. Some judicious simplification is encouraged. For example, if you have a statement labeled “Floss teeth,” you can omit the step of walking over to the wastebasket to throw away the used dental floss.

4. Repeat exercise 3, your typical nighttime activities between dinner and bedtime, except this time do it in pseudocode. To help you do this, an example is provided below. You will recognize the example, since it is equivalent to the flowchart we concocted in class last Friday. Remember, there is only one hard-and-fast rule of pseudocode, and that is that the steps must be clear to you. In other words, they must correspond to things that you actually know how to do. (In computer science, each step in pseudocode must correspond to something that a computer is capable of doing.) Indentation, although there are no hard-and-fast rules, should follow common sense and should help you understand the logical structure of your algorithm. Comments are not required in pseudocode, but they can be helpful. Remember, pseudocode is for you and is supposed to help you keep track of the logical flow.

The suggested indentation format is to indent whenever a higher-level idea is in progress. For example, we indent the individual steps within any procedure or method to help keep track of which method is in progress, and we indent the contents of an “if” statement so that we know which “if” test is in progress. The word “endif,” which is used in some languages but not in Java, is recommended in order to clarify the extent of each “if” statement. Note that multiple levels of indentation are possible. For example, you can have an “if” nested within another “if” (or an “if” within an “if” within a loop within another “if” within a subroutine and so forth).

So, with all that out of the way, here is your pseudocode example:


Get-to-STA      //how to go from bed to Senior Circle
                //by Mr. Hansen and the Block 6 class (esp. Rashaun)
                //version 0.01, 20160205

    call Morning-at-home
    hop into car

    call Drive
    hop out
    say to Mom, "See ya later."
end



Morning-at-home      //subroutine (a.k.a. method)
    wake up
    shower
    brush teeth
    dress
    gather stuff for school
return



Drive                //subroutine
    watch Mom turn ignition key
    if car fails to start
        try again
        if car still fails to start
            telephone AAA
            telephone Ms. Spaulding at STA (202-537-6412)
            HALT     //abend
        endif
    endif
    back out of driveway
    head E on Finnegan
    turn R on Elm
    turn L on 3rd St.
    turn L on Wisconsin
    turn L on Lych Gate
    turn R on Church House
    go straight to Senior Circle
return

 

T 2/9/16
D

HW due: Read Chapter 3. Reading notes are required, as always.

 

W 2/10/16
E

No class.

 

Th 2/11/16
F

HW due: Write Exercises 3.2 (part 1 only) and 3.4 (all parts).

 

F 2/12/16

No school (faculty professional day).

 

M 2/15/16

No school (holiday).

 

T 2/16/16
G

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 4. Reading notes are required, as always.

2. Write Exercise 4.5 after reading the notes below.

Notes:
1. In the first sentence of the exercise, change “there are no integers a, b, and c such that” to “there are no positive integers a, b, c, and n such that.” The author of the textbook is not a mathematician, apparently, and he simply stated the theorem incorrectly.

2. Also in the first sentence of the exercise, change “except in the case when n = 2” to “when n > 2.”

3. The final statement should now read as follows:

Fermat’s Last Theorem says that there are no integers a, b, c, and n such that an + bn = cn when n > 2.


4. The method raiseToPow actually already exists, mostly. It is called Math.pow, and it works almost exactly as you would expect. For example, Math.pow(2, 3) returns 8.0. The only wrinkle is that Math.pow returns a double, and for the program in Exercise 4.5, you want an int to be returned. Well, that is easy to fix. Simply typecast the return value from Math.pow as an int. For example, if you want to raise 2 to the 3rd power and store the value into an integer, you could simply use this line of code:

int i = (int) Math.pow(2,3);

 

5. The output messages that the problem asks for are not very good. Recommended wording for the case where an + bn = cn and n > 2, which should never occur, would be “Stop the presses! We have found a counterexample that disproves Fermat’s Last Theorem!” The recommended wording for all other cases would be “Your values for a, b, c, and n do not contradict Fermat’s Last Theorem.”

6. Test your method, called checkFermat, by calling it multiple times from main with various values of a, b, c, and n. For example, your main method could be something like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    checkFermat(3, 4, 5, 2);
    checkFermat(3, 4, 5, 3);
    checkFermat(3, 4, 7, 1);
    checkFermat(3, 4, 6, 1);
    checkFermat(1, 1, 2, 1);
    checkFermat(1, 8, 9, 3);
}

 

W 2/17/16
A

No class.

 

Th 2/18/16
B

HW due:

1. Finish the assignment that was due Tuesday. If you need help, send an e-mail with the following subject line (replace Jane Smith with your actual name, last name first, first name last):

__Specific questions for assignment due 20160216 [Smith, Jane]

When you are finished, e-mail the source code for your checkFermat method using the following subject line:

__Source code for assignment due 20160216 [Smith, Jane]

The source code must be pasted as text into the body of your e-mail message. Source code sent as a file attachment will be discarded. Remember, your source code must include comment(s) that, at a minimum, give your name, the date, and the purpose of the code. If the work is not entirely your own, you must add comments to document any help that you received.

2. Write a detailed set of requirements for the problem described herein. You will be provided with a main method, as listed below. The output should be 3 lines of “true” and 3 lines of “false” when you complete the program correctly. Your program, when completed properly, should check whether 3 integers constitute a Pythagorean triple. For this problem, you may assume that the integers are always provided in descending order. You should have learned what a Pythagorean triple is when you took geometry, but if you have forgotten, you can look up the term “Pythagorean triple” on Wikipedia.

3. Complete the program described in #2. If you would like to see if your requirements are acceptable, you may e-mail them using the following subject line (replace Jane Smith with your actual name):

__Detailed requirements for assignment due 20160218 [Smith, Jane]

When you are finished, e-mail the source code for your checkTriple method using the following subject line:

__Source code for assignment due 20160218 [Smith, Jane]

The source code must be pasted as text into the body of your e-mail message. Source code sent as a file attachment will be discarded. Remember, your source code must include comment(s) that, at a minimum, give your name, the date, and the purpose of the code. If the work is not entirely your own, you must add comments to document any help that you received.

If you are happy with your requirements, you can leave them in pencil-and-paper form and show them in class.

Here is the main method you should use for testing:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    checkTriple(5, 4, 3);
    checkTriple(10, 8, 6);
    checkTriple(13, 12, 5);
    checkTriple(6, 4, 3);
    checkTriple(10, 8, 7);
    checkTriple(1752, 152, 15);
}

 

F 2/19/16
C

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 6 (pp. 55-68).

2. Do Exercise 6.2 on p. 69, all parts.

Hint for parts 4 and 5: Add this line to the start of your main method:

    double pi = Math.asin(1)*2.0; // computes pi

Or, better yet, simply use Math.PI whenever you need the value of pi. (Math.PI is a constant that can be used anywhere, provided you have access to the Math class.) Then, assuming your multAdd method is correct, you can perform an action like the first one in part 4 by doing this:

    System.out.println(multAdd(Math.cos(Math.PI/4),0.5,Math.sin(Math.PI/4)));

If you have a variable (double pi), your code becomes slightly shorter but also slightly less robust:

    System.out.println(multAdd(Math.cos(pi/4),0.5,Math.sin(pi/4)));

The other multAdd challenges are a little bit harder, but you are free to perform online research if necessary. Freshmen (who have not seen logarithms yet) and others who are shaky on their log properties should note that log 20 = log(2 · 10) = log 2 + log 10. Therefore, if you do a little bit of algebra, log 10 + log 20 can be rewritten in the form a*b+c, which is what we need for the multAdd method. The function Math.log(x) will return a double that equals the log of x, provided x>0. The other functions you need are Math.sqrt(x), which returns the square root of x, and Math.exp(x), which returns ex. (The number e, as everyone except freshmen should already know, is approximately 2.71828.)

 

M 2/22/16
D

HW due: Do Exercise 6.5, except that in addition to writing the distance method, you should also write the sumSquares and main methods. Try to do these on your own, but if you cannot, you may use code similar to that shown below. (No fair peeking until you have tried on your own!)

public static void main(String[] args) {

    System.out.println(distance(1,1,2,2));

}

 

public static double sumSquares(double a, double b) {

    return a*a + b*b;

}

 

T 2/23/16
E

No class.

 

W 2/24/16
F

HW due:

1. Work to finish and submit all of the previously assigned programs (due 2/16, 2/18, 2/19, and 2/22). Use the following subject lines, changing “Smith, Jane” to your own name, last name first:

__Source code for assignment due 20160216 [Smith, Jane]
__Source code for assignment due 20160218 [Smith, Jane]
__Source code for assignment due 20160219 [Smith, Jane]
__Source code for assignment due 20160222 [Smith, Jane]

Remember, these are individual homework grades. The homework tote board shows that most people are deficient in one or more of these programs.

2. Start working with your partner on the detailed requirements (and some preliminary source code, if you wish) for the dayOfWeek method, which you will eventually test by using a main method resembling the following:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println(dayOfWeek(12, 1, 1999);
    System.out.println(dayOfWeek(2, 22, 2016);
    // etc.
}


Your dayOfWeek method should accept 3 ints for month, day, and year, and it should degrade gracefully if the date is illegal (e.g., February 31) or outside the domain of March 1, 1900, through December 31, 2099. Use the algorithm described in class on Monday, 2/22/2016, with month codes of 0336 1462 5035.

Hint: If your detailed requirements are correct, your source code will probably be easy to write, and your source code may even be nearly bug-free on the first try. However, if your detailed requirements are incorrect, you have no hope of producing a program that works correctly.

You can write your detailed requirements in English and/or pseudocode. However, the essential ingredient is clarity. You have to understand exactly what the dayOfWeek method is supposed to do and how it is supposed to do it.

 

Th 2/25/16
G

HW due: Continue working with your partner on the dayOfWeek assignment. Make sure to satisfy the detailed requirements that we produced as a group.

 

F 2/26/16
A

No class.

 

M 2/29/16
B

HW due: Continue working with your partner on the dayOfWeek assignment. You should be shooting for completion by tomorrow (Tuesday).

In class: Decibels (dB).

 

T 3/1/16
C

HW due: By the end of the day, submit your dayOfWeek code (dayOfWeek method and all supporting methods) by e-mail. Use the following subject line, changing group number and names as needed.

__Source code for assignment due 20160301 [Group 9, Smith/Zimmerman]

Here are the group numbers and team members:

Group 1: Nicole and Jose
Group 2: Kwaku and Chris
Group 3: Alex and Luca
Group 4: Elizabeth and Adam
Group 5: Ly-Lan and Rashaun
Group 6: Jordan and Katie
Group 7: Kevin and Alan
Group 8: Henry and Will

Please make only one submission per group. If your code meets requirements, you will probably not receive any comments in reply. If there is a problem that the automated test procedure detects, you will not receive the full number of points possible. Please test your code thoroughly before you submit it!

If you need more time, please submit your request by e-mail, including the estimated amount of additional time you need and the reason for your request. Use a subject line similar in this format:

__Request for extension beyond 20160301 [Group 9, Smith/Zimmerman]

 

W 3/2/16
D

HW due:

1. Try to wrap up your dayOfWeek code. See previous day’s entry for instructions.

2. Read Chapter 7 (pp. 75-86). Reading notes are required, as always.

In class: Looping (iteration) as contrasted with recursion.

 

Th 3/3/16
E

No class.

 

F 3/4/16
F

HW due:

1. Write Exercise 7.1 (p. 87).

2. Redo Exercise 7.1 with the modification that the final non-squiggly line of code is changed from
i = i + 1
to
i = i – 1.

3. Describe, in English, what the modified version of Exercise 7.1 is doing. Hint: You may want to test a dozen or so numbers up to, say, 1000.

 

M 3/7/16
G

HW due:

1. Write a void method called countBy that accepts two ints and uses a
while loop. The first parameter should be positive and should tell what multiples to count by. The second parameter should be positive and should tell how many lines to print. For example, if we make a call to countBy(7, 4), the countBy method should count by 7 a total of 4 times, producing the following output:

7
14
21
28

2. Repeat the first exercise, except this time, write a method called countByRevised. The requirements are identical to those for the countBy method, except that you are to use a
for loop instead of a while loop. Use the syntax for the for loop that was given in class on Wednesday, 3/2, or if you prefer, you can look ahead in your textbook to see examples of for loops in action.

3. For both methods (countBy and countByRevised), do not send your source code by e-mail this time (unless you are stuck and need help). Instead, test both methods and then write them out, neatly, on your HW paper. Both methods are extremely short, so this is a fair request. In class, we will swap papers and will conduct code review of each others’ methods. As always, be sure to include comment lines in your code that satisfy the minimal requirements of name, date, and purpose.

 

T 3/8/16
A

No class.

 

W 3/9/16
B

HW due:

1. Refactor your code for countBy and countByRevised (showing changes in a different color of ink) to make your code easier to read and more robust. “Easier to read” means that you should use some of the ideas discussed in class on Monday (e.g., self-descriptive variable names, names that respect the recommended camelCase naming convention, loop counters that go from 1 through the number of lines to print, and meaningful but not redundant comments). For example, if you increment lineCtr using a line of code like this:

     
lineCtr++;

then there is no need to write a comment saying that you are incrementing the line counter. Any Java programmer could see that instantly. However, remember that any variable whose purpose is not obvious from its name should be commented.

“More robust” means that you should check for some reasonably foreseeable error conditions. The first parameter does not need to be positive, but the second one certainly does. The second one should be limited in size to some reasonable value that you determine.

If your original countBy or countByRevised code was not running correctly, you may want to start over, and that is permitted.

2. Just as we can have nested
if statements, we can have nested for loops. Write nested loops (for loops are strongly recommended) to meet the following requirements:

     (a) The void method printElementIndices should accept 3 parameters.
     (b) The first parameter shall be a boolean, where
true indicates a hypothetical matrix whose first element is labeled (0,0), and false indicates a hypothetical matrix whose first element is labeled (1,1). We call a rectangular matrix whose first element is labeled (0,0) a “zero-based” matrix. The zero-based style is common in computer science, but in most math classes, the element in the upper left corner of the array is called (1,1), not (0,0).
     (c) The second parameter is to be a positive integer, less than or equal to 9, indicating the number of rows in a hypothetical matrix.
     (d) The third and final parameter is to be a positive integer, less than or equal to 9, indicating the number of columns in a hypothetical matrix.
     (e) The purpose of the printElementIndices is simply to print the element names of a hypothetical matrix of the given size. In other words, it is supposed to educate students who may have trouble naming the elements of a matrix. For example, printElementIndices(false, 3, 2) should print the following element names in a format of 3 rows by 2 columns:

     11 12
     21 22
     31 32


Students sometimes have trouble learning how to refer to the elements of a matrix. For example, a student may refer to the “two, three” element when what he or she really means is the “three, two” element. This printout helps to clarify where each element is located, and obviously, the “three, two” element is located in row 3, column 2.

As another example, printElementIndices(true, 4, 9) should produce the following output:

     00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08
     10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
     20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
     30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

As you can see, this is a zero-based matrix having 4 rows and 9 columns, exactly as requested.

 

Th 3/10/16
C

HW due: Finish your printElementIndices code from yesterday. Remember, you were allowed to take the code given below as a starting point:

public static void printElementIndices(boolean zeroBased, int numRows, int numCols) {

     for (int i=1;i<=numRows;i++) {

          for (int j=1;j<=numCols;j++) {

               System.out.print(i);

               System.out.print(j+" ");

          }

          System.out.println();

     }

}

All you have to add are two “bells and whistles”: (1) Print an error message for any request in which numRows or numCols is negative or greater than 9, and (2) handle the zeroBased flag.

When time ran out yesterday, quite a few people had produced code that satisfied part (2) in the previous paragraph by doing something like this:

public static void printElementIndices(boolean zeroBased, int numRows, int numCols) {

     if (zeroBased) {
          for
(int i=1;i<=numRows;i++) {

               for (int j=1;j<=numCols;j++) {

                    System.out.print(i);

                    System.out.print(j+" ");

               }

               System.out.println(); //advance to next line before starting new row

          }
     }
     else {
          for
(int i=0; i<=numRows-1; i++) {

               for (int j=0; j<=numCols-1; j++) {

                    System.out.print(i);

                    System.out.print(j+" ");

               }

               System.out.println(); //advance to next line before starting new row

          }
     }

}

However, this approach is considered undesirable because it duplicates code. That’s potentially a problem. Why? Well, if at some later time, you discovered a bug or wanted to make a general enhancement to the printing format, you would have to remember to change both blocks of code. Forgetting to change all the places that need to be changed is an excellent way of producing bugs. Thus, there is this general principle of programming: Try to avoid duplicating code.

There are many ways to address this issue. One is to initialize an int variable called zeroBasedAdjustment at the start of the method. Then, set zeroBasedAdjustment equal to 1 if zeroBased is true, 0 otherwise. Your loop control statements can then be modified slightly; just remember to subtract zeroBasedAdjustment when coding your loops. Do you see that the only difference between the two blocks of code above is that the loop control statements are adjusted downward by 1 in the second block?

Reducing code size is usually a good idea, but not always. You don’t want to sacrifice readability simply to make a slightly smaller program. However, when you can avoid duplicating code, a minor adjustment (such as zeroBasedAdjustment in this case) is usually worth making.

Do not submit your code by e-mail. Instead, use pencil and paper to write out a single submission for each pair, showing all indentation clearly and correctly. The scribe for each pair should be the person with the worse handwriting, since clearly that person needs more practice. The AP exam, which many of you will be taking in 14 months, is still conducted 100% in pencil and paper, believe it or not. Therefore, you have to practice handwriting as a skill.

Your code will be scored on neatness (e.g., proper indentation) as well as your ability to meet the requirements of the programming assignment. Pairs will receive the same score unless there is evidence that the work was distributed in a grossly unfair way.

 

F 3/11/16
D

No additional HW due. Please finish all requirements for your printElementIndices method if you have not already done so.

In class: Review, including the following quick coding challenge:

Requirements:

 

1. Assume that isPrime(int n) exists as a boolean method.

2. Using the isPrime method (which you should NOT write today) as a building block, write a main method that prints the prime integers from 2 through 3000.

 

public static void main (String[] args) {

     // Authors: Mr. Hansen and the IPL class

     // 20160311

     // prime number illustrative example

     for (int i=2; i<=3000; i++) {     

          if(isPrime(i)) {

               System.out.println(i);

          }

     }

}

 

M 3/14/16
E

Pi Day (no class).

 

T 3/15/16
F

Test (Ver. 1.0) on all material covered to this point.

Study guide:

1. Know all the terms defined in the glossaries at the ends of Chapters 1-4, 6, and 7. Omit Chapter 5. You also need to know the terms that were discussed in class but not in the text: pattern, antipattern, beta test, 1GL, 2GL, 3GL, requirements creep, etc.

2. Recall and identify all the names we learned: Charles Babbage, Lady Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Grace Murray Hopper, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. You should be able to recognize and/or provide a one-sentence synopsis of each person’s contribution to computer science. Optional: Mark Zbikowski.

3. Make sure you can write a main method from memory: public static void main (String[] args) { }.

4. Know the purpose of int, double, and boolean declarations and how to use them in a program.

5. Be able to write a void method as well as a method that returns a value.

6. Be able to call methods you have written as well as methods (such as isPrime from last Friday’s class) that are merely described for you.

7. Be able to write
for loops, while loops, and loops within loops if necessary.

8. (Optional.) To see if you really know what you’re doing, code the isPrime method that we discussed (but did not actually program) last Friday. The requirements are as follows:

(a) The isPrime method must accept an int (henceforth denoted as n) and must return a boolean.
(b) Integers less than 2 are to be considered nonprime by definition. Return
false if this is the case.
(c) Assuming that n is 2 or more, n is to be initially considered prime by default. Use a boolean scratch variable initialized to
true for this purpose. We will change that value to false if a divisor is found later.
(d) For all potential divisors from 2 through n – 1, see if n divides evenly.* (If the potential divisor is called potentialDivisor, all we need to check is whether n % potentialDivisor == 0.)
(e) If any potential divisor is found to work, return
false; otherwise, when the loop is finished, return the default value of the scratch variable, namely true.

* This algorithm works, but it is wasteful. Most programming textbooks will say that you should end the loop at Math.sqrt(n) in order to make the code run faster. The reason that ending at Math.sqrt(n) works is that divisors always occur in pairs, with one in the set of integers from 2 through Math.sqrt(n) and the other in the set from Math.sqrt(n) through n – 1. Therefore, it is a waste of time to check both sets of integers; we need only check the set from 2 through Math.sqrt(n).

Note, however, that the loop must go at least through Math.sqrt(n), since otherwise we would stop too early to catch all possible divisors. For example, 289 is nonprime, since 289 = 172. The divisor of 17 will be detected only if the loop that searches for possible divisors goes through the square root of n, namely 17 in this case.

Bottom line: For now, it is entirely acceptable to code the loop as

for (int potentialDivisor=2; potentialDivisor <= n-1; potentialDivisor++) {
     // other code goes here
}


in order to keep things simple.

 

W 3/16/16
G

Test (Ver. 2.0) on all material covered to this point.

The test will be similar in difficulty to the test you took yesterday. Both tests will be scored, and the higher of the two scores will be used in your quarter grade average.

 

Th 3/17/16
A

No class.

 

F 3/18/16
B

Last day of Q3.

HW due: Read Chapter 8 (pp. 91-100). Reading notes are required, as always.

 

Spring Break

Mr. Hansen has to compute grades and submit them to the STA and NCS registrars during spring break. Please immediately check the homework tote board to make sure that you have received credit for all assignments that you thought you submitted. A total of 26 individual assignments and 2 dayOfWeek pairs assignments were not submitted by the formal end of the quarter on 3/18. If you do not reply by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, March 22, it will be assumed that you accept the tote board as it is.

 

M 4/4/16
C

Classes resume.

In class: We learned how changing a single line of code can sometimes make a huge difference in runtime. (Nevertheless, most speed optimizations nowadays are not worth doing, since the user, not the computer, is usually the bottleneck.) We learned that NCS trounced STA in all four grading categories in Q3 (HW, quizzes, tests, and graded projects). We learned how to execute the simple HOTPO algorithm (halve the integer if it’s even, otherwise triple it plus one). And most important, we listed most of the unstated “stealth” requirements that accompany all 3GL programming projects you will ever write:

- Some comments are required (at minimum, name, date, and purpose).
- Indentation must be helpful. Absolute consistency, while a desirable goal, is not a requirement.
- Use camelCase for variable names [and upper case for class names].
- Variable names should be self-descriptive, or well-commented if it is not practical to make them self-descriptive.
- Program should degrade gracefully to the extent possible: Check all inputs!
- Test your code (unit testing, end-to-end testing, regression testing, alpha/beta/acceptance testing, etc.).
- No dead code.
- No repeated code. [Within reason, that is. Not every repetition of two lines of code needs to be made into a method.]
- Spell check all output that will be seen by the user.
- Comments are permitted to be a bit sloppy. However, they must be helpful and up to date.
- Check for language-specific pitfalls. (Tip of the hat to Ly-Lan for pointing that one out.)

 

T 4/5/16
D

HW due: Write pseudocode for the HOTPO chain-length calculator. Do not code this in Java just yet. If you prefer to write a flowchart instead of pseudocode, that is also acceptable.

Explicit requirement: Calculate, for any integer n > 0, the number of steps needed to reach 1 via HOTPO.

 

W 4/6/16
E

No class.

 

Th 4/7/16
F

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 12 (pp. 149-158). Reading notes are required, as always. This is the last chapter that we will cover in Java before switching to Python next week.

2. Write Exercise 8.1 (p. 100). You should test your code on a real compiler, but your homework requirement is to handwrite your code (don’t worry; it’s short) on your HW paper so that it can be handed in if necessary.

3. Code the countHOTPO method in Java. You can and should use pseudocode similar to what we hashed out in class (see below), but remember that the “stealth requirements” (of which some are listed in the 4/4 calendar entry) are still in effect. You will, of course, need a main method in order to test your countHOTPO method. Do not e-mail your code just yet, but bring a hard-copy source code listing to class.

Challenge (optional): After you have countHOTPO running correctly, maybe you would like to invest a few more minutes to write the “table” app that we discussed, which would build a table of your countHOTPO values, something like this:


Here is the pseudocode we developed in class on Tuesday, 4/5 (note the addition of “endif” statements to help clarify where the if-blocks end):

countHOTPO int method that takes an int [namely, n]
     if n < 1
          error msg. and return
     else
          counter = 0
          while n  1
               if n%2 == 0
                    n/= 2
               else
                    n = 3n + 1
               endif
               counter++
          wend
          return counter
     endif
end countHOTPO

 

F 4/8/16
G

HW due:

1. Finish your countHOTPO method and test it with an input value of n = 21700. (The result should be 162.) E-mail the source code for countHOTPO (method only, no main method) by using a message line in this format:

__Source code for assignment due 20160407 [Smith, Jane]

2. Write a main method that calls countHOTPO for all multiples of 5 between 21400 and 21700, inclusive, counting the number of times that 162 occurs as an answer. (You know that there must be at least one, since countHOTPO(21700) equals 162.) Output should resemble the following:

(# of integers from 21400 through 21700 with HOTPO count of 162) = 14

Note: The correct answer is not 14. The line above is meant only as an illustration of the output format to use.

E-mail the source code for your main method only (not countHOTPO) by using a message line in this format:

__Source code for assignment due 20160408 [Smith, Jane]

This assignment will be scored independently of your work for countHOTPO. Don’t worry if you still have bugs in countHOTPO itself. The scoring of your main method will be based on how well it runs on a generic countHOTPO that you didn’t even write.

 

M 4/11/16
A

No class.

 

T 4/12/16
X

Diversity Forum (no class).

 

W 4/13/16
B

HW due:

Add the following line of code at the beginning of your main method:

     int[] hotpoVal = new int[201];

This creates an array called hotpoVal, containing 201 elements. Each element occupies 4 bytes of RAM, and the elements can be referred to as hotpoVal[0], hotpoVal[1], hotpoVal[2], etc., all the way through hotpoVal[200]. That makes 201 values in all. That’s a lot easier than declaring 201 separate variables, each with its own name, isn’t it?

(Please say yes.)

Create a main method that meets the following requirements:

1. The first line of code should be as given above. Please comment the line with its purpose, which is to create an array of 201 elements that can store HOTPO counts.

2. For the integers 1 through 200, inclusive, call the countHOTPO method you wrote last week. Store each result into a suitable position in the array. The recommended correspondence would be to put countHOTPO(1) into hotpoVal[1], countHOTPO(2) into hotpoVal[2], etc. However, you could also put countHOTPO(1) into hotpoVal[0], countHOTPO(2) into hotpoVal[1], etc., though why you would want to do such a thing is hard to fathom. Sometimes it makes sense simply to waste the zero-th element of an array, because it makes the code simpler to understand.

3. Compute the mean HOTPO count for the 200 integers from 1 through 200, inclusive.

4. Use the patterns we learned last Friday for min- and max-finding to find not only the minimum and maximum HOTPO counts (over the domain of inputs from 1 through 200, inclusive) but also all positions at which the minimum and maximum values occur. Note that this may require you to code more than one loop.

5. Output should resemble the following (but note that the statistics have been intentionally falsified here):

On the domain 1 <= n <= 200, we have these HOTPO statistics:
     mean = 87.2367449
     min = 5
          Minimum occurs at the following value(s) of n:
          3
          20
          21
          28
     max = 106
          Maximum occurs at the following value(s) of n:
          188
          189
          190

If you get stuck and need help, try working with a classmate. If that fails, send e-mail with a subject line similar to this:

__Specific questions for assignment due 20160413 [Clark, Bill]

When your code is debugged and fully meets requirements, send the main method only (not countHOTPO) using a subject line similar to this:

__Source code for assignment due 20160413 [Clark, Bill]

 

Th 4 /14/16
C

HW due:

if you have finished your assignment due yesterday
     double-check code for clarity and completeness
     double-check output to be sure it meets requirements
     if (# of bugs or problems != 0)
          send revised version to Mr. Hansen
          // Use same subject line as before. Latest time-
          // stamp will indicate the version to be graded.
     endif
     get a good night's sleep
else
     continue working on yesterday’s assignment
     while (# of unresolvable questions != 0)
          send e-mail to Mr. Hansen
     wend
     finish your program
     double-check output to be sure it meets requirements
     e-mail source code to Mr. Hansen
endif

 

F 4/15/16
D

HW due: Continue working on your code that uses an array of HOTPO values (namely, the hotpoVal array of ints) to compute mean, min, and max statistics for the first 200 HOTPO results.

In class: Caching (multiple types) in real life as well as computers, hard-disk drives, SDD technology, price improvements over the past decades, files, sectors, clusters, metadata, “.” and “..” entries, path separator characters, and the DIR command in the Windows command shell. Note that in Unix-type systems (basically the rest of the world other than Windows), we do not use the DIR command; we use the command

     ls

or

     ls -la

instead

 

M 4/18/16
E

No class. If you have not already submitted your code, get it in! Send e-mail if you are stuck, or ask a classmate for suggestions. You may not copy lines of code, but collaboration is acceptable. Use the subject lines found in the 4/13 calendar entry.

 

T 4/19/16
F

HW due:

1. Download the Python textbook by clicking this link and using the “File / Save as . . .” command to save a copy to your computer’s hard disk

2. Read Chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 1-14) of your new Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always. Much of the information, especially concerning natural and formal languages, plus syntax, runtime, and semantic errors, is the same that you saw in the Java textbook. As a result, this reading assignment should go quickly for you. But . . . be sure that you do the reading! (Hint, hint.)

3. (Optional, but recommended.) Visit this link so that you can set up a free account for a working Python environment in the cloud. Note: You must be 18 in order to set up the account, because people under 18 cannot enter into legally binding contracts. If you are not 18, ask one of your parents if he or she will serve as the accountholder for an account that you can use.

 

W 4/20/16
G

HW due: Practice the Excelcise steps. You will eventually have to execute all the steps in 5 minutes, and to do that, your skills will need to be sharp. Note: Not all instructions are shown on the sheet. You are expected to know certain standard tricks, such as Shift+arrow key for selecting cells and Ctrl+B for bold.

 

Th 4/21/16
A

No class.

 

F 4/22/16
B

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 3 (pp. 17-26) of your new Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always.

2. Write Exercise 3.3, except with the following twist: Your function should be named gridMaker and should accept an integer argument between 1 and 4, inclusive. The value passed to gridMaker specifies the size of the grid. For example, the output for gridMaker(1) would be a simple square, the output for gridMaker(2) should be as shown in the illustration on p. 27, and the output for gridMaker(4) would be the same as the output of Exercise 3.3, part 2.

3. Continue practicing your Excelcise. We will have our first timed run in class today. Some people may pass on the first try! (Don’t worry if you don’t pass. Everyone must pass, eventually.)

 

M 4/25/16

No school (Phi Beta Kappa Day).

 

T 4/26/16
C

HW due:

1. Continue practicing your Excel skills.

2. Continue working on your gridMaker function in Python. If you feel more comfortable writing it in Java first and translating it later into Python, that is certainly acceptable. By today (Tuesday), you should either have fully working code or something quite close. Collaboration with classmates is encouraged as long as you do not copy code.

3. The students listed below are behind in homework project submissions.

Assignment due 20160407: Jordan
Assignment due 20160408: Jordan
Assignment due 20160413: Adam, Chris, Jordan, Jose, Rashaun

Assignments not received by Tuesday afternoon will be treated as zeros for the sake of midterm grade estimation, and since we have not had any tests yet this quarter, a zero on a programming project would give you a failing grade. Please submit your projects as soon as you can.

 

W 4/27/16

HW due:

1. Practice your Excel skills. There will be one additional opportunity to take the Excelcise for credit during class today. The time limit is 5 minutes. If you do not pass today, you will need to come in after school, during a flex period, or during Block 5 to pass the Excelcise on your own time. Everyone must eventually pass.

2. After the disappointing results of yesterday, we are realigning the gridMaker assignment as follows:

(a) Write out your detailed design, in pencil. Pseudocode is fine, but a flowchart is also fine. You should not begin coding until your design is clean. (This makes sense, since if you can’t describe your steps in a flexible world where syntax rules do not apply, how on earth will you be able to describe your steps in the nitpicky world of Java or Python?) Your design will be collected and graded at the beginning of class.

(b) After you feel that your design is reasonably good, code your gridMaker method in Java and test it. Note: It is strongly recommended that you create a method for making the line that has a mixture of + and – signs, since you can get lots of mileage out of that method. You call it once at the beginning as well as once at the end of every additional block of 5 lines.

(c) (Optional.) If you get your Java code working well, go ahead and translate it, line by line, into Python. This is difficult, because the syntax is different, especially for print and println. The
System.out.print("mystring") command in Java becomes this in Python:

print('mystring', end=' ')

Luckily, the System.out.println command in Java translates more easily into Python. (Java’s System.out.println() command is essentially the same as Python’s print() command.) Remember to include Python print statements at various points to terminate the line in progress.

 

Th 4/28/16
E

No class.

 

F 4/29/16
F

HW due: Get caught up on all previously assigned work: textbook reading, programming projects, Excelcise practice, etc.

 

M 5/2/16
G

HW due: By 3:00 p.m. EDT today, submit your gridMaker source code in Python. Use the following subject line in your e-mail:

__Source code for assignment due 20160502 [Smith, Jane]

If you are not yet finished, submit what you do have (even if it is only in Java, or even if all you have is a pseudocode design), using the following subject line:

__Source code (partial) for assignment due 20160502 [Smith, Jane]

Your source code for gridMaker will be accepted for full credit through tomorrow, but only if you submit at least something by 3:00 p.m. EDT today. If you submit nothing, your score for gridMaker will be a zero.

 

T 5/3/16
A

No class. However, today at 3:00 p.m. EDT is the deadline for submission of gridMaker source code in Python. See yesterday’s calendar entry for details.

 

W 5/4/16
B

HW due: Read Chapter 5 (pp. 39-47) of your Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always.

In class: Quizzes on loops (in Java and Python) and Python notation/terminology.

 

Th 5/5/16
C

HW due: Read Chapter 6 (pp. 51-60) of your Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always.

In class: Guest speaker, Mr. Desmond Bowe, STA ’01. Mr. Bowe is a professional developer and tech conference impresario with experience in Objective-C, JavaScript, Swift, Ruby, etc. Bring your questions about coding, project management, entrepreneurialism, and anything else you can think of!

 

F 5/6/16
D

HW due: Read Chapter 7 (pp. 63-69) of your Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always.

 

M 5/9/16
E

No class.

 

T 5/10/16
F

HW due:

1. Read Chapter 8 (pp. 71-79) of your Python textbook. Reading notes are required, as always.

2. Write Exercises 8.3 and 8.4 on pp. 79-80. Complete sentences are expected for Exercise 8.4.

 

W 5/11/16
G

Field Trip. Depart STA (bus on service road near Martin Gym) shortly after 8:00 a.m. Regular school dress is required. We will be back by 1:00 p.m., in time for lunch and our regular class period.

HW due at start of regular class period: Redo Exercise 8.4 on p. 80, except this time, follow the alternate instructions below.

1. For each of the 5 proposed code blocks, write down what you conjecture the behavior will be. For example, we conjectured in class yesterday that for code block 1 (i.e., the any_lowercase1 function), the function would return True if the first character in the input string is lowercase, False in all other situations. (Note: This is a slightly incorrect conjecture, but you are welcome to use it as a starting point. It is not important that your initial conjecture be correct. What matters is that you are willing to make a conjecture and then apply test data as a way of learning.)

2. After you have written down all 5 conjectures, complete a table like the following:



Be creative with your test data; do not restrict yourself to the 4 test cases shown here. Note that the behavior of the function when the input string is null should always be tested.

Note: When designing your test cases, remember that you generally learn more from test cases (such as null strings) that are trying to cause failure than you do from test cases that are merely confirming what you already believe to be true. Make sure to include attempted failures as well as attempted successes in your test data.

In order to fill in your table, you will need to compile all 5 code blocks. Then, feed Python your test cases one by one, using a line of Python code similar to this:

     print(any_lowercase2("abc"))

Record what you learn in the table, using the comment field as suggested in the example above.

 

Th 5/12/16
A

No class.

 

F 5/13/16
B

HW due:

1. Finish your testing table (see 5/11 calendar entry) for all 5 versions of the function, any_lowercase1 through any_lowercase5. This table will be collected.

2. Begin working on your Python version of the dayOfWeek function. The requirements are the same as before, and your partner (unless you request a change) will be the same as before.

Some groups misunderstood the requirements in the Java version. Just to be clear, the dayOfWeek function is to return a string in all cases. If the date is valid, the string returned will be one of the following:

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

If the date is invalid, the requirement that the function must degrade gracefully means that a string that is clearly different from one of the valid outputs should be returned. A good practice would be to use a uniform style for all your error messages. For example, you could start all of them with a highly identifiable string such as

ERROR: Failure code ___ [description].

That would allow whatever code calls dayOfWeek to easily determine whether an error had occurred.

For full credit, your program must conform to the full set of detailed requirements that we produced as a class in February.

 

M 5/16/16
C

Field Trip (alternate date). Depart STA (bus on service road near Martin Gym) at 8:00 a.m. Regular school dress is required. We will be back by 1:00 p.m., in time for lunch and your regular Block 1 class.

Anyone not going on this field trip (including anyone who went on the previous field trip) should report to MH-102 at the usual time to sign the attendance sheet and should then spend the class period working on dayOfWeek (Python version).

 

T 5/17/16
D

HW due: Finish working on your Python version of the dayOfWeek function. You will be granted approximately 30 minutes of class time to use to finish up your code, or to help other groups finish theirs if yours is already finished. By 3:00 p.m. today, each group should submit its source code by e-mail, using a subject line of the following format:

__Source code for assignment due 20160517 [Group 9, Smith/Zimmerman]

Here are the group numbers and team members:

Group 1: Nicole and Jose
Group 2: Kwaku and Chris
Group 3: Alex and Luca
Group 4: Elizabeth and Adam
Group 5: Ly-Lan and Rashaun
Group 6: Jordan and Katie
Group 7: Kevin and Alan
Group 8: Henry and Will

 

W 5/18/16
E

No class.

 

Th 5/19/16
F

In class: Review for final exam.

Your dayOfWeek (Python version) code will be accepted without penalty today.

In class: Review for final quiz.

 

F 5/20/16
G

End of Q4.

In class: Quiz (50 points) over general themes of the course (software development, testing, etc.), followed by review for final exam.

 

W 5/25/16

Final Exam, 2:00–4:00 p.m., Trapier Theater.

Mr. Hansen’s office hours for exam week are Monday 10:00-2:00, Tuesday 10:00-1:45, and Thursday 10:00-2:00. If you can’t finish your Excelcise during those times, you need to contact Mr. Hansen ASAP!

 

F 5/27/16

Update! There will be additional office hours on Friday, May 27, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The following people need to be sure to stop by during that window in order to pass the Excelcise:

Adam
Nicole
Rashaun

 

Essential Links:
-- STA School Handbook

Fun Links:
-- Homemade “Segway”-like balancing scooter uses a fair amount of calculus!
-- More fun links on Mr. Hansen’s home page

Serious Links:
-- Summer math camps for talented high school students
-- Click here for other serious links


Return to Mr. Hansen’s home page

Return to Mathematics Department home page

Return to St. Albans home page

Last updated: 31 May 2016