Students will learn how to develop applications for mobile devices. The course will cover the necessary programming language(s), development environment, and a number of platform-specific APIs commonly used in mobile applications such as maps, location services, notifications, camera, and local storage. Other mobile-specific software development topics will be considered such as programming with limited computational and battery resources, client/server architecture, and cloud synchronization.
This class will meet M/W/F in Shantz room 247.
CSc 210, or equivalent prior software development experience. Speak with the instructor or a computer science academic advisor to determine if your background will suffice.
There will also be one or more TAs. See the class website for a full list.
The course will meet three hours per-week. The in-class experience will consist of a combination of lecture, programming demonstrations, and in-class activities. This course will use active learning, peer-teaching, and flipped-classroom teaching techniques.
By active learning, I mean that class time won’t be just 50 minutes of me talking. Instead, class meetings will include a number of in-class activities (ICAs) for you to work on individually and/or in a group. Thus, you can spend some time “actively” learn, rather than “passively” listen to the instructor.
By peer-teaching, I mean that you will have opportunities to learn from your classmates, and vice-versa. In many of the in-class activities, you will be able to work on groups and help each-other when necessary.
By flipped-classroom, I mean that you will often be assigned reading or other material to complete before attending each class meeting time. By doing this, you will come to class with (at least some) preparation. This will hopefully result in more class time allocated towards active learning!
A successful CSc 317 student will be able to:
The breakdown of grades in this course is as follows:
There will be reading and/or attendance quizzes in class most days. These quizzes will make up 13% of the student grade. Generally, these quizzes will be short, but there will be many of them. Students must be in-class for this to count. These quizzes may be given at any time during class. The quizzes may cover topic(s) from a reading, before that topic has been covered in class. If you miss more than 7 classes/attendance-questions, your final course grade will be docked by 10%.
There will be (roughly) weekly programming assignments throughout the semester, which will contribute to 32% percent of the student’s grade. There will be (roughly) 9-10 assignments. The majority of these will be individual projects, but some might be made group-based.
There will be three exams throughout the course. The first two will be worth 14%, and the final 12%. These exams may cover material from class, the programming assignments, the final project, and the readings. This includes the final exam.
The final project will be worth 17% of the course grade. This will be a large-scale project requiring students to construct a mobile application, from idea to final product. Students will be required to work on these in groups of 2-4. Groups must be approved by the instructor.
The instructor and teaching staff will do their best to have grades back to students within 1 week. This includes, but is not limited to, grades for exams, projects, programming assignments, attendance, and quizzes. Once a grade has been entered for a particular item on the digital gradebook, students have at most 5 days to dispute the grade. This includes disputes related to excuses such as sickness, personal matters, dean’s excuses, etc. If 5 days pass and there has not been such a request, the grade is final.
The correspondence between percentage grade and numeric grade is as follows:
In this class, you are given 3 late days for the semester. What this means is that you are allowed to submit up to three assignments within 24 hours after the due date throughout the semester, without penalty. You should not burn through all of these free late days on the first three assignments though! Consider saving some for later in the semester, when you might be in dire need :). You may only use late days for regular PAs. You cannot use them for quizzes, exams, or the final project. Any late work beyond the due date and or an available late day will result in a zero.
The final exam will be on Friday, 12/13, 10:30am-12:30 am in the usual room. There will be no make-up opportunities for the final exam.
There will be a group project towards the end of the semester. There also might be other groups project(s) during the semester.
Access to a textbook may automatically be added to your D2L, but you can (and should) opt-out of it in order to not be charged for it. The reading/prep materials will be available as free online resources.
You should have a computer, or have regular access to a computer, that can support the Java runtime, Android studio, Android virtual device runner, and other software. There will be instructions for how to install Android Studio in the textbook. If you have a personal computer, you should download and install these software on your machine.
As a CSc 317 student, you will also have access to the computer science lab, located in Gould Simpson room 228. This room is equipped with a number of computers that you may use to work on your programs. You will need to swipe your CatCard in order to enter the lab.
Likely, some (or many) of you will want some help at one or more times throughout the course. The instructor and teaching staff provide a number of opportunities to receive help when you are stuck.
The instructor (Ben) will have several office hours each week. The TA(s) will also have office hours.
If you are unable to make office or lab hours, you can also get help online. You can ask your question(s) on Piazza, and you are welcome to post questions and get help from the TAs, other students, or the instructor. However, you may not publicly post any of your code or solutions to problems. If you are making a public post (visible to the entire class) make sure you do not include this. If you would like to include this, post to the instructors only.
If you are ever stuck, ask for help!
Unless otherwise specified, you may not work in groups on any coursework. This includes quizzes, exams, programming drills, programming assignments, etc. You may not share code, copy/paste code, or look at each-others code. The instructor will be using software to help detect cheating (similar code).
If cheating is detected on your work, penalties may include (but are not limited to):
See the schedule page on the class website for the topic and reading schedule.
The Department of Computer Science is committed to providing and maintaining a supportive educational environment for all. We strive to be welcoming and inclusive, respect privacy and confidentiality, behave respectfully and courteously, and practice intellectual honesty. Disruptive behaviors (such as physical or emotional harassment, dismissive attitudes, and abuse of department resources) will not be tolerated. The complete Code of Conduct is available on our department web site. We expect that you will adhere to this code, as well as the UA Student Code of Conduct, while you are a member of this class.
To foster a positive learning environment, students and instructors have a shared responsibility. We want a welcoming environment where we can challenge ourselves to succeed. To that end, our focus is on the tasks at hand and not on extraneous activities (e.g., texting, chatting, reading a newspaper, making phone calls, web surfing, etc.).Students are asked to refrain from disruptive conversations with people sitting around them during lecture. Students observed engaging in disruptive activity will be asked to cease this behavior. Those who continue to disrupt the class will be asked to leave lecture or discussion and may be reported to the Dean of Students.
The UA Threatening Behavior by Students Policy prohibits threats of physical harm to any member of the University community, including to oneself. See http://policy.arizona.edu/education-and-student-affairs/threatening-behavior-students.
At the University of Arizona we strive to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability or pregnancy, you are welcome to let me know so that we can discuss options. You are also encouraged to contact Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to explore reasonable accommodation. Please be aware that the accessible table and chairs in this room should remain available for students who find that standard classroom seating is not usable.
Students are encouraged to share intellectual views and discuss freely the principles and applications of course materials. However, graded work/exercises must be the product of independent effort unless otherwise instructed. Students are expected to adhere to the UA Code of Academic Integrity as described in the UA General Catalog. See http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/academic-integrity/students/academic-integrity.
The University Libraries have some excellent tips for avoiding plagiarism, available at http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/index.html.
Selling class notes and/or other course materials to other students or to a third party for resale is not permitted without the instructor’s express written consent.
Violations to this and other course rules are subject to the Code of Academic Integrity and may result in course sanctions. Additionally, students who use D2L or UA e-mail to sell or buy these copyrighted materials are subject to Code of Conduct Violations for misuse of student e-mail addresses. This conduct may also constitute copyright infringement.
See http://policy.arizona.edu/human-resources/nondiscrimination-and-anti-harassment-policy.
UA Academic policies and procedures are available at http://catalog.arizona.edu/policies. Student Assistance and Advocacy information is available at http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/student-assistance/students/student-assistance.
Information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policy, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.