Details

Course label:	COM S 99
Course name:	Fundamental Programming Concepts
Semesters offered:	Fall, Summer
Credits:	2
Grades:	S/U
Website:	http://courses.cs.cornell.edu/cs99/2000fa/
Newsgroup:	cornell.class.cs99

Synopsis
CS99 offers a "gentle" introduction to elementary computer programming concepts. The course emphasizes techniques of problem analysis and the development of algorithms and programs, primarliy using software called Maple. Students without prior experience in programming that feel unprepared to take CS100 should take this course. Students should not take CS99 to gain experience with just Maple.

Alternatives
If you are shopping around for a "first course'' to take in computer science, you need to evaluate your current programming expertise. Refer to http://www.cs.cornell.edu/ugrad/FirstCourse.html for more information about the courses that may suit your needs better than CS99.

Requirements
CS99 assigns homework and exams to develop and test your programming skills. You will be required to:

• Attend one lecture each week.
• Attend one lab each week to work on practice problems.
• Study and use the course material.
• Monitor the course website http://courses.cs.cornell.edu/cs99/2000fa/.
• Do programming assignments.
• These assignments provide application-oriented problems.
• You will learn how to solve "large" problems by decomposing them into smaller tasks.
• Take exams.
• Consider the tests an opportunity to learn about your strengths and weaknesses to help improve your programming skills.
• You should check the university schedule and the course syllabus for exam dates!

Classes and Facilities
We require that you attend lecture and section. We might also hold occasional review sessions. Review the Times page on the course website for more information.

Course Material
Both CS99 requires that you program in Maple and possibly MATLAB. For the full list of required and optional course material, review the Material page on the course website.

What To Do Now
Please do the following tasks ASAP:

• Access this overview at http://courses.cs.cornell.edu/cs99/2000fa/overview.htm. Everything you see here in hardcopy is identical the Overview page on the website.
• Review the descriptions of CS99, and alternative courses.
• Review the recent Announcements!
• Read Chapters 1 and 2.  Refer to the online Syllabus to obtain the files.