About
Syllabus
Course Tools
Core Exam Preparation
Week 1: Decomposition
Take-home assessment #1
M 9/2: Getting started with scheme
W 9/4: Algorithmic decomposition
F 9/6: Reading and Writing Procedures
1. Procedures
2. Lab: Practice with procedures
Week 2: Working with data
Take-home assessment #2
M 9/9: Mental models of computation
W 9/11: Expressions and Types
F 9/13: Booleans, Predicates, and Conditionals
Week 3: Theme week #1
Take-home assessment #3 (Music)
Take-home assessment #3 (Images)
M 9/16: Software Engineering Fundamentals
W 9/18: Rhythm (Music)/Colors (Images)
1. (No reading for the Music section!)
2. Lab: The Music Library (Music)
3. Design and Color (Images)
4. RGB (Images)
5. Lab: RGB Colors (Images)
F 9/20: Scales (Music)/Image Transformation (Images)
Week 4: Software engineering in the small
M 9/23: Local bindings
1. Local bindings
2. Lab: Local Bindings
W 9/25: Pair Programming
1. Pair Programming
F 9/27: Exam #1
Week 5: List processing
Take-home assessment #4 (Music)
Take-home assessment #4 (Images)
M 9/30: Lists
W 10/2: List processing
1. The Big Three
2. Lab: Lists More
F 10/4: List processing practice and code style
1. Code Style
2. Lab: Wrangling Data
Week 6: Recursively-defined functions
Take-home assessment #5
M 10/7: Recursive decomposition
1. Thinking recursively
2. Lab: Pattern matching and recursive tracing
W 10/9: Introduction to list recursion
F 10/11: List motions
1. List motions
2. Lab: More list practice
Week 7: Recursive design
Take-home assessment #6
M 10/14: Recursion over numbers
1. Recursion over numbers
2. Lab: Numeric recursion
W 10/16: Implementing the big three
1. (No reading for today!)
2. Lab: Implementing the big three
F 10/18: Tail recursion
1. Tail recursion
2. Lab: Tail recursion
Fall break: 10/21–10/25
Week 8: Additional topics in recursive design
M 10/28: Dictionaries
1. Association lists
2. Lab: Letter inventory
W 10/30: Pause for breath
1. (No reading today!)
F 11/1: Exam #2
Week 9: Effectful programming
Take-home assessment #7
1. Music: Improv Engine
2. Images: World Clouds
M 11/4: Vectors
1. Vectors
2. Lab: Vectors
W 11/6: Sequencing and effects
1. Sequencing and effects
2. Lab: Sequencing and effects
F 11/8: Randomness
1. Randomness
2. Lab: Random language
Week 10: Theme week #2
M 11/11: Iteration
W 11/13: Audio Envelopes (Music)/Animation (Images)
F 11/15: Project kick-off
1. The Final Project
Week 11: Structures and tree-like data
Take-home assessment #8
1. Images: Pixel Problems
2. Music: Simple Synthesizer
M 11/18: Structures
W 11/20: Trees
1. Trees
2. Lab: Binary Trees
F 11/22: Project work day!
Week 12: Tree recursion
M 11/25: Tree recursion
W 11/27: Project work day!
(Thanksgiving break: 11/28–11/29)
Week 13: Computational complexity
M 12/2: Counting operations
W 12/4: Pause for breath
F 12/6: Exam #3
Week 14: Conclusion
M 12/9: Case study: searching and sorting
1. Searching
2. Sorting
W 12/11: Project presentations
F 12/13: Presentation wrap-up and conclusion
Finals week: 12/16–12/20
T 12/17, 9–12 PM: Exam #4 (section 01)
W 12/18, 9–12 PM: Exam #4 (section 02)
F 12/20, 5 PM: all work due deadline

CSC 151: Functional Problem Solving

Instructors: Peter-Michael Osera (sections 01 and 02), Leah Perlmutter (section 03)
Class Meeting Location and Times: Noyce 3813
- Section 01: 8:30–9:50 AM CT
- Section 02: 10:00–11:20 AM CT
- Section 03: 2:30–3:50 PM CT
Instructor Office Hours
- Peter-Michael Osera: Noyce 2811, by appointment: https://osera.cs.grinnell.edu
- Leah Perlmutter: Noyce 3811, by appointment: https://calendly.com/leahperl
Mentors: Jacob Bell (section 01), Owen Block (section 02), Tiffany Yan (section 03)
Mentor sessions: TBD
Evening Tutors: Caelan Bratland, Ethan Hughes, Ishita Sarraf, Boston Gunderson, Dieu Anh Trinh, Alma Ordaz, Charles Wade, Tiffany Tang, Avaash Bhattarai
Evening Tutor Sessions: TBD

Welcome to CSC 151! In this class, you will learn computer programming using the Scamper programming language. You do not need any prior knowledge of computer science or programming.

Acknowledgements

Materials found in this course have been adapted from prior CSC 151 offerings from many instructors over the years: Eric Autry, Charlie Curtsinger, Sarah Dahlby Albright, Janet Davis, Nicole Eikmeier, Fahmida Hamid, Priscilla Jiménez, Barbara Johnson, Titus Klinge, Peter-Michael Osera, Leah Perlmutter, Samuel A. Rebelsky, John David Stone, Anya Vostinar, Henry Walker, and Jerod Weinman.