Welcome to CPSC 310!
Introduction to Software Engineering | UBC-CPSC 310 - 2020 W T 2, 201, 202
This course is now over - please see current section
Introduction to Software Engineering | UBC-CPSC 310 - 2020 W T 2, 201, 202
This course is now over - please see current section
Instructor: Elisa Baniassad (ebani@cs.ubc.ca). (Zoom office)
Office hours please see the Calendar page.
These can be attended virtually over Zoom, or you can watch them later. There are two sections, but I will likely only make one lecture recording available for each lecture.
During Checkpoint 0 (C0), labs are drop-in office hours.
After the Checkpoint 0 deadline labs are mandatory. You must attend a weekly Scrum with your TA.
You must also submit a weekly progress/work report individually.
There will be 4 quizzes, but we only count your top 3.
They will be take-home - to be done within a 12-hour period.
They are open book/open notes, but collaboration/communication with others in the class is not allowed and will be considered academic misconduct if detected.
The project has 4 checkpoints (C0..3).
For checkpoints 1 to 3, you get 2.5 deadline points on the semester if you reach 70% on time. You may continue to improve your grade on each checkpoint (except C0) until the final C3 deadline.
It is highly recommended that you sign up with your cs email (the r2d2 email address you are given) so that we can identify you in case we need to be in touch over Piazza.
Piazza is intended to be your mechanism to communicate with the teaching team.
There are no private posts available. To individually contact a TA you must attend lab or office hours.
You are encouraged to use Discord to hang out like you would in the DLC. You can not post code, or dictate code, or in any way help someone remotely to *do* their project, because that would violate the no copying policy, but you can discuss project approaches there! You can chat about potential algorithms (without posting pseudocode), and strategies.
Plus, that's where you get access to the CPSC 310 Minecraft server!
We suggest making a new Discord user ID if you don't want us to see you playing Genshin Impact on your main when we both know you're not done C0.
If you have a request that is time-sensitive (such as the need for an extension due to a medical/personal issue) or if you want to inform us of a time sensitive CFA, faculty, medical, or any other kind of accommodation, mail BOTH Elisa and Trey (ebani@cs.ubc.ca, cpsc310-admin@cs.ubc.ca)
For admin-related questions (need to get into Piazza but can't, Need to supply a CFA accommodation letter for extra time on exams or another semester-long accommodation), please contact: cpsc310-admin@cs.ubc.ca to ensure a timely and accurate response. This is the same procedure as for first and second year CS classes.
For personal issues that do not have any urgent academic implications, and for which you don't need a speedy response, contact Elisa at ebani@cs.ubc.ca. Elisa will not answer lecture questions over email -- instead ask those over Piazza, and everyone will have a chance to answer. Email Elisa only for personal issues that cannot be discussed in a public forum.
Unfortunately, we cannot sign course registration forms and have no knowledge or control over the class composition or waitlists. If you have any questions about registration, please contact the CS advisors. The waitlists will be frozen in the first week of the semester. You will be contacted if you were not admitted into the course. Please watch SSC to make sure you know if you are admitted.
More waitlist instructions are available here.
This is a pair-programming course: If you want to work with someone specific for your project, be sure that both of you register for the SAME lab section. We do not have the ability to move people around between labs; please either monitor the SSC for space in your preferred lab sections, move to another lab with space, or find a partner in the lab you are registered in. Teams must be firm by the time of your first lab following the add/drop deadline. If you do not have a partner, it is your responsibility to notify the TA in lab that week so you can be paired up. If you do not have a partner at the end of your lab that week, you will not be able to complete the project. Finding a partner is your responsibility and is key to your having a great term, please take the time to do this right.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT CHEAT ON THE PROJECT. Don't copy code from others or the web. Don't share code. Don't look at old projects if you happen upon them while searching the web, and do not look at project code belonging to students in the class currently. Concrete details are given here. Make sure every line of code you commit is either provided by us, or originated (conceived of and written) by you (or your partner). Cases will be referred to the dean and students have received 0 in the course, and been suspended for copying in past terms.
Everyone involved with CPSC 310 is responsible for understanding and abiding by UBC's Respectful Environment Statement.
The Statement of Principle of UBC's Respectful Environment Statement is "The best possible environment for working, learning and living is one in which respect, civility, diversity, opportunity and inclusion are valued. Everyone at the University of British Columbia is expected to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds these principles in all communications and interactions with fellow UBC community members and the public in all University-related settings." More details can be found on the department's resource page.
The readings and slides for this course are licensed using CC-by-SA. However, it is important to note that the videos, deliverable descriptions, code implementing the deliverables, exams, and exam solutions are considered private materials. We go to considerable lengths to make the project an interesting and useful learning experience for this course. This is a great deal of work, and while future students may be tempted by your solutions, posting them does not do them any real favours. Please be considerate with these private materials and not pass them along to others, make your repos public, or post them to other sites online.