Each assignment is due at the beginning of class on the due date. Hand in programming assignments via HSP.
Due Monday, 4/4/05. Do this Unix miscellany.
Due 11:59PM Wednesday, 4/6/05. HTML filtering utility.
Due 11:10AM Wednesday, 4/20/05. Automated testing.
Due 11:10AM Wednesday, 4/27/05. Link grapher.
Due noon Friday, 5/6/05. Write a use case for some task you can perform using an electronic calendar. Use Larman's one-column format (which he calls the "usecases.org format"). Hand in on paper.
Due 11:10AM Monday, 5/9/05. Profiling.
A weather-display program. Bring first-draft designs to class for discussion on Friday 5/13. The program itself is due at midnight on Friday 5/20.
Due on paper 11:10AM Monday 5/30. Write a user interface review of a well-known program. Your paper should be two to five pages long, and should discuss the program in the context of the user interface design concepts discussed in Cooper and Reimann and in class. Relevant concepts include modes, posture, excise, user goals, mental models vs. implementation models, etc. You may work with a partner for this assignment.
The final project. Project plan due on paper in class on Monday 5/23. The project itself is due 5:00PM Monday 6/6.
Readings that are not in your textbooks will be available either on-line or on the bookshelves inside the 2nd-floor door of the Math Skills Center. Please treat the copies in the Skills Center as if they were on closed reserve--read them nearby, and bring them back promptly.
For class Wednesday, 3/30. Read "The Tar Pit" and "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks (two copies are on the Skills Center shelves), and Computer Programming as an Art, by Donald Knuth. Knuth's essay (his 1974 Turing Award lecture) is available to subscribers to the ACM's Digital Library, which includes Carleton. For your convenience, I have posted the PDF version in a directory that only allows access from Carleton IP addresses.
For class Friday, 4/1. Read Chapter 1 of Kernighan and Pike, and "The Commento," by Steve McConnell (from his book, "Code Complete"). "The Commento" is on the Skills Center shelf.
For class Wednesday, 4/6. Read Chapter 4 of Kernighan and Pike.
For class Friday, 4/8. Read "Assert Yourself" from Steve Maguire's "Writing Solid Code." I have put copies of Maguire's essay on the Skills Center reserve shelf.
For class Friday, 4/29/05. Read "Step Through Your Code" from Steve Maguire's "Writing Solid Code" (copies on reserve in the Math Skills Center).
4/27/05. Read sections 6.1-6.8 of Craig Larman's Use Case Model: Writing Requirements in Context. You may certainly read the rest of the chapter, too (another 18 pages or so), but 6.1-6.8 contain the essentials.
5/4/05. Read Chapters 1 and 2 of "Head First Design Patterns," by Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman, Kathy Sierra, and Bert Bates.
5/11/05. Read Chapters 3 and 4 of "Head First Design Patterns".
5/18/05. From now through 5/27, we will be discussing ideas found in Cooper and Reimann's "About Face 2.0." We will focus on the material found in chapters 1-4, 8-13, 20-22, 30, and 33.