CSC 123, Fall 2013
This class is "about" several things all at once.
First and foremost, the goal is to learn the fundamentals of programming.
Second and almost as foremost, the goal is to create some interesting pieces of music and musical programs.
The hidden agenda of the class is to make you fall in love with
the ability to translate thoughts into reality—
1 Prerequisites
Students entering this class are expected to understand algebra, trigonometry, and some very basic physics ("what is sound?") and calculus ("what is a derivative?").
Students in this class are not expected to know how to program. Students that have programming experience are also welcome and important; you will be a great asset to your teams.
2 Names, Times, Locations
2.1 Instructor
John Clements, aoeuclements @ brinckerhoff.org
2.2 Lecture & Lab
Section 03/04:
Lecture: 10:00-11:00, MWF, room 14-232B
Lab: 11:00-12:00, MWF, room 14-232A
Section 11/12:
Lecture: 15:00-16:00, MWF, room 14-232B
Lab: 16:00-17:00, MWF, room 14-232A
2.3 Google Calendar
See my Contact Info page for my calendar. You can add it to your calendar, if that makes your life easier.
2.4 Web Page
This is the course web page, its link is http://www.brinckerhoff.org/clements/csc123-fa13.
You will also be using the PolyLearn/Moodle page for this course.
3 Teams
Much of the class will be organized around a single large project. You will work on this project as part of a team of 3-5 classmates. We will organize these teams in the fourth week.
Each of you will also have an individual "portfolio" web page, that will spotlight your team’s accomplishments, along with your own personal contributions.
4 Computing Environment
You will be required to complete the assignments in this class using DrRacket , version 5.3.5 or 5.3.6 It is available for all major platforms, including Mac OS, Windows, and UNIX. It is pre-installed on the lab machines, which are all Macintoshes. Follow the instructions given in Lab 1 to install the rsound package.
5 YouTube Videos
I’ve made a small number of YouTube videos, illustrating some basic DrRacket skills. These are online at
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD0EB7BC8D7CF739A
6 Online Portfolios
Every student will be required to maintain an online "portfolio" page, highlighting his or her work on the projects that each team carries out.
The recommended (a.k.a. simplest) way to get such a portfolio page is to use Google Sites, at http://sites.google.com. This will require you to have a google login, which should be free if you don’t already have one.
You’re welcome to build your portfolio page in some other way, if you like.
Your portfolio pages must be public, and you should add yourself to the Portfolio List google doc.
In addition to this, you’ll want some way to share the music that you make with others in class and to include it on your web page. I recommend signing up for an account with http://www.soundcloud.com, which is free for up to 2 hours of music and has a nice embeddable HTML widget that you can plant on your web page.
7 Readings
This class does have a required textbook, but you will read it online, so no purchase is required. The book is called How To Design Programs, 2e
In addition to this book, there are a number of good books on sound manipulation. These are strictly optional, if you find that you want more information on a particular topic.
The Computer Music Tutorial, by Curtis Roads, has a nice high-level introduction to most of the advances of the last fifty years in digital music and sound processing.
There are also lots of books about digital signal processing out there. For sentimental reasons, I’m going to recommend one written by my undergraduate advisor, Kenneth Steiglitz:
A DSP Primer, with Applications to Digital Audio & Computer Music, Ken Steiglitz
8 Communication
This class will use Piazza. This will be the principal means that I’ll use to notify you of deadlines, organizational updates, and changes to assignments. If you’re not keeping up with the group, you’re going to be missing important information.
It’s also the best way for you to direct questions to me and/or the class. Feel free to e-mail me with personal questions, but use the Piazza group as your main means of communications. It’s possible to post anonymously, if you like.
You should already have received an invitation to the Piazza group; let me know if you need an invite.
Don’t post your code or test cases to the group; anything else is fair game.
Also, please keep in mind that I (and everyone else) judge you based in part on your written communication. Spelling, complete sentences, and evidence of forethought are important in all of your posts & e-mails. One easy rule of thumb: just read over what you’ve written before clicking post or send, and imagine others in the class reading it.
9 Honesty
I encourage collaboration with your team members—
On the projects, you will be working together on a piece of code, and it is not necessary to indicate which team member wrote which parts of the code. If you get code from other teams, you must acknowledge this in the code. For instance, you might write a one-line comment like "This function adapted from one written by the Scabrous Crabs."
When doing labs, the code you write should be your own. It’s fine for your team members (or anyone else) to give you advice, but you must write the code yourself.
Naturally, quizzes and exams must be entirely your own work.
10 Labs
Labs in this course take the form of simple exercises to be completed in a week during lab periods, designed to help you understand the lecture material and to lead you toward solutions for the larger assignments.
The labs will be due at the end of your lab period on the last day of the week, typically Friday.
11 Quizzes and Exams
There will be a midterm and a final exam in the course. The midterm will be during the lecture period on Wednesday, October 30th, in the sixth week of class. The quizzes and exams will be closed-note. No electronic devices, including cell phones or mp3 players, will be permitted during the quizzes and exams.
There will also be two ten-minute quizzes in the class. These will be given on Wednesday in weeks 2, 4, and 6.
12 Projects
Before the final project, there will be two smaller projects with more constrained parameters. Unless otherwise specified, these projects will be due at 11 pm on the day specified in the schedule.
13 Final Project
Your final, quarter-long project in this class is to design and implement a music tool that you can use to mix and/or perform music.
You will work in teams. The team size will be around 4, but will depend on the number of students in the class."
- There are four milestones associated with your project (see below).
You will demonstrate your project in class and lab during the last week of the quarter (we’ll signup for times). Your project must be working by this point or everyone in the group will receive 0 points for the entire project.
Each member of the group will be questioned, in person, about various aspects of the project and will be assigned individual grades based on their answers.
Each member of the group will provide an assessment of every other member in the group.
Each member of the group must submit weekly progress reports (due every Friday). Students may also use this report to inform me of any group related issues. Progress reports will affect each member’s final project grade.
14 Milestone Schedule
Milestone #1: Oct 28th, 3% of final grade
Milestone #2: Nov 8th, 3% of final grade
Milestone #3: Nov 22nd, 3% of final grade
Milestone #4: Dec 6th, 21% of final grade
15 Grades
Grades will be determined by performance on programming projects, the exams, and class interaction. The breakdown of the grade is as follows:
Labs: 15%
Quizzes: 10%
Midterm Exam: 10%
Final Exam: 15%
Projects: 40%
Participation/Surveys: 10%
Late Policy: Except for exceptional circumstances, late assignments will be given 0 points.
16 Schedule/Assignments
Schedule & Assignments appear here. (There’s also a link at the top of the page.)