If you opt for the accelerated option, you will not be expected to attend Lectures 2 - 10. Instead, you will learn the material covered in those lectures by doing the assigned readings, attending two "accelerated" lectures and several scheduled meetings, and completing two projects. Guillaume Marceau, a TA for CS 2102, will act as your mentor and project supervisor. You will not be required to do Homeworks 1, 2, 3, or 4. You will not be required to attend or to complete Labs 1, 2, or 3. Your grades on the projects will count toward your final grade using the combined weights of Homeworks 1 - 4 (approximately 25% of your total grade).
Of course, even though you will not be required to attend Lectures 2 - 10, you are welcome to attend any or all of those lectures with the rest of the class.
Students who opt for the accelerated version of the course will re-join the class starting with Lecture 11 on November 13. All students will take the same midterm and final exams. Students in the accelerated option will do the same Homework 5, 6, and 7 as the students in the standard option. Students in the accelerated option will be expected to attend and complete Labs 4, 5, and 6 with the rest of the class.
The accelerated option is meant for students who have very strong program design skills and who are very comfortable writing programs that use the functional paradigm. As a rough guideline, if you earned an A or a B in CS 1102, or if you earned an A in CS 1101, you should consider the accelerated option. If you have no prior experience programming in Java, you are still welcome to try the accelerated option, but keep in mind that the only instruction you will receive on the transition from programming in DrScheme to programming in Java will be covered in the two accelerated lectures on October 29 and 30.
(As an indication of the kind of problem you will be expected to complete in the accelerated option, Project 1 will require programming to interfaces and abstract classes using mutual recursion; the data structures will be more complex than those required for Homework 3 in the standard option.)
If you are unsure whether or not you should try the accelerated option, speak to the instructor.
If you decide to try the accelerated option, then change your mind, you may switch back to the standard option as long as you notify Guillaume Marceau (gmarceau *at* cs.wpi.edu) by 11:59pm on Tuesday, November 3. No switches from the accelerated option back to the standard option will be allowed after November 3. If you switch from the accelerated to the standard option, you will be expected to attend lectures beginning on November 5, you will be expected to begin attending and completing labs on November 4 (Lab 2), and you will be expected to complete all homework assignments (Homework 1 - 7). (We'll allow you a week to complete the two homeworks for which the due date has already passed.)
How to notify us of your intention to do the accelerated option
Description of Project 1 for the accelerated option
Description of Project 2 for the accelerated option