Computer Science CS 191p Introduction to Programming (Fall 2009)

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11/19 - please go to ReverseMusic for today's exercise.

11/18 - Final Exam. Our final exam will take place at 8:00 am on Tuesday Dec. 15 in MOR3 203. If you have a conflict, you must contact Prof. Lehnert no later than Dec. 10.

11/17 - For today's assignment you will splice together a verbal recording that says "This constitution promotes perfect justice and liberty." All the sounds you need can be found in preamble.wav. Try to make your recording sound as intelligible as possible. Insert pauses between words as needed, and adjust the volume for any words that may be hard to hear. When you are all done, normalize your recording to make it as loud as possible. This assignment is due no later than 1:00pm on Thursday, Nov. 19. When you are done, use getMediaPath and writeSoundTo (as demonstrated in class) to save your sound to a .wav file of the form YOUR-NAME-HERE.wav. Then go to Spark for a Turn-It-In assignment where you can attach your file.

11/10 - Today's Spark assessment requires 2 .wav files. Go to Nov10Spark to download these files.

11/5 - Please bring a set of headphones to all of our classes starting next week. We'll be working with sound files and you won't be able to hear anything without a set of headphones.

OldAnnouncements

Course Description

The Internet has transformed computers from machines that calculate to machines that communicate. This introduction to computer programming with Python emphasizes multimedia (graphics and sound) applications that are relevant for Web designers, graphic artists, and anyone who just wants to have more fun with their computer. Students will explore basic concepts in computer science and computer programming by manipulating digital images and sound files. No prior programming experience is needed. 3 credits.

Required Text

Computing and Programming in Python: A Multimedia Approach by Mark Guzdial (Second Edition) 2010. Pearson Education.

(available in the Textbook Annex on campus)

Professor Wendy Lehnert

Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 11-12 in CMPS 234
or by appointment
(the best way to contact me is via email: lehnert@cs.umass.edu)

Programming Help Consulting Hours (with Steve Hannum in LGRT 220)

This is the place to come if you're having trouble getting your program to work right!
2:30 to 4:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays ... or by appointment: sahannum@cs.umass.edu

Required Software

We will do all of our program development using an application called JES. JES is free and can be downloaded from the Internet. All the OIT computer labs on campus run JES (both Mac and PC labs). However, OIT is not running the most recent installation of JES, so it is best to download the latest version on your own computer and plan to do most of your programming work on your own computer. We hope everyone taking this course has their own computer. If you don't, you can do all the 119 assignments in the OIT computer labs. If you do have your own computer, visit InstallationInstructions for instructions on how to download and install JES on your machine.

An Additional Equipment Requirement

When we start working with audio files in November everyone will need to bring a set of headphones to class in order to hear audio files. All the computers in the computer labs have their speakers disabled. But you can hear audio if you have headphones you can plug into the computer.

Media Files

In this course you will be working with lots of image and sound files, so it's helpful to have a library of media files at your fingertips. Check out MediaResources to find out how to set up your own media library.

Useful Links

* CourseSyllabus

* StudentTalk

* CourseGrades

* Spark Login

* MandalaFiles

* StudentIntros