CS 142 
Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming II
Spring 2025

General info:

Contact information:

• Will Briggs, phone extension 8157 
• email: briggs dot double-u at lynchburg.edu 
• office: Hobbes 104. If the door's open (and it almost always will be, if I'm there), you are welcome
• office hours are on my door and on my web site

Web site: https://cs.lynchburg.edu/briggs
Text:  C++20 for Lazy Programmers, by me.  If you don't have a copy and want a free one, talk to me.

Please understand that office hours are not the only times you can meet with me! Those are just the hours that I guarantee to be there.

Motivation:

• to become good programmers (upon completing the 141-142 sequence)
• to become experts in C++, a powerful and popular language
• to prepare to become experts at programming in general, on further study

Class will consist almost exclusively of designing and writing programs.

Grading:

The tentative percentages of your final grade are:  4 tests, 60%; labs, 32% (that's about 2 1/2 points per lab); weekend questions, 8%. The final is just another test, equal in weight to the other 3.   The lowest test grade will be dropped.  The grading scale is described here. 

FAQ

• How do I succeed in this class? 
  • Turn in all the assignments, even if they don't work.  I give partial credit.  Not turning in an assignment gets you a zero.  Turning in one that doesn't work (but has all its parts written and is indented and commented) usually gets you at least a 50.
  • Turn your assignments in on time, even if they don't work.  If you do turn an assignment in on time, but you have a chance to improve it, you'll get 2 more days to work on them, with a 5 point penalty.  I'll grade the later one if you like.  I strongly suggest that if you don't get it working on time, you come by and talk to me about whatever difficulty you were having.
  • Show up for individual meetings outside class. 
  • Answer all questions on tests, even if you're clueless.  Again, I give partial credit.
  • Show up for all classes.  I see it regularly:  those who don't come always do worse than those who do.

  Now, some less crucial suggestions:
  

  • Ask for help, from me or tutors.  I have never had a student fail whom I see in my office regularly.
  • Do a lot of programming -- nothing works like practice.  (You wouldn't expect to go out on the field and be a sports hero w/o practice, right?  Programming is similar.)
  • Play with what you've learned.  It's hard to get all you need just by doing my assignments -- think of what you want to do with programming, and how to do it.  I welcome your suggestions of how to incorporate your own interests into the class.
• Can I have extra credit?  If the amount of work you have now is getting you down, is more work really the answer?  I've never known students to benefit from extra credit.  The way to succeed is to do the assignments well.
• My program doesn't work; should I erase it and start over?  NO!  You'll just get the same problems, with a fresh set of typos. 
• Can I start on this the night before and get it working?  I doubt it.  I couldn't.
• Am I stupid?  No, you're a new programmer.  Everyone forgets and uses "=" for "==" sometimes.

Other helpful hints:

• Keep your old programs -- a following assignment may build on one (in my class, or in a later class).
• Put comments in, and indent correctly, as you write. The purpose of comments and indenting is to make it readable -- and if it isn't readable, you won't be able to get it working.
• The debugger is your friend. 

Equipment:

Visual C++ is installed in the Hobbs 113 and 124 and the ground-floor lab in Hopwood (last I checked). You can also get it free from Microsoft.

Material:

The rest of our textbook, including classes, operator overloading, templates, exceptions, inheritance, virtual functions, pointers, and the Standard Template Library.

Policies:

• Assignments are due at midnight of the due date.  If you turn it in by that time, and you want more time to work, you can have 2 more business days to work on it with a 5 point penalty.  If you don't turn it in on time, you don't get credit.
• Absences:  You can have 4 of them.  If you have more, you are withdrawn from the class.    Lab absences count as absences.  We can deal with special circumstances such as an out-of-town game if you tell me in advance.
• Coming late/leaving early counts as half an absence.
• Handouts and assignments will all be posted on the hydra drive, \\hydra\Dept_Resources\ComputerScience\briggs\142, available on campus only via windows on your PC but not your web browser. 
• How to turn in an assignment: email it to me, in ZIP format. The name of your folder should be your name and the lab, as in "briggs_lab1."  Delete the Debug and .vs folders.  (Don't worry -- we'll cover that in lab 1!)
• Tests, although designed to cover material since the last test, are by the nature of the subject matter comprehensive nonetheless.  The final is just another test.
• Cheating is dealt with by the Honor Board. How much help is too much with an assignment? If you're stumped on a problem, and someone shows you how to solve a similar one, that's OK. If you're shown how to solve your problem, that's too much. There is no group work and no collaboration on code in this course.
• Makeup tests: I don't give makeup tests, but you don't need one, because you can drop the lowest test grade.  If you know of an absence in advance, you can schedule a test with me for an earlier time.

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