A290/A590
C and Unix
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A290/A590
Tools for Computing:
System Programming with C and Unix.

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"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"

July 21, 1969

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Instructor: Jeff Whitmer

Jeff Whitmer

  • My Office: Luddy Hall 2050 (IF2050).
  • Office Hours:


    • Office Hour Special NOTES:
      • Any changes to my office hours will be posted here.

        • Tuesday, January 8, 2024: FIRST DAY THIS CLASS MEETS.

        • Monday, January 15, 2024: Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. IU CLASSES DO NOT MEET.

    • Luddy Hall 2050 (IF2050) Office Phone: 855-3974.
    • E-mail: jwhitmer@indiana.edu.

Meeting Times:

Spring Semester 2024:

MEETINGS: Tuesdays and Thursdays:, 9:45am - 11:00am (Sections 5016, 6377)
Miles Brand Hall I W109

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Important Updates for All Students
enrolled in Spring Semester 2024:
[LAST UPDATED: 3/4/24]

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  • ACTIVE Course Engagement Scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades are posted to Canvas and will be submitted by 3pm today: ACTIVE Course Engagement scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades have been posted on Canvas, and grades will be submitted to the Registrar today. It is unlikely I will change any posted grade, unless you discover as mathematical error, but if you have questions you need to contact me promptly. Please read the following carefully before contacting me about your grade.

    The quality of work for the course was very high for this group, so I could not justify any sort of dramtic overall adjustment to the original 90-80-70-60 grading scale, with the top and bottom 2.5% representing the + and - grade respectively. I did, however, make a small adjustment, widening the B range to 79-90 and widening the C range to 68-79. This means the lowest A- was a 90.0 and the lowest B- was 79.0 and the lowest C- was 68.0. The +/- grades are still the top and bottom 2.5% OF each range. Please remember also, your final average is not simply adding all the scores together and dividing by the total possible. You can confirm this on the "General Course Information" page, but the equation used was: Homework ASSIGNMENTS % x .5 + Homework PROGRAMS % x .25 + ACTIVE Engagement % x .10 + Attendance % x .05 + MINI/JIT/CAT % x .10 = some total less than 100.00. All calculations were taken out to 5 decimal places even though only 2 are displayed. Unless you think there is an arithmetic error, you should consider these grades as truly final, as I have already carefully considered each grade although I made no adjustment to the scale. Please note this especially as it relates to "borderline" grades. I've already looked at every grade and if a change was made, it was only if there was consistent work in every category. If you missed work of any sort for any reason, you should not expect to be moved to the next highest grade. Overall, out of 20 students earning a grade, 13 students earned some version of "A", 5 students earned some version of "B", and 2 earned some version of a "C."

    NOTE on "ACTIVE Engagement." While this is a subjective score, it was very good for most of the class, with a vast majority of the scores in the 90s, and a class average of 90.75. It is important to remind you, as I said in the first and last weeks, it is impossible to separate Participation from Attendance. If you were not present in class, it was impossible to achieve a superior participation score. In addition, even if you were in every class, if you were napping, or clearly not involved in what we were working on together, that was very easy for me to see. Missed course work and other factors also played a role in assigning these averages, as noted during the first week of class.

    Once again, thanks for being a terrific group of students and I hope you found the course worthwhile. I hope everyone has a great rest of the semester.

  • Assignment 4 Scores Posted, Overall Assignment Averages on Canvas confirmed accurate and emails on the way: Scores for Assignment 4 are posted and everyone should receive an email with the details of their score by the end of the day. Overall, a good set of submissions, although a fair number of you were challenged by this assignment, with an average of 86.95%, with 6 scores of 100, 4 scores in the 90s, 6 in the 80s, 1 in the 70s, 2 in the 60s, and 1 below 50. This was supposed to be a challenging final assignment, and it clearly was for at least some of you. Again, this was still a excellent performances on A4. Good job! A partial solution for the Linked List component of A4 is available on the Homework Assignments page at the bottom.

    Your Assignment average for the course on Canvas is also confirmed correct. The overall course average for Assignments was 90.39%, which is a really outstanding average. Keep in mind that the averages on A1 thru A3 were all quite good, so there should be a pretty high overall average. There were also several students who missed one or more assignments, which also impacts their individual overall average. For the Assignment Average, there were 2 averages of 100, 10 in the 90s, 5 in the 80s, and 3 in the 70s.

    NOTE: Participation Scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades will be posted sometime on Monday, March 4, 2024 and submitted to the Registrar no later than 3pm on Monday, March 4, 2024.

  • Your overall average for "MINI/JIT/CAT" on Canvas confirmed accurate: Since today's CAT was our last one, your overall average for "MINI/JIT/CAT" is now final and confirmed accurate. Keep in mind these various overall averages carry different "weights" in determining your final average for the course. You can review those "weights" on the "General Course Information" page. There were 3 MINIs (15 each), 4 JITs (3 each) and 4 CATs (10 each) for a total of 97 possible points. The course average on these was 83.87%. ALSO NOTE: I did my best to point out on the first day that if you missed one MINI or one CAT or a couple of class meetings, each was worth a small enough part of your final grade it wouldn't make a difference. HOWEVER, I also said that if you missed several MINIs and/or several CATs and/or many classes, it would definitely have an impact. For a few of you, this turned out to the be the case. There were 7 averages in the 90s, 6 averages in the 80s, 6 in the 70s, and 1 below 60.

    Your overall averages for "Attendance" are also confirmed accurate. For "Attendance" there were 16 possible class meetings. This includes the two days I was ill where everyone was counted present. If you had an excused absence, either with documentation, or as your "PTO" day, it counted neither for nor against you. I explained this in class today. The class Attendance average was 94.95%, with 14 100s, 2 in the 90s, 2 in the 80s, 1 in the 70s, and 1 in the 60s. As noted in class, if your attendance average is low, you should not expect a high "ACTIVE Course Engagement" score when those are posted next Monday. The Averages on Canvas are correct, but rounded. In my records, they are stored to two decimal places for greater accuracy. This means your "92" on Canvas could well be a 92.31 and your "87" on Canvas could well be an 86.67. Canvas rounds up or down for Attendance, but I will not when calculating the final averages.

    PLEASE NOTE: If you have any questions about these averages, you must contact me by 5pm tomorrow, Friday, March 1, 2024. After that, these averages will be final and official.

  • Homework PROGRAM 4 Scores and Program AVERAGE confirmed accurate and emails on the way: Scores for Program 4 are posted and everyone should receive an email with the details of their Program 4 scores by the end of the day. Overall, another outstanding set of submissions, as is expected of the Programs we work on together. A few had very simple errors, some were challenged by the struct for person and how to apply it in an array, others by applying the linked list within the larger single file with function prototypes. The overall average on Program 4 was 94.50%. 13 scored 100, 4 in the 90s, 1 in the 80s, 1 in the 70s, and 1 in the 60s. REMEMBER, Individual Homework ASSIGNMENT 4 is this due Friday, 3/1/24, before midnight. I posted it earlier today. We will discuss it in class tomorrow. PROGRAM 4 was worth 100 points, in case that is not clear on Canvas.

    The course average for the Programs was 89.90%. There was 1 average of 100, 13 averages in the 90s, 3 in the 80s, 1 in the 70s, 1 in the 60s, and 1 below 60, due to primarily to missed work. While we have shared most of the code in this course for the PROGRAMS, this is still an excellent performance for the class as a whole. Good work!

    I have confirmed the PROGRAMS average shown in the Canvas Gradebook for each student matches my records.

  • AI contact information and preferred appointment times now available. You will now find the contact information and preferred appointment times for the 3 AIs in A290/A590 C/Unix, Abhijith, Prajwal, and Sumanth, are on the Course website Homepage just below the section with announcements. Please note that "preferred appointment time" means just that. These are the times it is the most likely each one of them will be able to meet with you to answer questions that cannot be answered electronically. I do not ask them to hold office hours, as that is not a very effective use of ther time. If you have a question about an Individual Homework PROGRAMS or ASSIGNMENTS (with restrictions), you are welcome to contact any of them to set up an appointment either in person or virtually. Keep in mind we expect appointments to be kept and a missed appointment without notice may impact your options for future appointments. We will discuss this further in class tomorrow.

  • puTTY Video Primer posted: As promised I have put a "puTTY" video primer in the Media Gallery for anyone who needs to review how to use puTTY to access Silo. You can access the Media Gallery as one of the options at the bottom of the left hand menu in Canvas, just above "Campus Course Policies."

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Graduate Associate Instructors, Spring 2024:


Abhijith Dameruppala

Abhijith Dameruppala

Email: adameru@iu.edu

  • Office Hours/Appointments: No formal office hours. Preferred appointment times available and appointments strongly encouraged.
    PREFERRED Appointment times:

  • Thursdays: 3:00pm - 5:00pm and Fridays: 3:00pm - 5:00pm

Prajwal Kaushal

Prajwal Kaushal

Email: prkaus@iu.edu

  • Office Hours/Appointments: No formal office hours. Preferred appointment times available and appointments strongly encouraged.
    PREFERRED Appointment times:

  • Tuesdays: 1:00pm - 3:00pm and Fridays: - 10:00am - 12:00pm

Sai Sumanth Muvva

Sai Sumanth Muvva

Email: saimuvva@iu.edu

  • Office Hours/Appointments: No formal office hours. Preferred appointment times available and appointments strongly encouraged.
    PREFERRED Appointment times:

  • Wednesdays: 10:00am - 12:00pm and Fridays: 1:00pm - 3:00pm
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