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

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

July 21, 1969

Instructor: Jeff Whitmer

• My Office: Luddy Hall 2050 (IF2050).
  
• Office Hours:
  
  
  • Monday/Wednesday: 8:00 - 9:00am. Appointments also available.
    
    
  
  
  • Office Hour Special NOTES:
    • Any changes to my office hours will be posted here.
      
      
      • Tuesday, January 14, 2025 FIRST DAY THIS CLASS MEETS.
        
        
      • Monday, January 20, 2025: 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 2025:

MEETINGS: Tuesdays and Thursdays:, 9:35am - 10:50am (Sections 4805, 6032)
Miles Brand Hall I W109

Important Updates for All Students
enrolled in Spring Semester 2025:
[LAST UPDATED: 3/10/25]

• ACTIVE Course Engagement Scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades are posted to Canvas and Final Grades submitted to the Registrar: ACTIVE Course Engagement scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades have been posted on Canvas, and grades have been submitted to the Registrar. 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.
  
  Because the quality of work for the course was very high for this group, I could not justify any sort of dramatic 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 A range to 88-100, the B range from 78-88, and the C range to 68-78. This means the lowest A- was a 88.0 and the lowest B- was 78.0 and the lowest C- was 66.0. The +/- grades are still the top and bottom 2.5% OF each range. I was able to set a custom grading scheme on Canvas, so your Canvas Final grade is your official Final grade.
  
  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 7 students earning a grade, 3 students earned some version of an "A", and 4 students earned some version of a "B."
  
  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 87.86. It is important to remind you, as I said in the first and last weeks, it is impossible to separate Engagement from Attendance. If you were not present in class, it was impossible to achieve a superior engagement 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, or chronically late to class, that was very easy for me to see. Missed course work, especially PROGRAMS and/or ASSIGNMENTS 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 96.23%, with 4 scores of 100, 2 scores in the 90s, and 1 in the 80s. While this was supposed to be a challenging final assignment, the class as a whole did another outstanding job on this assignment. This is again one of the best performances I have seen. Great 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 92.11%, which is among the very best averages I have seen in recent offerings of this course. Even with some students missing one or more submissions, this is a really outstanding class average. For the Assignment Average, there was 1 average of 100, 5 in the 90s, 0 in the 80s, and 1 in the 70s.
  
  NOTE: Participation Scores, Final Averages, and Final Grades will be posted sometime on Monday, March 10, 2025 and submitted to the Registrar no later than 8pm on Monday, March 10, 2025.
  
  
• Your overall Canvas averages for "Attendance" are confirmed accurate. For "Attendance" there were 16 possible class meetings. This includes the three days I was ill where everyone was counted present (if you had not missed the meeting before or multiple meetings earlier in the term). If you had an excused absence, either with documentation, or as your one allowed "PTO" day (see Course Guidelines), it counted neither for nor against you. The class Attendance average was 86.67%, with 3 100s, 1 in the 90s, 1 in the 80s, 0 in the 70s, and 2 in the 60s. As previously 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 six 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 your Attendance or your MINIU/JIT/CAT averages, you must contact me by 3pm tomorroe, Friday, March 7, 2025. While I will not be able to reply, I will consider your request or answer your question, if it arrives by this deadline. After that, these averages will be final and official.
  
  
• 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 70.84%. 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 was 1 average in the 90s, 1 in the 80s, 2 in the 70s, 2 in the 60s, 0 in the 50s, and 1 below 50.
  
  
• 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 97.40%. 2 scored 100, and 3 in the 90s. REMEMBER, Individual Homework ASSIGNMENT 4 is this due Friday, 3/7/25, before midnight. PROGRAM 4 was worth 100 points, in case that is not clear on Canvas.
  
  The course average for the Programs was 82.36%. There were 0 averages of 100, 4 averages in the 90s, 1 in the 80s, 0 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.
  
  

Graduate Associate Instructors, Spring 2025:

Sri Sai Sreya Sadasivapetkar

Email: ssadasiv@iu.edu

• Office Hours/Appointments: Usually part of class meeting time. Appointments also available and strongly encouraged.
  PREFERRED Appointment times:
  
  
• Thursday: - 1:00pm - 3:00pm and Friday: 10:00am - 12:00pm

Nikhil Sai Jaddu

Email: njaddu@iu.edu

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


• Monday: 3:00pm - 5:00pm and Tuesday: 1:00pm - 3:00pm