Resources for COMP492

Class 1: Tuesday January 26

Discussion of syllabus. Course highlights.

Design pattern lab -- see the assignments page.

Class 2: Tuesday February 2

Instructor-led discussion on "Introduction to Ethics".

Required reading: Quinn Ch 2 ("Introduction to Ethics"). As with all readings this semester, make a few notes on the reading. As stated on the syllabus, there may be a brief reading quiz at the start of any class that has an assigned reading.

A summary of ethical theories and professional ethics is available.

Class 3: Tuesday February 9

Instructor-led discussion on "A case study of professional ethics for software engineering: The Case of The Killer Robot". Project work day.

Required reading: Richard G. Epstein, The Case of The Killer Robot, 1996. Available on Moodle.

Class 4: Tuesday February 16

Student-led discussions 1-3 (Hieu, Edwin, Hannah). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings.

Class 5: Tuesday February 23

Student-led discussions 4-7 (Thomas, Mamadou, Asir, Maurice). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings.

Class 6: Tuesday March 1

Code review -- see the assignments page. Order of presentation is: 1. Edwin 2. Mamadou 3. Jiayi 4. Hannah 5. Mackenzie 6. JT 7. Hieu 8. Asir 9. Santiago 10. Gabriel 11. Jacob 12. Nadim 13. Eric 14. Leonard 15. Graham 16. Nimo 17. Maurice 18. Tim 19. Caroline

Class 7: Tuesday March 8

Student-led discussions 8-10 (Jiayi, Leonard, Tim). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings.

Class 8: Tuesday March 22

Student-led discussions 11-13 (Graham, JT, Caroline). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings.

Class 9: Tuesday March 29

Student-led discussions 14-16 (Gabe, Jacob, Santiago). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings.

Class 10: Tuesday April 5, 7:00-8:30pm in Allison

There is no class at 3 PM today. Instead you are required to attend the 7pm Clarke Forum panel session, "iPhone vs FBI: government surveillance in the post-Snowden era." Make sure to take a few notes at the session (say, one page of notes). You'll be using these notes to answer a brief Moodle assignment--similar to a reading quiz--that will be published after the session and due by 11:59pm 4/6. Note: you are encouraged, but not required, to use the 3-5pm timeslot today for making progress on your project. I will be available for meetings throughout that time slot.

Class 11: Thursday, April 14, 4:30-6:00pm

There is no class on Tuesday, April 12. Instead you are required to attend and present a poster at the Dickinson science symposium on Thursday, April 14, 4:30-6:00pm. Note: you are encouraged, but not required, to use the 3-5pm timeslot on Tuesday 4/12 for making progress on your project. I will be available for meetings throughout that time slot.

Class 12: Tuesday April 19

Student-led discussions 17-19 (Nadim, Mackenzie, Nimo). See the discussion spreadsheet for topics and readings. We will also be doing a question-and-answer session with Dickinson CS alum Nick Hunter.

Class 13: Tuesday April 26

Please take the future plans survey. Thanks!

Instructor-led discussion, on Ken Thompson's classic 1984 paper, originally delivered as the acceptance lecture for his Turing award: Reflections on trusting trust, Communications of the ACM, Volume 27 Issue 8, Aug 1984, pages 761-763 (click on the "PDF" link). Notes:

A full copy of the program presented by Thompson in Figure 1 of the paper is also available: thompson-program.c (actually, this is a simplified and adapted version of the program but uses the same ideas).
We will do an ungraded minilab in class. In addition to the above thompson-program.c we may also use the following tools for working with self-reproducing programs: self-rep-tools.zip.

Class 14: Tuesday May 3

This class will take the form of an afternoon tea party, from 4PM to 5PM, at the instructor's house (details sent via email). The attendance policy will not be in effect, but I do hope everyone will be able to make it! Optional reading: the classic 1959 talk about the future of computing by Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom (this talk has its own Wikipedia page too). The reading is optional. There will not be a reading quiz!

Wednesday, May 11

Computer Science Senior Symposium, 9:30am.

All members of the senior seminar are expected to attend all talks in the Senior Symposium. Participation points will be awarded both for attendance and for asking questions.