About the Course/Instructor

CSC 161 - Imperative Problem Solving and Data Structures - Weinman

1  About the Course

Q:
When will the weekly group mentor sessions for our 161 course be held?
A:
The mentors should put a poll up on Piazza soon!
Q:
One question I have is whether you prefer complete sentences or are okay with fragments when it comes to answering questions or writing clarifying sentences for code. Thanks!
A:
For answering questions, sentences are generally preferred (questions on exams and quizzes may be appropriate exceptions); in code comments, fragments are generally acceptable, as the main purpose is clarity in the context.
Q:
Does it matter if I forgot most of what I have learned from CS151?
A:
Does it matter if you forgot a lot of Scheme syntax? Probably not, but the high-level ideas will be critical. You will always use the algorithmic ingredients.
Q:
What is the difference between the work that will be posted in the Schedule versus the Deadline section? Is there one place we can go to to see all of the deadlines?
A:
"Schedule" just contains pointers to the readings and labs. "Deadline" indeed should give you everything to turn in.
Q:
The syllabus says that we will have four formal lab writeups, but will we still have daily mini writeups like we did in 151?
A:
Nope! For better or worse, you are left to your own recognizance (let me know if it's for worse so I can adapt future semesters). As the syllabus says, 30-50% of exam questions will be from labs, so that's motivation!
Q:
I know you say that we should be spending a minimum of 10 hours a week on CSC-161, but how much time would you like us to spend?
A:
Well, hopefully as much as you need to pass, but then as much as you like to get what you want out of the course. I recognize that students have different levels of interest and motivation, and this class might not be the most important for you. It might also just take you longer to work on a program. Many studies have shown an "average" of 10x difference in productivity for people working in the same group among professional programmers. That's a pedagogical fact I struggle with regularly. (After all, I can't reasonably say I'd like you to spend 100 hours. I'm not sure what the right average is for this class.)
Q:
What is the overarching theme of this course?
A:
The interaction of data (its representation) and algorithms (its processing). There is a rather famous book on this trope.

2  About Me

Q:
One thing I would like to know is whether you usually allow classes after 151 to call you Jerod or if that was a change with respect to all classes (if the change completely, what changed your mind and if it's usually just a thing after 151, why)?
A:
It's a new change overall. My undergraduate CS department was all first name (students there still compare it to other departments that are not and gush about the community). I loved that type of total community. When I started at Grinnell I didn't realize how completley awesome the students are and I figured it was easier to go from formal to informal adddress. With two new faculty coming into the department, I figured it was a good time to go for a cultural shift. In addition, familiar forms of address simply enhance a necessary sense of humility, which is important to my faith.
Q:
I don't think you have mentioned what type of punk music your band used to play. Was it new-wave, garage punk, pop punk, hard-core punk, glam punk, or something completely different?
A:
Mostly pop punk and some ska/punk (we had a very talented trumpeter).
Q:
Why do you enjoy teaching computer science?
A:
While I once worried a bit about teaching the same class for 40 years, the field moves so fast that's not really a meaningful concern. Moreover, the students are continually new, growing, going off, and coming back to tell about all the awesome things they are doing in the world. That's what I love the most. (Finishing my seventh year, I'm just now starting to get more of that.)
Q:
Will we finish the peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
A:
Is that a metaphysical question? :-) Or maybe I should say: We're done with these abstractions you cal "peanut butter" and "jelly" and now we're looking at lower level things like tannins, pectin, oils, and carbohydrates.
Q:
What is your favorite part about Grinnell College?
A:
Great question. The students and faculty. Seriously. You are generally nice people and you care about what what is going on in the world. Truly, you inspire and challenge me daily.
Q:
If it's not off topic, how's Gus doing these days?
A:
Awesome! Thanks for asking (you're always welcome to). He's added the word "No" to his lexicon and seems to enjoy its use, but generally he puts together sentences that make me laugh all the time. He's also a big fan of locational prepositions, "right there", "up there", or especially "in the mouth." Like "Gus, what's in the sky?" Birdies! "What are they doing?" Singing. In the mouth.
Q:
What is a prediction you have or a belief you hold in the field of CS that hasn't been proven, but you think will come to fruition in some way in the next 20 years?
A:
We'll almost certainly have truly reliable speech recognition that can deal with the "cocktail party problem"-that is, be able to delayer multiple sources of input and pick out or attend to and interept the one of interest.
Q:
If you only had to teach one of your classes, which would you keep? Why that class?
A:
Whoah. That's a tough one. It might be cheating if I chose 499, but that one is fun for me not just because it's an independent project. I give an active curriculum of research education. I might keep CSC 105 (The Digital Age) for a few reasons. It covers all the big ideas in CS and we actively reflect on the social, ethical, and philosophical questions behind computing as well. It's truly a liberal arts course. (Though if it were the only one I taught, I'd probably rework some of the technical things in it.)
Q:
What is the coolest thing you have done with computer science?
A:
You all ask tough and interesting questions! I don't know if it's the coolest, but some recent work I've done that I'm proud of is processing old maps. Given just the image, it recognizes the words and from those alone, determines where on the earth each pixel would live. Here is an example.
Q:
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
A:
I attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and graduated with a double-major in Computer Science and Mathematics (I also took two minors: Science, Technology, and Society as well as Philosophy and Religion.)