CPS118
Introductory Programming for Scientists

Toronto Metropolitan University

Department of Computer Science

Land Acknowledgement
Toronto is in the 'Dish With One Spoon Territory'. The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect.

CPS118 - Introductory Programming for Scientists

Course Outline and Course Management Form [Fall 2024]

Professors

Lab Assistants

This course is an introduction to computer science, computers and programming for science students. Topics covered include: algorithmic thinking, computational approaches to solving problems, programming fundamentals such as elementary data structures, arrays, and basic constructs provided by high-level programming languages: sequencing, selection, iteration, and functions. Additional topics may include: numerical computation, GUI interface, and case studies of scientific computing. This course uses MATLAB as its programming language along with a brief introduction to Python.

None.

3 weekly lecture hours and 2 weekly lab hours.

See the official course website (www.cs.torontomu.ca/~cps118), and your Professor's website (or D2L Brightspace shell) for specific section information (details provided during the first class). The official course website can also be accessed from the content area of the D2L Brightspace shell.

See the official course website (www.cs.torontomu.ca/~cps118), and your Professor's website (or D2L Brightspace shell) for specific section information (details provided during the first class). The official course website can also be accessed from the content area of the D2L Brightspacealign="cenbter shell.

Gilat, Amos (2017). MATLAB: An Introduction with Applications, 6th Edition. Wiley.
Important Notes: The text is available in both hard copy (ISBN : 978-1-119-25683-0) and e-text (ISBN : 978-1-119-29925-7) formats.

Mueller, John Paul & Sizemore, Jim (2021). MATLAB for Dummies, 2nd Edition. Wiley.
Important Notes: The text is available in both hard copy (ISBN : 978-1-119-79688-6) and e-text (ISBN : 978-1-119-79689-3) formats. Chapters indicated by ** in the schedule of acitivies.

For the Computer Science Department labs: User's Guide to the Computer Science Department Labs
For the general TMU labs: Academic Computing Labs

At the end of the course, a successful student will be able to:

1. Have an understanding of what is Computer Science as part of the modern sciences.

2. Use the basic and advanced functionalities of the MATLAB software.

3. Create algorithms to solve scientific problems.

4. Write programs in the MATLAB scripting language to solve simple and complex scientific and mathematical problems.

5. Use MATLAB to create plots in two and three dimensions to illustrate relationships between experimental data sets.

6. Write a complete scientific report with computations and graphics created with MATLAB.

7. Compare MATLAB with an another popular scientific programming language (Python).

Practical Midterm: 25%
Term Project: 10%
Lab Practice & Assessment (5% per lab report): 40%
Final Exam: 25%

Cheating and plagiarism are a serious offenses. In accordance with the revised Policy 60 on academic integrity, a 5% penalty against your final course grade will be applied if submitted projects are found not to be original work in addition to the 0 (zero) mark which will be assigned for a non-original assignment.

Students are required to inform their instructors of any situation which arises during the semester which may have an adverse effect upon their academic performance, and must request any considerations and accommodations according to the relevant policies and well in advance. Failure to do so will jeopardize any academic appeals.

Medical certificates: If a student misses the deadline for submitting an assignment, or the date of an exam or other evaluation component because of illness, he or she must submit a Student Health Certificate AND an Academic Consideration Request within 3 working days of the missed date.

Religious observance: If a student needs accommodation because of religious observance, she or he must submit a Request for Accommodation of Student Religious, Aboriginal and Spiritual Observance AND an Academic Consideration Form within the first 2 weeks of the class or, for a final examination, within 2 weeks of the posting of the examination schedule. If the required absence occurs within the first 2 weeks of classes, or the dates are not known well in advance as they are linked to other conditions, these forms should be submitted with as much lead time as possible in advance of the required absence. If you are a full-time or part-time degree student, then you submit the forms to your own program department or school (FYCSO). If you are a certificate or non-certificate student, then you submit the forms to the staff at the front desk of the Chang School.

In the event that the missed evaluation is the final exam, students are required, in addition to the forms previously mentioned, to petition for an INC grade with the Incomplete Grade Request Form. To be allowed to write the makeup exam, you will need that form AND a verified Academic Consideration Request.

Students who need academic accommodation support should register with the Academic Accommodation Support office (formerly called the Access Centre). Before the first graded work is due, registered students should inform their instructors through an Accommodation Form for Professors that they are registered with Academic Accommodation Support and what accommodations are required.

TMU's Email Policy states that only TMU e-mail accounts are to be used for communication with students. All students, including continuing education students, have access to Ryerson email through their my.torontomu.ca site, and this is the official way in which they receive communication. All students are required to register for and maintain this account. Emails sent from other accounts may not be answered.

Note that weeks run from Tuesday to Monday during the Fall semester

The midterm is practical on computer and consists of specific tasks to be accomplished with the MATLAB software during a prescribed amount of time. The practical test is closed book (no notes or books allowed but integrated MATLAB help remains available). Submission of the tests are done electronically using a secure proprietary system. The term tests take place in the lab room during the scheduled lab time. There will be a practice test during the lab the week before the test.

The purpose of the lab periods is to give you the opportunity to practice on the concepts in the chapter, and a chance to get assistance from the lab assistant. For each lab, you need to write a comprehensive lab report that provides the answers and results to the questions and problems in the lab description. The report serves as the basis of the lab marking. It is marked on completeness and correctness. Labs start on the third week of the semester and lab reports are due at the end of the day. Late submissions of the lab reports are not accepted past the date and time indicated in the lab instructions and D2L.

The term project will consist of a larger scale project using most of the concepts covered during the course. It is required that the project be worked on in teams of three or four students (no more, no less, no exceptions). Projects are due during week #11 (see date above). Late projects will not be accepted for marking. Projects must be submitted in the format detailed in class, and are to be submitted as directed by your Professor. Projects submitted in any other fashion are deemed void.

It is important to know your CPS118 section number. Marks will be lost on any evaluation missing proper identification, i.e. Family/Last Name, Given/First Name, Student Number and Section Number.

Students are responsible for logging on to the course website at least weekly, and for following all course related instructions so transmitted. Students must also check their email (the torontomu.ca email as per academic policy) daily for any notices from the Professors and are responsible for following any directives so sent.

As course topics typically develop based on material from previous lectures, students are strongly urged to attend ALL classes. If you miss any material due to illness or other unavoidable circumstance be sure to catch up before the next class. Falling behind is the typical cause of course failure.

Grades on assignments, tests and labs will be available on the D2L/Brightspace system or other means specified by your Professor. As per TMU regulation, final grades will be disclosed only by the registrar's office.

Tests and exams have specific rules and you must abide by them, that may include limited washroom access. It is forbidden to have at your desk or wear on your person any electronic devices (including watches) during the test and exam.

a. TMU Policies of Interest (torontomu.ca/senate/policies):
Policy 46 - Undergraduate Grading, Promotion and Academic Standing
Policy 60 - Student Code of Academic Conduct
Policy 61 - Student Code of Non-academic Conduct
Policy 134 - Undergraduate Academic Consideration and Appeals
Policy 135 - Examination Policy
Policy 150 - Accommodation of Student Religious Observance Obligations
Policy 157 - Student Email Accounts for Official University Communication

b. Obligations: Students need to inform faculty of any situation arising during the semester which may have an adverse effect upon their academic performance; they must request any necessary considerations (e.g. medical or compassionate), or accommodations [e.g. religious observance, disability (should be registered with the Access Center), etc.] according to policies and well in advance. Failure to do so will jeopardize any academic appeals.

c. Re-grading and Re-calculation: Must be requested within 10 working days of the return of the graded assignment to the class.

In order to create an environment conducive to learning and respectful of others' rights, phones and pagers must be silenced during lectures, lab sessions and evaluations. Students should refrain from disrupting the lectures by arriving late and/or leaving the classroom before the lecture is finished.

According to the TMU policy 60 (see link above), academic misconduct includes, but not limited to: Plagiarism which is the claiming of words, ideas, artistry, drawings or data of another person. This also includes submitting your own work in whole or in part for credit in two or more courses.
Cheating
Misrepresentation of personal identity or performance
Submission of false information
Contributing to academic misconduct
Damaging, tampering, or interfering with the scholarly environment
Unauthorized copying or use of copyrighted materials
Violations of departmental policies or professional behavior
Violations of specific departmental or course requirements
Posting your work (like lab and project reports) online on sharing sites.

Committing academic misconduct will trigger academic penalties, including failing grades, suspension and possibly expulsion from the University. As a TMU student, you are responsible for familiarizing yourself with the conduct policies (torontomu.ca/academicintegrity).

Turnitin.com is an originality detection and plagiarism prevention service to which TMU subscribes. It is a tool to assist instructors in determining the similarity between students’ work and the work of other students who have submitted papers to the site (at any university), internet sources, and a wide range of books, journals and other publications. While it does not contain all possible sources, it gives instructors some assurance that students’ work is their own. No decisions are made by the service; it generates an “originality report,” which instructors must evaluate to judge if something is original/plagiarized.

Students agree by taking this course that their written work will be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com. Instructors can opt to have student’s papers included in the Turnitin.com database or not. Use of the Turnitin.com service is subject to the terms-of-use agreement posted on the Turnitin.com website. Students who do not want their work submitted to this plagiarism detection service must, by the end of the second week of class, consult with their instructor to make alternate arrangements.

Even when an instructor has not indicated that a plagiarism detection service will be used, or when a student has opted out of the plagiarism detection service, if the instructor has reason to suspect that an individual piece of work has been plagiarized, the instructor is permitted to submit that work in a non-identifying way to any plagiarism detection service.

Students may use Generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT, Grammarly, Perplexity, DeepL Translator) for grammar correction only. Failure to stay within these limits will be considered a breach of Policy 60.

TMU's Student Code of Non-academic Conduct is described in Senate Policy 61 (see link above). Among many other infractions, the code specifically refers to the following as a violation: "Disruption of Learning and Teaching - Students shall not behave in disruptive ways that obstruct the learning and teaching environment".

In this course I would like to create a learning environment that supports a diversity of thoughts, perspectives and experiences, and honors your identities (including race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, ability, etc.). For more information about our University's resources and services on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion please visit torontomu.ca/equity

At Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), we recognize that things can come up throughout the term that may interfere with a student’s ability to succeed in their coursework. These circumstances are outside of one’s control and can have a serious impact on physical and mental well-being. Seeking help can be a challenge, especially in those times of crisis. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 911 and go to the nearest hospital emergency room. You can also access these outside resources at anytime:

• Distress Line: 24/7 line for if you are in crisis, feeling suicidal or in need of emotional support (phone: 416–408–4357)
• Good2Talk: 24/7-hour line for postsecondary students (phone: 1-866-925-5454)
• Keep.meSAFE: 24/7 access to confidential support through counsellors via My SSP app or 1-844-451-9700

If non-crisis support is needed, you can access these campus resources:

• Centre for Student Development and Counselling: 416-979-5195 or email csdc@torontomu.ca
• Consent Comes First – Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education: 416-919-5000 ext: 553596 or email osvse@torontomu.ca
• Medical Centre: call (416) 979-5070 to book an appointment

We encourage all Toronto Metropolitan University community members to access available resources to ensure support is reachable. You can find more resources available through the Toronto Metropolitan University Mental Health and Wellbeing website.

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