Topic outline

  • The course lectures will be fully remotely, via live lectures (Zoom link) and pre-recorded videos.  The first lecture of the course will be live. Information on the exercise sessions will be published by the first lecture. You can choose which exercise session you attend (does not need to be the one shown on MyCourses).


    Enrol by using the button on top of the page that has light blue background. 

    Please note that this course is the English language equivalent of CS-A1121 and only one of the two can be included in a degree.

    For all questions related to the course, lectures, assignments and the project connect to the course's Zulip channel . Both the English version and the Finnish version of the corse use the same Zulip space, you can ask your general questions in either language, but first please go over the other posts to make sure your questions is not already answered.

    The course uses the A+ system for course work, using CS-A1121 course workspace (direct link). Once logged in, select English from the language symbol on the upper left corner using button that looks this:xa 


    Staff and contact information


    The responsible teacher of this course is Talayeh Aledavood, DSc. 

    We will soon publish the name of teaching assistants of the course. The assistants will help you both with the assignments and your course project. We use Zulip for questions & answers. Please read first the instructions from "help with zulip" section. Before sending a message, please check if someone else has already got answer to same kind of problem and whether you could solve your problem the same way. Please DO NOT USE EMAILS for communicating with the course staff.
    If necessary (e.g. for personal issues that need to be communicated, like long sickness) use the private message option in Zulip to contact the responsible teacher. Please do not send private messages to assistants.


    Signing Up, Attending and Grading


    You must sign up for the course on Sisu. You do not need to sign up for the exercise sessions, and can attend any of the sessions (listed below under "Exercise sessions").

    The course has two mandatory tasks (more info about the tasks on A+). Both tasks (assignments and the final project) should be completed individually.

    Assignments: There will be six rounds, spaced about a week apart, during period III and beginning of period IV.

    Final Project: This is a software project which includes individual online meetings with the teaching assistants according to a schedule (details on A+). The topic for the project will be chosen in mid-period III, a plan will be returned at the end of period III and the final software with its documentation in the beginning of May (period V). Both the program code and documentation will be returned using the Git version management system and needs to be demonstrated to the teaching assistant.

    For all tasks, you may ask for assistance (including your friends), but the work must be your own, and not copied from or dictated by somebody else. Also, if somebody asks for help, do not give them the complete answer, but guide them to learn and to figure it out themselves. This course uses an automated homework grading system and also an automated plagiarism identifier.

    Grading: The final grade of the course is a weighted average of both: round(0.4 * exercises + 0.6 * project), and both tasks must be acceptably completed. This course has no final exam.

    Attendance: It is not mandatory to attend the lectures or the exercise sessions.
     

    Materials and course information

    Instructions and course news will mainly be in the A+ system, including related reading material and course exercises. Assignments with their materials will cover the basic contents of the course, but the students should be prepared to search for additional information themselves, during the assignments and especially the project. 


    Partial Coursework


    The whole course must be completed within the course period, partial work from earlier years con not be combined with current work. We have allowed this occasionally in the past, however the course policies have been revised.

    Exercise sessions


    The course has exercise sessions where you can come and ask the course assistants for help.  Attending these sessions is optional (you can go when you need help). You do not have to register for the exercise sessions and you can go to any that suits you. A link to the exercise queue can be found in the A + sidebar. Make a public Zoom session (instructions for using Aalto's zoom: https://www.aalto.fi/en/services/zoom-quick-guide) and add its link to the queue. Stay tuned! An assistant will join your Zoom session when it is your turn. You can also ask for help in relevant streams in Zulip.
    Exercise sessions start on 17.1. and end on March 24th. There are no exercises in week 8 (February 21-25).  In all groups you can get help in English and Finnish. In the groups marked with (sv) you can also get advice in Swedish.

    Time, place and teaching assistants:

    • Mon 10-12,   Online (maybe later in OK1 Y342a), Kim Amir, Jenna Hantula
    • Mon 14-16,  Online (maybe later in OK1 Y342a), Thomas Tjurin, Eero Asikainen
    • Mon 16-18, Online (maybe later in OK1 Y342a), Simeon Seppälä, Tuomas Rislakki
    • Tue 10-12,  Online (maybe later in MaariB), Stas Tatun, Jenna Hantula
    • Wed 14-16, Online (maybe later in MaariB), Simeon Seppälä, Anni Niskanen, Bai-Bai Bairoh
    • Wed 16-18 (sv), Online (maybe later in  Maari B), Niko Miller, Anni Niskanen, Johanna Järviluoto
    • Thu 8-10, Online (maybe later in T-talo T7), Tuomas Rislakki, Eero Asikainen
    • Thu 14-16 (sv), Online (maybe later in  OK1 Y342a), Niko Miller, Thomas Tjurin, Stas Tatun
    • Thu 16-18, Online (maybe later in  OK1 Y342a), Kim Amir, Bai-Bai Bairoh, Johanna Järviluoto