MIS 350: Introduction to Programming for Business Applications Master Syllabus
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Textbook and Course Site
- Introduction to Java Programming, Brief Version- With Access
- By Liang, Y. Daniel
- Edition: 11TH 18
- Publisher: PEARSON
- ISBN 13: 9780134611037
Course Description
This course covers design and implementation of computer programs (Java) to solve business problems using structured and object-oriented programming techniques. Students become familiar with program development life cycle using Java supported by a modern development environment. Students complete assignments involving problem solving and development of business application. A third attempt will require academic advisor approval. Offered by Information Sys and Ops Mngmnt. Limited to two attempts.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to
- create, compile, and execute java programs
- demonstrate fundamental programming concepts and develop basic programming skills;
- formulate programmatic solutions for real problems
- write programs using sequence, selection and repetition structures, methods, and arrays, and begin to learn object-oriented programming using classes and objects
The objective of this course is not to make you epic coders, but more to give you an understanding of these essential concepts; to see how the other half lives. This will give you an understanding of the fundamentals of computing, software and application design, the logic and process in problem solving, and the skillset of programming. Ultimately, this knowledge and experience will give you a richer perspective, project and skills to include in your professional portfolio, and help you be a more effective technology manager.
MIS (Management Information Systems) Learning Goals
- Apply knowledge of information technology, operations, and business functions to assess, design and improve business processes.
- Effectively manage projects, including information technology projects.
- Understand the overall systems development life cycle and be able to recommend IT solutions.
BS Business Learning Goals
- The social, global, ethical, and legal contexts of business and will be able to reflect on the role of the individual in business.
- The ability to apply knowledge of professional skills necessary for success in business including effective business writing.
- Technical and analytic skills appropriate for success in business.
- The ability to apply knowledge of core business disciplines including accounting, finance, information systems, management, marketing, and operations management.
- How research in the business disciplines contributes to knowledge and how such research is conducted.
Heads-up
This course is going to be hard and will require a lot of work (hours) both in and out of class. If you have never programmed before, this will require you to adjust the way you look at things as well as approach problem solving in a new way. I have high expectations of all of you. We have a short amount of time to cover a lot of materials. I have no doubt that every one of you can and will succeed. You simply need to put in the time to absorb, execute, and practice the concepts in this course. The single best way to learn a programming language (or any language, for that matter) is to practice it. As the saying goes, “learn how to break it.” That offers the opportunity to learn how to fix it. There will be little stopping you from appropriating someone else’s code as your own. You will only be robbing 2 yourself, plus it will make the exam difficult, if not impossible, to pass. Please see the “Honor Code” section for additional consequences.
Technology
- Java SE Development Kit (JDK) 8, 11 or 16 is required for developing java programs and it can be downloaded at the Oracle website.
- You will also need java development tools and jGRASP is the recommended development environment. It is lightweight, easy-to-use, and implemented in Java. It is free and can be found at the jGRASP website.
Course Deliverables and Grading
| Grading Items | Expectations (More detailed descriptions are provided below) |
Pts | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-Class Exercises | Students are expected to attend all classes and follow the lecture demonstration to complete the in-class exercises and practices. All the in-class exercises need to be submitted to the Canvas for grading. | 200 | 25% |
| Homework Assignments | About ten (10) homework assignments will be given during the semester. They will consist of problem sets designed to offer you practice opportunities and enhance your understanding of the concepts covered in class. All homework are individual work. No collaboration is allowed. No external or Internet help is allowed. | 250 | 31.25% |
| Exams | Two (2) exams will be arranged during the semester. They are closedbook, closed-note, timed exams that are not accumulated. | 200 | 25% |
| Problem Solving Project | Identify a small problem in your life, in the university, in a business, etc.; Design the processes to solve it; Create flowcharts to plan your solution; And finally program it with Java. | 150 | 18.75% |
| Total | 800 | 100% |
Grading for the course will be based on total points earned or weighted total by the end of the course. Final course letter grade assignments will approximate the table below:
| A+ | 97% - 100% | B+ | 87% - 89.99% | C+ | 77% - 79.99% | D | 60% - 69.99% |
| A | 93% - 96.99% | B | 83% - 86.99% | C | 73% - 76.99% | F | below 60% |
| A- | 90% - 92.99% | B- | 80% - 82.99% | C- | 73% - 76.99% |
In-Class Exercises (ICEs)
Students are expected to actively work through the weekly class and “learn by doing it”. In each class, students should follow the lecture demonstrations to complete the in-class exercises. All the in-class exercises must be submitted to the Canvas by the end of the class meetings.
Please note that the course contents and programming knowledge / skills are stacked week by week. If a student misses a week’s study, it may affect his or her study in the next and following weeks. So please 3 try all your best to stick with the weekly schedule in this course. If there is unexpected or uncontrolled situation, please inform me by emails as early as possible, so I can work with you for an alternative schedule. In most of the cases, you still need to catch up with the class contents and submit the weekly exercises and homework assignments with a small extension, so it will not impact your learning in the following weeks. But any late or missed work without email notification or a good reason will be penalized in grade for sure.
At the end of the semester, ten (20) best in-class exercise scores will be used into your final course grade. There could be extra ICE scores dropped depending on the actual progress in the semester. This hopefully will help with some unexpected situations as well.
Homework Assignments (HWs)
There will be about ten (10) homework assignments. If I assign more than 10 HWs, the top 10 scores from all the HW assignments will be used into your course grade.
Points for non-programming questions will be clearly listed on each assignment instruction. Points for any programming questions in the homework assignments will be distributed in the following manner:
- 0% if the code does not compile
- 50% if the code compiles but does not do what it is supposed to or is not designed according to the specifications laid out in the assignment document.
- 75% if the code compiles and is designed in an attempt to execute to the specifications laid out in the assignment document.
- 100% if the code compiles, does what it is supposed to, and is designed according to the specifications laid out in the assignment document.
- Small points may be deducted if the program does not follow the required programming style, such as program top comment lines, indentation, name conversion etc.
Exams
Students need to take two exams in this course. They are closed-book, closed note, timed exams on the Canvas. The lock-down browser is needed for the exams. The exams could include both multiple choice questions and programming / coding questions. In the coding questions, you may need to type java statements or a java programs (small ones) in the textbox, as we won’t be able to use java code editor in the Canvas exams. The two exams are not cumulative.
The exam dates and times are firmed. Make-up exam will be given only for documented health / family / work or academic reasons. If you expect to miss an exam date or to be unable to meet another requirement, please discuss it with me before the scheduled dates. After-the-fact request will not be considered!!!
Problem Solving Project
The project will be conducted over the 2nd half of the semester after we all have decent knowledge base in java programming. Students will work in a small team for the project. The project consists of multiple milestones, activities and deliverables. The specific project schedule and milestone instructions will be provided on the Blackboard in the middle of the semester.
All members in the project teams are expected to work together and make equal contributions into each and every milestone. Free rider is not allowed and will not receive the milestone grade. Peer evaluation will be done in each and every milestone.
To grade the projects, I will take all factors into consideration, including the project innovation and usefulness, average workload, the difficulty level of the project topic, and coding quality, etc.
Late Coursework Policies
In-class exercises, homework assignments and project deliverables must be submitted on time to receive full credit. Late work will be accepted with 25% grade penalty per day (every 24-hour after the due date/time). After the 4th day, your submission will receive 0 grade.
If you have obligations that conflict with exam or assignment due dates, you should inform me and make arrangement with me beforehand. Any time-extension or make-up request made after-the-fact will not be considered.
Score/Grade Appeals
Students wishing to appeal a grade or score must submit the appeal to the professor in writing (emails) within one week after receiving the graded work. I will announce to the class when certain grades are available on the Canvas, but it is your own responsibilities to keep tracking My Grade on the Canvas. Late appealing request will not be considered. Score changes are at the discretion of the professor. It is important to understand that your score may go up or down based upon a complete review of the work in question.
Communication
The best way to contact the instructor is via emails. Student emails to professors should be sent via your Mason email accounts. For the sake of student privacy, I cannot discuss grade and course status with you when you use your personal email addresses such as gmail, yahoo, etc.
Every email sent to the instructor should be respectful, concise and grammatically correct. The subject line should be descriptive and must contain the course and section number (i.e. MIS350-001 or DL1). The body of the email should clearly state the question. Make sure you include the prior email conversation in the follow-up emails on the same issue. Emails not meeting these standards may cause a delay of my response.
During the school week l normally answer all email questions within 24 hours - often much more quickly. If you have waited 24 hours for a reply, please feel free to re-send to be sure I received the original request. During the weekends you should allow 48 hours for a response.
Tentative Class Schedule
| Week | Lesson | Homework | Project Deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro to the course and the first Java program | Final exam | |
| 2 | Why Java, programming style and errors | HW1 | |
| 3 | Selection Structure 1 – IF and flow chart | HW2 | |
| 4 | Selection Structure 2 – Nested IF and Switch | HW3 | |
| 5 | Repetition Structure 1 – WHILE, DO…WHILE, FOR | HW4 | |
| 6 | Repetition Structure 2 – Sentinel controlled loops Exam Review | HW5 | Project Team Formation |
| 7 | Midterm exam Introduction to the Project |
Optional HW6 |
|
| 8 | Methods 1 | HW7 | M1 – Prob. defining |
| 9 | Method 2 | HW8 | |
| 10 | Single dimensional array | M1 – Prob. defining | |
| 11 | Project work | HW9 | |
| 12 | Class and objects 1 | HW10 | M3 – Program structure |
| 13 | Class and objects 2 | HW11 | |
| 14 | Project Work Exam Review |
M4 – Java Coding | |
| 15 | Final exam |
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