Most weeks there will be a set of problem solving assignments due. These will consist of:
PSAas are our best effort to give you the experience you will have in an actual computer science career. Computers are tools we use to solve problems. The act of programming embodies the process of reading and understanding what problem needs to be solved, developing a plan outlining how such a problem can be solved within the powers of what we can direct a computer to do, implementing that
plan in a particular programming language understood by the computer (Java, here), and then testing that program to make sure it works on all possible input cases (e.g. it can double the number 4 correctly, how about -2? or 0?).
Your main goal in completing a PSA is to make sure that you do ALL of the above steps, and that, in the end, you COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND what your program is doing and why. Just managing to get a program that compiles and seems to give the right output won't do. You need to understand WHY the program does what it does -- and how you might change it to do something slightly different.
To this end, we ask you to turn in your program electronically, so we can test it. But we also ask you to come into Open Lab and be interviewed (individually) by a tutor about your code within 48 weekday hours after the electronic turnin deadline. More details will be in each PSA readme.
Interviews are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Consult the Open Lab tutor hours to see when a CSE8A tutor is available. If the tutor is already busy when you arrive, you will be asked to put your name on the board. Don't wait until the LAST MINUTE to get your interview! If everyone does this, then the tutor will not have time to get to you. No extensions will be given if you arrive after the tutor's scheduled time is full. Interviews take approximately 5 minutes.
Links to PSA READMEs
What is the purpose of PSAs?