T & H 1:00-2:15PM 5505 SENSQ

Instructor: John C. Ramirez - 6141 SENSQ

Phone: 624-8441

Email: ramirez@cs.pitt.edu

Web: http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~ramirez

Office Hours:

Tuesday & Thursday – 2:30-3:30PM

Wednesday – 11:00AM-1:00PM

and by appointment

TA:

See Course Home Page

Texts:

1) Discrete-Event System Simulation, Fifth Edition, by Banks et al (Prentice Hall; ISBN-10: 0136062121; ISBN-13: 978-0136062127)

2) A good Java reference book

Programming Background:

We will be doing some programs and simulations in Java and possibly other languages as well. A strong knowledge of Java is required of all students.

Math Background:

Students are expected to have completed a course in Statistics such as STAT 1000, STAT 1100 or STAT 1151. Strong math skills are essential in this course.

Course Policies:

General Requirements

Exam 1:	25%
Exam 2:	25%
Written problems:	20%
Programs / projects:	30%

Exam 2 may be partially cumulative.
Each student is expected to do his/her own work. For a first offense, a student caught collaborating/cheating in any way will receive a zero for the exam/homework/project in question. In the event of a second offense, the student will receive an F for the course and may be subject to stronger action. Note: Submissions that are alike in a substantive way (not due to coincidence) will be considered to be cheating by ALL involved parties. Please protect yourselves by only storing your files in private directories, and by retrieving all printouts promptly.
Students are encouraged to attend all lectures, which frequently include material that is not directly taken from the text. If a student misses a lecture, he/she is still responsible for the material covered and is advised to copy the notes from a classmate.
An abundance of information, including announcements, handouts, review sheets and solutions will be posted on the CS1538 Web page (and the TA's as well) throughout the term. Students are expected to be aware of all information that is posted on the CS1538 web pages, and should access them frequently.
All graded materials that a student receives back should be saved in a safe place until after the term has ended and he/she has received and accepts his/her final grade. In this way, any grade discrepancies can be easily resolved.

Exams

Exam dates are listed in the Important Dates section below.
Students are expected to be present for all exams. Make-up exams will only be given in the event of an emergency, and only if I am informed in advance. If you cannot contact me directly, send me email or call the CS department (624-8492) and leave me a message. Failure to notify me prior to missing an exam will result in a zero for the exam.

Written Assignments

Written problems from the text and / or from other sources will be assigned on a regular basis throughout the term.
Written problems are expected to be well-formatted and clearly legible.
Written problems are due at the beginning of class on the assigned due dates.

Programming Assignments / Projects

There will be a number of programming assignments / projects assigned throughout the term.
Programs will be submitted electronically to a submission directory set up for the course. More details on submission guidelines will be provided on the course Web site.
On-time projects must be received at the submission site by 11:59 PM on the due date. Projects submitted after that time will be graded as late submissions.
Students are expected to have a backup disk (or AFS directory) for every programming assignment they turn in. In this way, if there is any problem with the version that is submitted, the backup can be used for grading purposes.
More details on the programming assignments will be given with the first assignment.

Late Policy

• A late due date will be given for each assignment (written or programming). An assignment is considered to be late if any part of it is submitted late. Late assignments will be penalized 15 points (out of 100). No assignment will be accepted after its late due date.

Important Dates:

Event/Item	Date(s)
First Class meeting	Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Last Day to Add/Drop	Friday, September 11, 2009
*Monday Classes Moved to Tuesday – Fall Break*	Monday, October 12, 2009
*No Class – Monday Classes will meet*	Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Exam One	Thursday, October 22, 2009
Last Day to Withdraw	Friday, October 30, 2009
Thanksgiving Break – No class	Thursday, November 26, 2009
Exam Two	Monday, December 14, 2009 2:00-3:50PM