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CS106A - Programming Methodology

Course Details

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Course Description

This course is the largest of the introductory programming courses and is one of the largest courses at Stanford. Topics focus on the introduction to the engineering of computer applications emphasizing modern software engineering principles: object-oriented design, decomposition, encapsulation, abstraction, and testing.
Programming Methodology teaches the widely-used Java programming language along with good software engineering principles. Emphasis is on good programming style and the built-in facilities of the Java language. The course is explicitly designed to appeal to humanists and social scientists as well as hard-core techies. In fact, most Programming Methodology graduates end up majoring outside of the School of Engineering.

Prerequisites: The course requires no previous background in programming, but does require considerable dedication and hard work.

Instructor

FPO

Sahami, Mehran

I joined the Computer Science Department at Stanford University as Associate Professor (Teaching), Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education, and Director of Educational Affairs. From 2001 to 2006, I also taught in the CS department at Stanford as a Lecturer. From 2002-2007, I was a Senior Research Scientist at Google, where I continue to maintain a consulting appointment in the research group. My research interests include computer science education, machine learning, and information retrieval on the Web. Please see my publications web page for more information.

Previously, I worked for several years as a Senior Engineering Manager at Epiphany. Prior to working at Epiphany, I completed my PhD in the Computer Science Department at Stanford. I was also an undergrad at Stanford and I loved it so much that I didn't want to leave.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with family, playing the guitar, going on outdoor excursions, and sleeping (which seems to be getting rarer and rarer these days).

Handouts

Lecture 1
01-general-information.pdf 02-syllabus.pdf
03-course-placement.pdf 04-honor-code.pdf
Lecture 2
05-downloading-eclipse.pdf 06-karel-in-eclipse.pdf
07-assignment-1-karel.pdf 08-submitting-work.pdf
Lecture 3
09-karel-examples.pdf
Lecture 4
10-section-handout-1.pdf
Lecture 5
No Handouts
Lecture 6
10a-section-1-solutions.pdf 11-prog-patterns.pdf
12-control-statements.pdf 13-assignment-2-simple-java.pdf
Lecture 7
14-methods.pdf 15-section-handout-2.pdf
Lecture 8
16-random-number-examples.pdf
Lecture 9
15a-section-2-solutions.pdf 17-coding-style.pdf
18-variables.pdf
Lecture 10
19-assignment-3-breakout.pdf 20-section-handout-3.pdf
20a-section-3-solutions.pdf 21-bouncing-ball-example.pdf
Lecture 11
22-graphics-events-examples.pdf 23-ufo-game-example.pdf
Lecture 12
No handouts
Lecture 13
24-section-handout-4.pdf 25-strings.pdf
26-strings-and-ciphers.pdf
Lecture 14
27-assignment-4-hangman.pdf 28-practice-midterm.pdf
29-practice-midterm-solutions.pdf
Lecture 15
24a-section-4-solutions.pdf
Lecture 16
No Handouts
Lecture 17
30-section-handout-5.pdf 31-ArrayList.pdf
30a-section-5-solutions.pdf
Lecture 18
33-debugging.pdf 34-section-handout-6.pdf
34a-section-6-solutions.pdf 35-assignment-5-yahtzee.pdf
Lecture 19
No Handouts
Lecture 20
36-graphics-contest.pdf
Lecture 21
37-interactors-examples.pdf 38-section-handout-7.pdf
38a-section-7-solutions.pdf
Lecture 22
39-assignment-6-name-surfer.pdf
Lecture 23
40-musicshop-program.pdf
Lecture 24
41-section-handout-8.pdf 41a-section-8-solutions.pdf
Lecture 25
42-assignment-7-facepamphlet.pdf 43-flytunes-data-structure-example.pdf
Lecture 26
44-packaging-jar-files.pdf
Lecture 27
45-section-handout-9.pdf
Lecture 28
46-practice-final-exam.pdf 45a-section-9-solutions.pdf
47-practice-final-solutions.pdf

Assignments

Section Assignments

AssignmentSolutionsDistributed
Assignment 1 Solutions Lecture 4
Assignment 2 Solutions Lecture 7
Assignment 3 Solutions Lecture 10
Assignment 4 Solutions Lecture 13
Assignment 5 Solutions Lecture 16
Assignment 6 Solutions Lecture 18
Assignment 7 Solutions Lecture 21
Assignment 8 Solutions Lecture 24
Assignment 9 Solutions Lecture 27

Programming Assignments

AssignmentInstructionsStarter CodeDistributed
1. Karel 07-assignment-1-karel.pdf Assignment1.zip Lecture 2
2. Simple Java 13-assignment-2-simple-java.pdf Assignment2.zip Lecture 6
3. Breakout! 19-assignment-3-breakout.pdf Assignment3.zip Lecture 10
4. Hangman 27-assignment-4-hangman.pdf Assignment4.zip Lecture 14
5. Yahtzee! 35-assignment-5-yahtzee.pdf Assignment5.zip Lecture 18
6. NameSurfer 39-assignment-6-name-surfer.pdf Assignment6.zip Lecture 22
7. FacePamphlet 42-assignment-7-facepamphlet.pdf Assignment7.zip Lecture 25

Exams

Practice Midterm Questions Solutions
Practice Final Questions Solutions

Software

Windows Users
Macintosh Users
Software Resources

Course Sessions (28):

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Lecture 1

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Topics: Welcome to CS106A, Course Staff, Why is the class called Programming Methodology?, Are you in the right class?, Class Logistics, Assignments and Grading, Extensions, Midterm and Final, Grade Breakdown, The Honor Code, Why Karel?

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Lecture 2

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Topics: Handout Information, Section Sign-up, Karel Commands, An Algorithm vs Program, Syntax of a Karel Program, Running a Karel Program, Creating Methods, SuperKarel, A for Loop, A While Loop, Karel Conditions, If Statement, Putting it All Together

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Lecture 3

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Topics: Karel and Java, Common Errors, Comments, Pre-conditions and Post-conditions, Decomposition, The DoubleBeepers Example, Importance of Good Software Engineering, The Right Decomposition, The CleanUpKarel Example

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Lecture 4

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Topics: The History of Computing, Computer Science vs Programming, What Does the Computer Understand?, The Compilation Process, Java is an Object Oriented Language, Inheritance, Instance of a Class, The acm.program Hierarchy, Your First Java Program, A ConsoleProgram Example, The Graphics Window, The Sending-Messages-to-a-GLabel Example

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Lecture 5

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Topics: Variables, Data Types for Variables, Syntax for Using Variables, Classes as Types, Objects as Variables, Invoking Methods on Objects, Graphics Coordinates, Operations on the GObject Class and its Subclasses, Drawing Geometrical Objects, A FunGraphics Example, Expressions and Operators

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Lecture 6

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Topics: readInt() and readDouble(), The Division Operator w.r.t ints and Doubles, Order of Precedence for Operators, Type Casting, Shorthands, Constants, The Boolean Data Type, Value Comparisons, Boolean Expressions, Short Circuit Evaluation, Statement Blocks, Scope of Variables, Cascading if, The Switch Statement, The For Loop, The While Loop

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Lecture 7

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Topics: The Loop and a Half Problem, For Versus While Loop, The CheckerBoard Program Example, Methods in Java, Examples of Methods, The FactorialExample Program, Returning Objects from Methods

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Lecture 8

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Topics: Information Hiding, The Void Return Type, Parameter Passing Between Methods, Bad Times with Methods, Using Classes, Instance variables vs Local Variables, The RandomGenerator Program Example, The RollDice Program Example, The setSeed() Method

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Lecture 9

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Topics: Strings, Writing Your Own Class, Public and Private Visibility, Creating a New Class, The Constructor Method, Shadowing of Variables and the 'this' Keyword, Using the Created Class, Objects are Called by Reference not Called by Value, Class Variables, The JavaDoc, The Student Program Example

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Lecture 10

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Topics: Importance of Private Variables, Extending the Student Class, Overriding Methods, The acm.graphics Package, GCanvas, Methods Common to All GObjects, Interfaces and Methods Defined by Them, The BouncingBall Program Example, The Geometry of the GLabel Class, The GArc Class

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Lecture 11

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Topics: The GImage Class, The GPolygon Class, The GCompound Class, Event Driven Programs, The ClickForFace Program Example, Responding to Mouse Events, Responding to Keyboard Events, The UFO program Example

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Lecture 12

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Topics: Enumeration, Characters, The ASCII Subset of Unicode, Reading Characters, Math on Characters, char as a Primitive Type; the Character Class, Strings and Their Manipulations

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Lecture 13

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Topics: String Processing, Tokenizers, Encryption

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Lecture 14

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Topics: Memory, Different Sections of Memory for Different Types of Variables, Memory Allocation Mechanics, The Pointer Viewpoint, The Binky Pointer Fun Video

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Lecture 15

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Topics: Pointer Recap, Why are Objects 'Call by Reference' Instead of 'Call of Value'?, Wrapper Classes for Primitive Types, Files, Code for Opening, Reading and Closing Files, Exceptions, Code for Writing Files

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Lecture 16

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Topics: Array, Creating a New Array, The ++ Operator, Actual Size / Effective Size of the Array, An Array as a Parameter, Initialize an Array During Creation, An ArrayList

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Lecture 17

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Topics: Multi-dimensional Arrays, An ArrayList, The Template Class, Methods in the ArrayList Class, An Example Program Using ArrayList, ArrayLists Hold Objects, An Example Program with an ArrayList of Glabels, The GrayImage Example Program

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Lecture 18

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Topics: A Wrap Up of Multi-dimensional Arrays, The ArrayList Way, Pros and Cons : ArrayList vs. Array, Debugging, Approaches to Debugging, The Debugger in Eclipse

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Lecture 19

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Topics: An Interface, How are Interfaces Implemented, A Map, The HashMap Class, Methods of the HashMap, The Collection Hierarchy, The Map Hierarchy, An Iterator, A HashMap Example

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Lecture 20

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Topics: GUI, Interactors in the Context of a Java Program, The Swing Interactor Hierarchy, Window Regions, Creating Interactors, Example Programs, Exploring More Interactors, The InteractiveDrawFace Program Example

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Lecture 21

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Topics: Review of Interactors and Listeners, Example Programs, The Use of the Two Ways Shown in the Examples - Using getSouce and getActionCommand, TextField Example, Layouts, The Temperature Conversion Example, The TextAndGraphics Example

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Lecture 22

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Topics: Overview of NameSurfer - The Next Assignment, Components and Containers, Listeners for Components, Create a Program Which Extends Program, The ComponentListener Interface, The MusicShop Example Program, The MusicShopDisplay Example Program

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Lecture 23

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Topics: Introduction to Lecture's material - Searching, Sorting and Algorithmic Efficiency, Searching, Linear Search, Efficiency of Linear Search, Binary Search, Efficiency of Binary Search, Comparing Search Efficiencies, Sorting, The Selection Sort Algorithm, Efficiency of Selection Sort, The Radix Sort Algorithm

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Lecture 24

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Topics: Principles of Good Software Engineering for Managing Large Amounts of Data, Principles of Design, The Collection Hierarchy, Useful Methods of Collection, The FlyTunes Example Program - An Online Music Store, Defining the Song Class, Defining the Album Class, Seeing the Program Run, Considering the Data Structures Needed, Reusing Data - Shallow Copy vs. Deep Copy, The FlyTunesStore Program Code

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Lecture 25

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Topics: Defining a Social Network for Our Purposes, See What the Program Needs to Do, The Six Degrees of Separation Phenomenon, Concurrency, A Thread, The Runnable Interface, Creating a Thread, Example Program, Having Shared Data Between Your Threads

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Lecture 26

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Topics: Introduction to the Standard Java Libraries, A JAR File, Creating a JAR File, Creating an Applet, Standard Java Programs Without Using the ACM Libraries, Other Resources - Learning More Java

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Lecture 27

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Topics: Life After CS106A, The CS Major, Other Possible Majors

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Lecture 28

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Topics: The Graphics Contest Winners, Review for the Final, Example Question 1, Example Question 2, A Wrap-up

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