Resources

This page has lots of information about resources available to you for this course, including resources for your learning, and accounts and other materials you will need for the course.

Course information

Your rights as a student

For all of the courses students, grutors, staff, and instructors, our goal is to create learning environments that are usable, equitable, inclusive, and welcoming. If facets of the instruction or design of this course result in barriers to inclusion—either to an individual or a specific cohort group—please let your instructor know as soon as possible. If an alternative communications channel is more appropriate, please feel free to contact the HMC Dean of Faculty, your own Dean of Students, or a faculty member at HMC or your own campus, depending on whom you feel most comfortable with.

Social engagement

The mission of Harvey Mudd College is to prepare leaders who understand the impact of their work on society. Our institution is a vibrant part of that society, and we might be affected by the violence in our world and the tumult of this political season. Social justice demonstrations are likely to occur at the Claremont Colleges this year, and we understand that some students may wish to take part in these activities. Therefore, we want to accommodate your reasonable participation in such events, so long as you coordinate with your instructor in advance, ideally at least 24 hours before the affected class meeting time or due date.

Title IX

Harvey Mudd College is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, including sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. If you (or someone you know) has experienced or experiences any of these incidents, know that you are not alone.

Please be aware that many HMC employees, including all faculty members, are considered Responsible Employees who are required to relay any information or reports of sexual misconduct they receive to the Title IX Coordinator. This means that if you tell me about a situation involving sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking, I must report the information to the Title IX Coordinator. Although I have to report the situation, you will still have options about how your case will be handled, including whether or not you wish to pursue a formal complaint. Our goal is to make sure you are aware of the range of options available to you and have access to the resources you need.

If you wish to speak to someone confidentially, you can contact any of the following on-campus resources, who are not required to report the incident to the Title IX Coordinator: (1) the EmPOWER Center (909.607.2689), the Monsour Counseling Center (909.621.8202), and the McAlister Chaplains (909.621.8685). Additional information about your options is also available at https://www.hmc.edu/tix.

Academic accommodations

You have a right to accommodations for temporary or permanent disabilities. Any student with a documented disability who requires reasonable accommodations should contact their home college’s disability officer:

• CMC: Kari Rood - Kari.Rood@cmc.edu or Disabilityservices@cmc.edu
• HMC: Brandon Ice - bice@hmc.edu
• Pitzer: Gabriella Tempestoso - Gabriella_Tempestoso@pitzer.edu
• Pomona: Disability Resources - disabilityservices@pomona.edu
• Scripps: Bianca Vinci - bvinci@scrippscollege.edu

Accounts and resources

We will use several resources and accounts in CS 131. If in doubt, the course website is the best starting place for all these things:

https://www.cs.hmc.edu/cs131

Piazza is for communication. Piazza (https://www.piazza.com/hmc/spring2020/cs131), not email, is the place for questions about the course (e.g., assignment instructions, course policies, lecture topics, Haskell). You’re more likely to get a response on Piazza because we check Piazza more often than email and because there are more people on Piazza.

The Wiki is for course notes. Our class has a Wiki: https://www.cs.hmc.edu/cs131/WebHome. Shortly after each class, we will post lecture notes to the Wiki, which you can review.

The CS labs and knuth are for computation. All the necessary software for CS 131 is installed on knuth.cs.hmc.edu (a fast Linux-based server) and on the Macintosh computers in our labs (BK B102, B105, B111). Non-HMC students who want access to the Mac labs on weekends or evenings can get academic-building keycard access from Facilities & Maintenance (in the basement of HMC’s Platt Campus Center).

You may use your own computer instead. The easiest way to use your own machine is to use it to log into knuth (via ssh) and then work there, but it is often possible for you to use your own machine directly. However, we will test all homework assignments on a Unix environment similar to knuth, and your code must work there (e.g., converting files from any Windows-specific format is your responsibility).

Electronic devices are not for class. There will be no electronic devices in class, unless the work requires it. There are a couple of cases when the work requires it:

• The electronic device is an assistive device, e.g., a phone/camera to assist your eyes or a computer as an approved note-taking accommodation.

• When we’re doing an exercise that requires a computer (e.g., in lab).

Research is pretty definitive that electronic devices prevent you others around you from learning. It’s the potential impact of your choice on you and others that leads us to our policy. Meanwhile, taking notes by hand has been shown to help many people learn, so we hope that—in addition to preventing some negative learning outcomes—the policy will encourage some positive outcomes.

Note: If there’s an emergency, then whatever we’re learning at the moment is no longer a priority! Take care of the emergency, even if it means having to quickly leave the room. If you’re sitting in class and your phone is getting an usual amount of activity, that might be a sign of an emergency. You should take a moment to quickly check whether it is.