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# General Announcement Emails Sent to CIS 101 Students
# Spring Term, 2011, Professor Don Colton
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Tue, May 3, 7:30 AM, to everyone

Thank you all for reporting your reading (r2). I have updated the
grade book. If I missed yours for any reason, please send me an email
and I will make the correction.

The readings quiz has been updated to allow you to report your
completion of reading r3, which is due in about a week, but obviously
the sooner you get it done, the sooner you will understand it.

Looking forward ...

Wednesday we will do another in-class exercise. You can see my sample
linked to the student projects page. The focus is on nested
loops. Those with some math background will recognize the list. Those
without can get guidance in class on Wednesday. It's really quite
easy.

To find out whether X is a factor of Y, just take the remainder. If
the remainder is zero, then it is a factor. For example, is 3 a factor
of 6? Look at 6 % 3. The answer is zero, so, yes, 3 is a factor of 6.

Is 6 a factor of 3? Look at 3 % 6. The answer is 3, so, no, 6 is not a
factor of 3.

That's the calculation. Then do it with nested loops, which we will
talk more about on Wednesday.

Friday we will have an exam. It will cover up through loops, lists,
and arrays.  In other words, it will cover all of the r3 readings. It
will also mark the half-way point of Spring Term.

See you Wednesday! Bro Colton

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Fri, Apr 22, 1:00 PM, to everyone

Four people dropped. We have 27 left. That's the bad news.

The exam is graded. Lots of people got the first three questions
right. I was expecting more like the first two, so you have exceeded
my expectations delightfully. That's the good news. Thanks!

Scores have been posted forward into the grade book. You should be
able to verify that you received proper credit for your exam. If
anything looks wrong, let me know so I can fix it.

For Monday, review chapter 4 and read chapters 17-22. We will do an
online thing with dice. And we will talk about programs that use
numeric decisions.  The online thing will be a chance for people to
earn the online points they may have missed this past Monday.

See you Monday. Thanks! Bro Colton

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Thu, Apr 21, 6:45 PM, to everyone

Yes, there is an exam tomorrow. It will include five problems. I
expect that many people will be able to get the first two or three
correct, and a rare few might get the last two correct, if they have
been reading ahead.

You can see sample questions in chapter 16 of the textbook. Mostly
those are real questions from past exams.

The test will begin at 10:00.  Class begins at 9:50, so you will have
a few minutes to ask any questions you might have before it begins.
The test will last 30 minutes.  At 10:30, we will start grading the
exam, right in class, on the overhead, so we can talk about it.

In advance, let me say that if you miss a problem tomorrow, you will
have another chance to do that problem later. You only have to get
each problem correct once. But there is a pretty high standard for
correct. You will never get a problem correct accidentally, like you
might on a True/False or Multiple Choice exam.

Just give it your best shot. You might surprise yourself.

See you tomorrow! Bro Colton

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Mon, Apr 18, 1:40 PM, to everyone

We had 27 students in class, with three missing, for a total of 30 so
far.

Four people do not have email addresses in the system, so they will
not get this email.  I will post it to the course web page.

Those in class set up a web page and put a picture on it.  This was
good for a couple of points toward their final grades.  Those points
have been posted to the grade book.

26 students took the "Getting Acquainted" quiz.  4 did not yet, but
please do so today or tomorrow.  You can find the quiz at:

https://quiz.colton.byuh.edu/

Everything else you need is linked to the course home page:

http://byuh.doncolton.com/courses/cis101/

Thanks! Bro Colton

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Sat, Apr 9, 9:45 PM, to everyone

I am writing to say HI and to give you some information about the CIS
101 class for Spring.

This is the first email among many. I generally use a subject line of
CIS 101 update. I use email heavily to send reminders and to summarize
what we covered in class each day.

We will be using a free textbook that you can download and start
reading at your convenience. You can find it here. This is especially
important if you will be missing the first day of class for any
reason.

http://ipup.doncolton.com/

I will put the syllabus together over the next few days. It will be
posted to the course web page which you can find here:

http://byuh.doncolton.com/courses/cis101/

CIS 101 is a fun class, but also a lot of work. By the end of the
term, you will be impressed by your own new skills.

Hoping to see you in about a week. Thanks! Bro Colton

BTW: My own personal web site is http://doncolton.com/ for off-campus,
and http://byuh.doncolton.com/ for on campus.

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