CS111 PreLab 1

PreLab assignments are meant to prepare you for your lab experience by getting you to start thinking about the material before walking into lab. PreLabs are due at the beginning of each laboratory. You should not spend more than 1 hour on the prelab assignment each week. The prelab assignment is graded for effort, not correctness. This week's prelab will not be graded. However, you should try to complete it before your laboratory.

Task 1: Equiping yourself for CS111

You will need either a zip or floppy disk for CS111. Please bring one to lab on Monday. Since we will be working on MacIntosh computers in the lab, you are strongly advised to buy a Mac formatted disk for use with this class. The programming environment we are learning (Symantec Cafe) will often corrupt your files if you are using a PC-formatted disk. Save yourself some grief and stick with Macs until we can fully support PCs later in the semester. If you choose to use a PC later in the semester, you may reformat your disk then. Remember that Mac-formatted disks can not be read in PCs. However, PC-formatted disks can be read on Macs.

Task 2: Getting used to FirstClass

If you are not familiar with FirstClass, please read over the Wellesley FirstClass documentation. Your task is to add the CS111-S00 Announcements conference to your desktop. You can remove it later after we have checked off your prelab.

Task 3: Understanding your CS111 Laboratory grade

We have added a Laboratory component to the CS111 grading system this semester. Laboratory will count for 10% of your grade. There are 13 labs in the semester. Each lab will be worth 1 point (so you get 3 freebies). You earn 1 point for each lab in which you turn in the prelab at the beginning of the laboratory session and you participate in the laboratory. You will earn 1/2 point for participating in the laboratory but not completing the prelab. You will not earn any points for turning in a prelab and not attending the lab.

Make sure you understand the policy above and bring any questions you may have about it to lab.