Technion - Israel Institute of Technology  
234114 - Introduction to Computer Science M
  Spring 2004 EnglishRussianHebrewArabic  
Announcements

Appeals
Hi, all.
Here are some guidelines for the appeals:
- Appeals can be submitted till 24/10.
- Appeals should be submitted in a STANDARD FORM to the Oleg's cell (134) on the 5th floor only.
The form can be obtained near the secretary or at the course web site under "Material" section.
The copy of the exam should be submitted together with the appeal form.

The course staff
Created on 11/10/2004, 07:00:41  
Special receptions for students on 234111/4/7 courses
Special receptions for students on 234111/4/7 courses
will be held before Moed B exam. Following is an updated
schedule of receptions:

Ron Rubinshtein -- Thursday, September 23,
16:00 - 17:30, in Taub 329.

Ido Feldman -- Sunday, September 26,
11:30 -- 13:00, in Taub 407.

Roostam Tiger -- Sunday, September 26,
17:00 -- 18:30, in Taub 205.

You are all welcome to bring your questions.
Created on 22/9/2004, 17:06:05  
Spring 04 Moed A is published
Spring 04 Moed A is published in the 'material' section.
Created on 14/9/2004, 02:11:53  
HW grades
Hi all.
This is the last call for all the students who have problems with HW grades in GR++ to settle this issue.
The list of HW grades can be found either in GR++ or near the Oleg's office door. If you have problem with some grade that wasn't updated in GR++ you should come to Oleg till Thursday and show him your works.

Good luck.
The Course Staff
Created on 10/8/2004, 12:08:37  
Oleg's reception hours
Hi all.
I will held a special reception hour on Tuesday 15:30-16:30.

Oleg
Last updated on 25/7/2004, 11:18:59  
Grades
Hi all.
Due to lots of questions I'd like to emphasize the following fact:
the "FinalA" grades are final and include HWs.

Oleg
Created on 20/7/2004, 17:26:05  
Appeals
Hi, all.
Here are some guidelines for the appeals:
- Appeals can be submitted till 5/08.
- Appeals should be submitted in a STANDARD FORM to the Oleg's cell (134) on the 5th floor only.
The form can be obtained near the secretary or at the course web site under "Material" section.
The copy of the exam should be submitted together with the appeal form.
- Do not try to meet with any of the T.As, only formal appeals will be considered.
- Note that appeals can lower your final grade!
- Appeals that argue about the judgment of points division will not be considered.
- Appeals that argue about personal nature will not be considered.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 20/7/2004, 13:54:35  
MoedA grades
Hi all.
MoedA grades are published.

Oleg
Created on 20/7/2004, 13:47:52  
Oleg's reception hours
Hi all.
I will give a special reception hour on Monday 12.07 between 15:30 and 16:30.

Oleg
Created on 10/7/2004, 15:05:34  
Friday Tutorial
Ron's extra tutorial will take place this Friday from 10:30 at Taub 2.
Please prepare any questions you may have that could be relevant
to the rest of the class (problematic material, exam questions etc.)
beforehand.
Created on 1/7/2004, 17:34:48  
HW6 and 7 grades
Hi all.
The grades for HWs 6 and 7 are published.

Oleg
Created on 30/6/2004, 20:38:39  
HW solutions
Hi all.
The solutions of HWs are published in the "Home Assignments" section.

Oleg
Created on 30/6/2004, 20:18:30  
HW8 Q3
Hi all.
The rumors that Q3 in Hw8 is canceled are wrong. It's only canceled for the 234111 students.

Oleg
Created on 29/6/2004, 17:55:45  
Questions for pre-exam tutorial
Hi all.
The questions that will be solved during the pre-exam tutorial on 4.07 are published in the "Course Material" section.
If you are interested in solving some additional questions, please, contact Shay Ohaion at shayocs.technion.ac.il.

Oleg
Created on 28/6/2004, 16:57:40  
Administration issues between 1.07 and 8.07
Hi all.
Due to the Oleg's absence between 1.07 and 8.07 the administration issues will be handled by Zachi Karni.
In addition the reception hours of Oleg will be doubled this week - Wednesday 16:30 - 18:30.

The Course Staff
Created on 27/6/2004, 11:26:46  
Oleg's reception hours
Hi all.
The reception hours of Oleg will take place on Wednesday 30.06 at 16:30 instead of Thursday, 01/07/2004.
Starting 1.07 and till 8.07 Oleg will be unavailable - for academic questions please contact the course assistants, for the administrative issues please contact Amir Adler (adleracs.technion.ac.il) or lecturers.

The Course Staff.
Last updated on 26/6/2004, 18:41:40  
HW5 Q1
Hi all.
The correct answers for both parts "DALET" and "HEI" of question 1.1 in homework 5 are NO. The problem can appear when p is defined as an array. In that case it is forbidden to change the value of p, while the operation "*p = q" is well defined.

Consider, for example, the following program.

int main()
{
int q = 5;
int p[10];

*p = q;

return 0;
}

However, if we add either line "p = &q;" or "p++;" right before the last return sentence, the compilation will fail.

Regards,
The Course Staff.
Created on 26/6/2004, 18:29:19  
Formula Sheet
Hi all.
I'd like to remind you that no help material is allowed on the exam except the formula sheet that is published in the "Course Material" section.

Oleg
Created on 26/6/2004, 18:22:26  
Previous Exams
Hi all.
The exams from previous semesters can be found in the "Course Material" section.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 22/6/2004, 14:31:15  
Next week lecture
Next week lecture (24/06/04) is canceled.
A complementary lecture will be given on Wed - 23/06/04, 12:30-14:30 at Taub 1.

The Course Staff
Created on 17/6/2004, 23:09:34  
HW8
Hi all.
Home assignment #8 is online.
The submission deadline is 04.07 at 18:00.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 17/6/2004, 23:06:12  
Tutorial before the moed A exam
Hi all.
A pre-test tutorial for all groups will be given on the 4/7/04 (Sunday) 16:30-18:30, Taub 2.

The Course Staff
Created on 16/6/2004, 16:42:44  
HW5 grades
Hi all.
HW5 grades are online.

Oleg
Created on 16/6/2004, 16:36:03  
HW7 FAQs
Hi all.
HW7 FAQ is available on:

http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~idofeld/CSIntroH/hw7_faq.htm

The Course Staff
Created on 14/6/2004, 12:23:53  
Nir's reception hours
Hi all.
Nir will give his reception hours tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:30 instead of Thursday.

The Course Staff
Created on 14/6/2004, 12:17:41  
HW4 grades
Hi all.
HW4 grades are available now via GR++.
Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 10/6/2004, 14:57:25  
HWs deadlines
Hi all.
Due to the new security regulations regarding the entrance to the Taub building, all the remaining home assignments (including HW7) should be submitted till 18:00 PM.
This is not up to us to change those rules, so there will be no postponements to the later hours any more.

The Course Staff.
Created on 8/6/2004, 18:49:56  
HW6 postponement
Hi all.
Due to the entrance problems to the Taub building this evening, HW6 is postponed till 11:59AM tomorrow.

The Course Staff.
Created on 7/6/2004, 22:48:39  
HW7
Hi all.
Home assignment #7 is online.
The submission deadline is 17.06 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 7/6/2004, 16:09:58  
Oleg's reception hours today
Hi all.
I'll give my reception hour today between 13:30 and 14:30 instead of 16:30.

Oleg
Created on 3/6/2004, 10:28:51  
FAQ for HW6
Hi all.
Here are some FAQs regarding HW6:

How do I create the delay using Visual C++?

Some of you are working on Visual C++, which doesn't support the delay function.
You can work on Visual, writing the code, but eventually compile it using Turbo-C and than try the delay() function.
There is no ANSI-C library function for this operation, so the library functions implementing it differ from one compiler to another.

How should I print the board?

First of all, It's not critical. You can use your imaginitive mind.
One suggestion is to print the board where a live square(MISHBEZET) is marked by * and a dead one by ' ' (space).
You can look at the given HW6.EXE file to see for yourselves how it is shown.


Who are the neighbours of each square?

All the squares "touching" the square including diagonal squares.
A regular square has 8 neighbours, a corner one has 3, and a border square as 5.


The Course Staff
Created on 2/6/2004, 10:51:03  
Nir's reception hours
Hi all.
Nir's reception hours will take place this week on Monday at 12:30 instead of Thursday.

The Course Staff
Created on 30/5/2004, 18:41:29  
HW6 update
Hi all.
HW6 was slightly updated.
Please, download the latest version.

Oleg
Created on 30/5/2004, 16:26:23  
Ron's reception hours
Hi all.
Ron's reception hours today will take place between 16:30 and 17:30.

The Course Staff
Created on 30/5/2004, 12:32:37  
HW6
Hi all.
Home assignment #6 is online.
The submission deadline is 7.06 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 27/5/2004, 15:16:08  
HW5 postponement correction
Hi all.
Since 26.04 is Shavuot holiday, the deadline for HW5 is moved to Sunday 30.05 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.
HW6 will be published as planned during this week.

Oleg
Created on 23/5/2004, 16:12:08  
HW5 clarifications
Hi all.
Here are some clarifications for HW5:

1. In user's input of a move there should be a space between the numbers.
2. The playGame() description is erroneous – there are no parameters to the function.
3. In case of several players with the same amount of moves the first one in the list is the winner.
4. The termination of a program should be performed in case of 3 consequent events of either wrong input or wrong move each.
5. The definition of the players array [MAX_NAME+1] instead of [MAX_NAME]:
char players[MAX_GAMES][MAX_NAME] = {0}
6. In the input file in1.txt a line is missed in the moves of Benjamin. The correct file is uploaded.

The Course Staff
Last updated on 23/5/2004, 12:53:34  
HW5 postponement
Hi all.
Due to the technical problems with the CS server the course site was unreachable during the weekend.
Therefore, HW5 is postponed till 26.05 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.

Oleg
Created on 23/5/2004, 11:59:27  
Complementary tutorial for Ron's group
Hi all.
Ron Rubinstein will give a one hour complementary tutorial for his group on Sunday 14:30-15:30 (Taub 3 as usual).

The Course Staff
Created on 20/5/2004, 18:01:29  
No tutorials next week
Hi all.
Due to the Shavuot holidays there will be no tutorials next week (23/05-27/05).
Enjoy your holidays.
Oleg
Created on 20/5/2004, 18:00:12  
HW3 grades and more
Hi all.
1) HW3 grades are online.
2) All the students who submited hw1,2,3 and don't have a grade in GR++, please, found the list of IDs on my door.
If your ID is in this list, then your are not listed in GR++ and should come to my office with your HW at my reception hours.

Oleg
Created on 18/5/2004, 16:06:36  
HW4b posponement
Hi all.
Due to the students' requests HW4b is postponed till 18.05 at 23.59 MIDNIGHT.
Oleg
Created on 17/5/2004, 12:45:11  
HW5 postponement
Hi all.
Due to many requests, HW5 is postponed to 24.05 at 23:59 (MIDNIGHT).

Oleg
Created on 15/5/2004, 16:07:47  
HW5
Hi all.
Home assignment #5 is online.
The submission deadline is 23.05 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 13/5/2004, 17:28:54  
HW4b clarification
Hi all.
You can assume that any vertex of one triangle does not fall on a side of the other triangle.

The Course Staff.
Created on 12/5/2004, 10:56:23  
HW grades
Hi all.
There are several students, who didn't receive their grades for hw1 and 2.
We are aware of this problem and all the submitted works will be graded and returned together with hw3.

Oleg
Created on 11/5/2004, 19:40:23  
HW4 issues
Hi all.
1) HW4 will be partitioned into 2 parts: Question1 should be submitted on time (9.05 at midnight) and Question 2 will be postponed till 17.05 at midnight.
2) HW5 will be published next week.
3) Clarifications for Q1:
- you need to check if y>=0.
- you don't need to implement the unary minus function i.e. you can use negative numbers.
- 0^0=1

The Course Staff
Created on 3/5/2004, 19:44:04  
HW4
Hi all.
Home assignment #4 is online.
The submission deadline is 9.05 at 23:59 MIDNIGHT.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 28/4/2004, 20:08:42  
More HW issues
Hi all.
1) All the deadlines for home assignments are going to be at 24:00 (midnight).
2) No more late submissions will be accepted, except the extraordinary cases and only after coordinating it with me in advance.
3) If you have any problem with your HW grade (no grade, wrong grade, unfair grade) you should first receive back your assignment from the secretary and only then contact me.
4) Please, do NOT submit the assignment faraway from its deadline since we are publishing the clarifications and you may miss some clarification. If you still choose to submit the assignment a couple of days before the deadline, it's on your own responsibility.

Oleg
Last updated on 28/4/2004, 20:07:08  
Eye-glasses found
An eye-glasses in their pouch were found in Taub 5 after today's lecture.
They can be picked from our building superintendent office (room 203).

The Course Staff
Created on 26/4/2004, 11:39:45  
Another HW3 clarification
The output you get should be the same as the output of the exe files supplied by
us. why?
rand() returns each time the same sequence of numbers (i.e. each
time you run a program the first number will be the same, the second number
will be the same etc.). However the first number returned is different from the
second number etc.
At the homework this characteristic is good - we know what output to expect
(always the same output) and a student that didn't run the program can't guess
the output.
If you want to get a different output each time you run the program write the
following:
#include <time.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int num;
srand(time(NULL)); <--------------------------------------
num = rand();
return 0;
}
By doing that you get a different number at each run since the number is
generated considering the time as well (and as you know the time is changed all
the time...).

The Course Staff
Created on 22/4/2004, 08:25:16  
HW issues and more
Hi, all.

1) Please, read carefully the HW submission instructions - you should submit both the assignment code and the output examples.
2) The students, who joined the course recently due to the late registration should submit HW2 to my mailbox (#134) on the 5th floor of Taub building till 25.04.
Since the average of the home assignments is calculated according to the X-1 best works, you will have no problem with missing HW1.
3) If you have any question regarding the particular home assignment, you should apply to the TA in charge OF THE ASSIGNMENT and NOT the TA in charge of the course.

Oleg
Created on 22/4/2004, 08:23:15  
Timetable for the next week
Hi, all.
The next week 25/4-29/4 will be scheduled as follows:

Sunday - regular day - tutorials as usual
Monday - no teaching
Tuesday - no teaching
Wednesday - like Monday - tutorials as on Monday
Thursday - like Tuesday - tutorials are canceled

The Course Staff
Last updated on 21/4/2004, 10:31:10  
HW3 additional clarification
When a player gets a score that is higher than the goal (meaning - won the
game), but he still have more "hatalot" - you should stop him immediately and
not let him finish the round.
For example:
a) We are at the middle of a game.
b) The mid score is 95-90 to player1.
c) The game is over at score 100.
d) It is now player1's turn.
e) player1 should roll the dice 10 times this turn.
f) He rolls the dice and gets 4 -> the score is 99-90.
g) He rolls the dice and gets 2 -> the score is 101-90 and the game is over!!!
(i.e. player1 has no more rollings in this game).

The Course Staff
Created on 21/4/2004, 05:59:10  
HW3 update
Hi, all.
Please, download the updated version of HW3.

Oleg
Created on 20/4/2004, 02:46:03  
HW3 clarification
Hi, all.
The students who compile their programs using Turbo C should ignore for now the
expected results published at the assignment - those results are correct only
for the programs compiled using Visual C (due to the differences in rand() function between 2 compilers).
An updated version of the document will be published soon and it will contain the correct expected results for programs compiled using Turbo C.

The Course Staff
Last updated on 19/4/2004, 14:26:22  
Complementary lecture hour
Due to the Memorial Day Ceremony on Thursday, 22/4/2004,
the lecture will take place between 13:30--14:30
(the first hour is canceled). Instead, the additional
lecture hour (HARTZA'AT HASHLAMA) will be given on
Sun 25/4/04 16:30-17:30 at Taub 5.

The Course Staff
Created on 19/4/2004, 14:21:40  
HW3
Hi all.
Home assignment #3 is online.
The submission deadline is 28.04 at 12:00 NOON.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 19/4/2004, 08:18:09  
More HW2 clarifications
Here are some more clarifications:
As written in the hw instructions, the length of the input is unknown.
Therefore, your programs should NOT contain any clue of a limit on the length,
even if practically there are limits due to operating system bounds (of the
keyboard buffer for example).

The Course Staff
Created on 12/4/2004, 20:28:20  
Amir's reception hours
Hi all.
Mr. Amir Rubinstein who is TA in charge of HW3 will give his reception hour on Wed. 15:30-16:20 in order to answer the questions regarding this home assignment.

Oleg
Created on 8/4/2004, 14:40:22  
HW2 clarifications
Here are some clarifications regarding ex2:

1) This assignment can be solved using the material taught in the course so far. However, you can also use a more advanced tools.

2) What exactly happens when we enter some characters as input for a C program?
While entering them, the characters appear on the screen (DOS window for
example), and stored in the memory (more specifically - in the keyboard
buffer). But as long as "enter" button is not pressed, the whole input is not
yet "sent" to the program being executed. In other words, only when we press
"enter", the input as a whole (everything we entered) moves from the buffer to
the program.
The program then handles the input as we know by scanf() and getchar().

Now suppose we wrote a program with a loop that reads 1 character every time the
loop is executed. If the input is a sequence of characters, this is what
happens: we enter the characters we want, then press "enter", and only then the
program starts the loops, reading one character from the buffer every
itteration of the loop.

The Course Staff
Created on 7/4/2004, 13:33:16  
HW2
Hi all.
Home assignment #2 is online.
The submission deadline is 15.04 at 12:00 NOON.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 1/4/2004, 17:56:39  
PC Farm
Hi all.
In the past few days, Borland C has been configured and installed on most
Windows computers in the Taub computer farm, and it should now work properly,
also allowing you to change the default settings and save them. The new Borland
C installation creates a folder named \TC on your network drive Z:, and all
setting files are stored there.

The computers with the new Borland C installation can be easily identified:
instead of the old 'tc31.bat' file on your desktop, there is a new 'tc.bat'
file (note the name change). To run Borland C from these computers, simply
double click 'tc.bat'. We are doing our best to have all computers in the farm
configured correctly. If you notice any computer in the farm that doesn't have
the new 'tc.bat' icon, or have other difficulties running Borland C, please
notify the Taub farm advisors about this, or send an email with the computer
name to Ron (ronrubin@cs).

Good luck and happy Pesach,
The course staff.
Created on 31/3/2004, 14:11:50  
Mailing list
Hi all.
Those of you, who still don't receive mails should visit the site:
http://grades.cs.technion.ac.il/
and add the course to your courses list. After you define the Auto Update option to your e-mail, you'll receive all the updates to you mailbox.

Oleg
Created on 29/3/2004, 16:35:55  
Complementary tutorial
Hi all.
This message is relevant only for the students who attend tutorials on Sunday or Monday.
Due to the Passover vocation we are going to give a complementary tutorial this week for the groups of Sundays and Mondays.
You can attend each one of the regular tutorials during this week at any one of 234111,234114,234117 courses or come to the complementary tutorials which will hold as follows:
Amir - Thu. 15:30-17:30 @ Taub 9
Ron - Fri. 9:30 - 11:30 @ Taub 3
Avishay - Thu. 14:30-16:30 @ Fishbah 404
Roostam - Thu. 14:30 - 16:30 @ Taub 8

Oleg
Created on 29/3/2004, 16:29:05  
HW1 postponement
HW1 is postponed till 4.04 at 12:00 NOON.

Oleg
Created on 28/3/2004, 18:46:50  
Additional HW1 clarification
Hi all,
For those of you who can't see the output of the demonstration program because
it exits too soon:

The program is designed to run in a DOS window. To run the program in a DOS
window, first copy the demo program to some directory on your hard drive, for
instance C:\TC\, then open a DOS window by running 'cmd' (as tought in the
tirgul). Now navigate to the directory where the demo program is, using the cd
command, and enter 'ex1'. This will run the program, and leave the output in
the window. This is an example of what should go on in the DOS window:

-- example --

C:\>cd c:\tc

C:\TC>ex1
Enter water level (non-negative): 2
...

C:\TC>

-- end example --

For those who don't like DOS, you can also run the program from Windows although
this is less convenient. To do this, first find the icon of the demo program
you downloaded, then click the icon with the right mouse button and choose
'properties'. In the window that opens, click on 'program' (on top) and remove
the checkmark from 'close on exit'. Close the window. Now everytime the EX1
program runs, it will leave the output window visible. You can manually close
it when you are done viewing the output.

Good luck,
The Course Staff
Created on 28/3/2004, 18:44:01  
HW1 clarifications
Here are some clarifications regarding the first exercise:

1. The cosine function in the expression for z accepts its parameter in radians,
just like the C function cos() (this means that no unit conversion is
necessary).

2. For those concerned about what to print when z==water : print whatever you
want. In my solution, I print a '~' in this case, but you can handle it however
you want. The reason this was not mentioned in the exercise is since (as we
will discuss in the course) the chance for this happening is practically zero.

3. Any of you who have noticed that the sample program prints different messages
from the ex description, this has already been fixed, and the updated solution
prints the correct messages. In any case, the exact message format is not
crucial, and if you print slightly different messages that's ok too.

Good luck,
The Course Staff
Created on 24/3/2004, 18:31:05  
Ron's additional reception hours
Hi all.
Ron's additional reception hours will take place on Wednesday
17:00-18:00.

Oleg
Created on 24/3/2004, 18:24:43  
HW1
Hi all.
Home assignment #1 is online.
The submission deadline is 1.04 at 12:00 NOON.

Good luck.
Oleg
Created on 23/3/2004, 19:47:04  
Nir's reception hour
Nir will not be able to attend his reception hour on Monday.
He will give his reception hour on Thursday 1130.

Oleg
Created on 22/3/2004, 18:40:40  
The lecture on 25.03
Hi all.
The lecture on 25.03 will take place in Amadu 233 (only this time).

Oleg
Created on 22/3/2004, 16:56:03  
Ron's group
Hi all.
Pay attention, that group #11 has moved to Taub 3.

Oleg
Created on 14/3/2004, 17:42:47  
HW0
Hi,
Homework 0 is online, this homework a warm-up for you to practice
Linking/Compiling/Running programs under the TurboC environment,
this homework is not to be submitted and is not counted in the
record of each student.
We recommend to all students who don't have an experience in C to do this assignment.
You also may take the advantage of the regular and the additional reception hours that the TAs will give.

Good luck,
Oleg
Created on 11/3/2004, 12:51:03  
Additional reception hours
Hi all.
During the following two week all the TAs will held the additional reception hours
in order to help you with your first steps in C.
We'd like to invite all the students who meet any problems in HW0 to take the advantage of those additional reception hours.
Here is the timetable:
Nir - Tue. 10:30-11:30
Roostam - Mon. 15:30-16:30
Ron - Sun. 16:30-17:30

Good luck,
Oleg
Created on 11/3/2004, 12:27:40  
Mailing list
All the students who are registered to the course should be subscribed to the mailing list automatically.
Those who are not registered can register by clicking on "Auto Update" on the course cite.
Oleg
Last updated on 3/3/2004, 15:23:37  
Welcome to 234114 course.
Hi All,
Welcome to the 234114 course, Introduction to Computer Science M.
Pay attention, that the homeworks at the course are mandatory,
and no HW grades will be transferred from previous semesters.

Hope you enjoy the course,

The Course Staff.
Last updated on 2/3/2004, 20:58:45