A290
Adventures in Programming
Windows Programming with C# and .NET.

Instructor: Jeff Whitmer

• Office: Lindley Hall 201G.
  
• Office Hours: TBA. Appointments also available.
  
• Office Hour Special NOTES:
  • Any changes to my office hours will be posted here.
• Phone: 855-3974.
  
• E-mail: jwhitmer@cs.indiana.edu.

Lecture AND Lab Times:

First Summer Session 2008:

DAILY LECTURE/LAB: 9:05am - 10:20am (Section XXXX) in Lindley Hall 115 (LH 115)

First Summer Session 2008 Students:
Please note the following:
[LAST UPDATED: 2/1/08]

LATEST NEWS: This course will be offered for the first time SSI 2008.



Overall, the goal of these A290 courses is to offer students (CS and non-CS majors alike) an opportunity to learn a fair amount about a pretty specific topic in a short time period. Each course lasts for approximately 8 weeks and carries 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 credits. As our Department Chair put it, in a humorous way, the goal is to give the students "just enough to make them dangerous." Of course, the real goal is to give you a chance to learn about a greater variety of topics without taking lots of additional time.

This particular A290 will carry 1.5 credits and deal with a topic many students have expressed a real interest in: Programming for Windows using C# and the Microsoft .NET framework. In the first part of the course, we will look closely at the .NET framework, including all the components and how to properly install the entire framework on a Windows PC. We will also take the time to discuss the overall "goal" of the .NET framework and how it is supposed to aid the Windows programmer. This means we will also briefly look at basic issues related to Windows programming as a whole. Our topics will include: What is .NET?, what is the framework?, why "web-based?", XML, and Visual Studio. In addition, because these courses are designed to be flexible, I hope some of our topics and discussions will be student-driven.

The second part of the course will address the use of C# in Visual Studio to create Windows applications (more like applets in the time available). We will properly install Visual Studio on our systems and learn the basics of C#. Our topics will include: Visual Studio Basics, C# and how it differs from other programming languages, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, building an application and the system resources required. By the end of this course, each student should have created both a "stand-alone" and a "web-based" Windows Application using C# and .NET. Again, I hope some of our topics and discussions will be student-driven.

The workload and evaluation process for this course are still in the earliest stages of formulation. However, right now I would expect course attendance and active participation to be a very, very large part of your grade. We will have hands-on work that will then require some additional work out of class. Most of this will probably include programming samples using the Visual Studio .NET/C# environment. I am also considering a set of short research topics where each student would either prepare a short written summary on a topic, or make a short presentation to the class on that topic. As noted above, I hope each student will create one stand-alone and one web-based application/applet using these tools. There will probably also be some sort of written examination component, but I'm still considering that option.

This course is scheduled so that you can take it together with A290 - Adventures in Programming - IP version 6 (IPv6) and 802.11 Wireless Networking during the same time period with the two courses covering an entire term.

If you any questions about the above, or about this course in general, please be sure to contact me. I'm looking forward to this course and I hope the above is enough to stir your interest and enthusiasm as well. -Jeff