A321/A521: Computing Tools for Scientific Research

Spring 2008
A321, Section 15234
A521, Section 15236
9:30 - 10:45 PM, Monday and Wednesday
115 Lindley Hall

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General Information

Instructors:

Prerequisites:

Ability to create and edit text files on a computer, and how to bundle up multiple files into a transportable blob (e.g., zip, pk7zip, etc.) Knowing how data on a computer is laid out in directories and file. A knowledge of linear algebra, enough to know what matrices and vectors are and how to apply basic operations on them.

Textbooks:

Listed on the course syllabus page

Office Hours:

  • To be set in second week of class. Watch for announcements of changes in those hours in class or in the course WWWboard page. Because I travel a great deal, it will often be necessary to shift those times around. You can always make an appointment to meet with me at another day or time.

    • Computer Accounts:

    You are responsible for getting your computer accounts started. The first is on UITS systems. Use the UITS accounts system. and see the IU Knowledge Base if you have any questions about passwords or getting your account started.

    Note that you don't have to physically sit at the console of those machines, and should login to them remotely via ssh, which provides for secure login and file transfer. ssh is available (through UITS's IUWare) for Windows platforms and is on all IU Unix machines.

    We will use Matlab in the course, a VHL that provides interactive graphing capabilities. If you use a Windows-based machine you will also need to install and use hummingbird, which allows graphics windows from a remote Unix-based machine to be opened on your local Windows machine.

    If your lab or research group has other machines, use them as well - in the long run, those are the machines you want to learn how to use effectively.

    Class Web Board

    This class will use the WWWBoard mechanism. The class home page is accessible from anywhere on the Internet, using your UITS network password. The message board will be used to post announcements, assignments, corrections, and exceptions to office hours. Use it to post questions related to the course or share related information with the class. You are responsible for checking it frequently, since any changes or corrections to assignments will appear there if not in class. A good policy is to check it before starting on any assignment, and daily or via RSS in general. Another good policy is to use it for any question where you are unsure about attribution.

    Grading Policies

    Grades are based on a set of projects. The final exam will also consist of a programming project.
    Grading percentages: each assignment will vary in how mnay points it is worth, according to the relative time or difficulty associated with it.

    Attribution of Work

    You can get away with virtually any lifting or scavenging of material, provided that you cite the source. If your citation is "I copied another student's write-up" then you may not get many points on the assignment, but at least you won't be expelled for plagiarism. Using the Web board is an acceptable way to seek or give help - it's public to the entire class and hence the questions and answers are available to everyone. Just about anything that occurs there could constitute cheating or plagiarism, and if someone is giving away the candy store I'll contact that person privately. But not for cheating, just for spoiling the fun for everyone else.

    Leveraging the existing base of tools, software, knowledge, and earlier explorations is the only practical way to carry out science and engineering via computational methods. Anyone who feels otherwise should think about writing their own C++ compiler, designing their own floating point units, and to heat up a soldering iron to wire together their own disk array. The distinction between plagiarism and leveraging is citation. If in doubt, ask me. If I am not available, then give a citation for any material or help you have received or given.

    Changes to this page:
    1. Initialized, Dec 24 2006
    2. Added link to X Windows Setup page 1/28/07.
    3. Updated for Spring 2008, Mon Jan 7 12:20:32 EST 2008