For this unit, work through the following preparatory activities.

• Do the textbook reading assignment for unit 1. You’ll find this assignment on the ZyBooks current assignments list labelled “Reading 1” on the “Assignments” tab on the far bottom right of the webpage. See the course policies webpage on how to buy the text.

  • See the materials list on the course policies page for details on how to access the online zyBooks text and on the preparation assignment grading policy.
  • Work through the textbook online by the beginning of the unit’s first class or online discussion session.
  • As you work through the text, complete the “participation” activities in the specified sections as you go. You can skip the “challenge” activities.

• Class Communication: Piazza (not used in the summer sessions)

  • See the communication section on the policies page for details on how to work with Piazza.
  • Familiarize yourself with the Piazza forum.

• Pair Programming: While you’ll do the Lab *.0 assignments (e.g., Lab 1.0) individually, before the lab period, you’ll generally be working in teams of two for labs and, optionally, for homeworks as well. Skim the linked article looking for answers to the following questions:

  • What are some of the advantages of pair programming?
  • Do these advantages make sense for us in CS 108 labs?

  Online students can but are not required work in teams.

• This video demo, doing the exercises as specified.

  There is no formal work to submit for the video demos. They’re optional for the offline version of this course but are required for the online version.

The text and perspectival activities listed here are generally due by the unit’s first class period, but given that this is the first week of classes, we tend to relax the deadlines somewhat. See the course forum for announcements and the course calendar for the dates for this first week.