The quiz associated with Reading Assignment #2 is now available for you [Canvas Link], and will be due Monday September 14th.
Remember to review the materials in Reading Assignment #2 before taking the quiz!
With the University’s Canvas system, you will be automatically set up if you’re enrolled in the class. You can’t sign up manually.
If you’re having a problem enrolling (or getting into Canvas) – it might take a few days after enrolling for things to transfer to Canvas.
If you can’t get access to Canvas, don’t worry if your first Quiz is a little late. More importantly, you need Canvas access for the readings. If you can’t get them that way, here’s an alternate:
Our first real week! And it’s a little short because of the holiday Monday.
Last week, we had a first lecture with some preliminaries (what is graphics, how does the class work). Hopefully, we’ve worked out most of the administrative issues and everyone is enrolled.
This week…
We’re diving right in! There’s a reading assignment and a programming assignment – get used to it, we’ll have them every week that isn’t a holiday or exam.
The reading assignment is Reading 1:Starting. There’s a bunch to read. If you have problems accessing the files on Canvas, it might be because your registration hasn’t made its way through the system yet. Reading assignments are usually due on Monday – but for this week, it’s due on Tuesday, September 8th (because of the holiday). Because some people might have registration issues that are preventing them from getting to Canvas, we will be lenient on the due date for doing the associated Quiz.
On Thursday, Programming 1:Canvas is due. Hopefully by then all of the registration issues with Canvas will be solved. This assignment doesn’t require much, but use it as an opportunity to get started learning about web programming. You can see how this assignment is going to build into bigger things by looking at the Programming Assignment Group that it is part of.
We want to give you a little “user’s guide” to the course web and Canvas setup since right now it might be a bit confusing.
You might notice, that the website and Canvas are a little hard to navigate right now. We apologize.
There are two things going on: one is we’re still getting things set up, and two is we made a design choice that we might regret. We have made pages for every assignment for the semester, on both Canvas and the website. The good news is that you can see the course structure on the calendar. The bad news is that there are all the empty pages that might get in the way – unless you know the right way to navigate around them.
After a week or two, we’ll hopefully have the kinks worked out and things will go smoothly.
To Navigate the web page:
The most important things will be made as announcements in the News feed (which appears on the course home page). If something important appears elsewhere (for example the details of an assignment are posted), there will be an announcement telling you where to look. The idea is the News page has short messages that point you towards longer messages elsewhere.
One piece of news each week will be a “The Week in 559” posting. This will happen at the end of the week (although it didn’t happen for last week – yet) and summarize what happened in class, and remind you about things for next week. There is also the “Week in 559” widget in the upper right of the course web. Keep your eye on that, since it will have links to posts that we think are relevant for the week.
Make sure you look at the “Class Calendar” page (you can see it at the top of the page – it’s one of the choices). This can give you an idea of what’s coming up beyond a week. Note that there are links to most (or all) assignments. Often these links will be to “stub” pages until we set the assignments. You don’t need to check this regularly – it won’t change, and any important changes will be announced.
If you go to the assignments page list, you’ll see all assignments in a useless order (the order that we created the empty pages). So don’t bother – when we put the assignment there, you’ll get an announcement telling you where to look. The assignments will also be set before they appear in “The Week in 559”.
In terms of the Canvas page
Again, we decided to make all the assignments ahead of time – putting empty assignment pages so we get a nice syllabus and home page for the class. You can see what’s coming up. If you go to a page before the assignment is set, there won’t be much there – so don’t bother.
With Canvas, you get a lot of control over what announcements it sends you by email. You might want to go to the settings page and adjust it to your liking.
This message was sent to students who were enrolled in CS559 before class began, but the set of people in the class has changed, so not everyone has seen it. This is why we prefer to use this webpage as the primary source for class announcements.
Changes in CS559
You are receiving this email because you are enrolled in CS559 – Computer Graphics – this coming semester, and we want to warn you of some changes to the class. All of these changes are experimental.
The web page for CS559, Fall 2015 is: http://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/559-f15/
First Big Change: The class will be co-taught by Professor Michael Gleicher and Professor Eftychios Sifakis.
This means that if you want to send email to "the professor" you need to send it tocs559.staff@gmail.com – so it gets to both of us. One (or both) of us will see it there and respond. If you send course related email to one of us directly, there will be a delay in response.
Second Big Change: The programming assignments in the class will be done using web-based technologies. Yes, that means no C++ – you’ll be programming in JavaScript. For more information, see: http://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/559-f15/2015/08/16/cs559-in-javascript/
There is a tradition in 559 of making students pick up a new programming language in order to do the assignments for the class. Historically, we have provided a little help (pointers to books, help sessions). This semester we will try to provide another option.
We are going to offer a 1 credit class (a section of CS638) that will "teach" Javascript and Web programming. Another way to phrase it is: if you’re going to spend the time learning Javascript, you might want to get credit for it. For this semester, it will be offered with a 638 number and be offered Pass/Fail only. https://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/638-f15/
We appreciate that many students won’t be able to sign up for 638 because of the timing. We’re only telling you about this now (late August), so you might not be able to fit a 2:30 Tuesday class onto your schedule. You are welcome (encouraged) to look at the readings and assignments for the class, even if you aren’t taking it.
We will take care such that 559 students who are not signed up for 638 will not be at a disadvantage (other than, missing out on some Javascript experience that they could get elsewhere).
If you do sign up for 559 and 638, we will try to make it overlap well. For many of the 638 assignments, you will be able to use your 559 assignments.
Third Big Change: Books All required readings will be made available via the web. There will be a textbook, but Wendt Library has arranged for online access for students. If you want to buy hardbound copies, information is available on the class website.
http://pages.graphics.cs.wisc.edu/559-f15/2015/08/18/books/
If you have any questions, please send us a note at cs559.staff@gmail.com (NOT to Gleicher or Sifakis’ regular email).
We look forward to seeing you on September 3rd (the first day of class) at 11am in room 1120 Biochem.
Mike and Eftychios
This is the course web for the Fall 2015 edition of CS559.
The course web page is the primary mechanism for communicating with the class. Students are responsible for the content on the web page. You can subscribe to announcements by either RSS or an email subscription.
You are looking at the News page – a list of announcements.
For basic information about the course, you may want to look at the Syllabus, the Course Calendar, or the Basic Info category.
There will also be a course Canvas page that will be used for some of the materials and for turning things in, and a course Piazza site (inside Canvas) that will be used for discussion. Announcements will always be made here, and we’ll give you links to important things in Canvas.
There is a tradition in 559 of making students pick up a new programming language in order to do the assignments for the class. Historically, we have provided a little help (pointers to books, help sessions). This semester we will try to provide another option.
We are going to offer a 1 credit class (a section of CS638) that will “teach” Javascript and Web programming. Another way to phrase it is: if you’re going to spend the time learning Javascript, you might want to get credit for it. For this semester, it will be offered with a 638 number and be offered Pass/Fail only. In the future, it may get it’s own number, or it might be a 368 (Learning a New Programming Language) section.
If you’re a 559 student, taking 638 is optional. We expect that students will be able to succeed in 559 the “old fashioned way” of teaching themselves enough of the new programming language.
We also appreciate that many 559 students won’t be able to sign up for 638 because of the timing. We’re only telling you about this now (late August), so you might not be able to fit a 2:30 Tuesday class onto your schedule. You are welcome (encouraged) to look at the readings and assignments for the class, even if you aren’t taking it.
We will take care such that 559 students who are not signed up for 638 will not be at a disadvantage (other than, missing out on some Javascript experience that they could get elsewhere).
If you do sign up for 559 and 638, we will try to make it overlap well. For many of the 638 assignments, you will be able to use your 559 assignments.
See also the CS638 Web Page, and my Advice on Learning JavaScript.