Basic Info

In an online class, communication is important. For this class, there are multuiple mechanisms (Canvas, Piazza, Web, Zoom, Email). Student should understand how the class uses all of these mechanisms.

• The course web has course information and content. New material will be announced on Canvas.
• Announcements will be made via Canvas. Make sure you receive Canvas announcements.
• Emergency announcements will be made via email, but we will try to keep this to a minimum.
• General (Open) Discussions via Piazza.
• Communication with Course Staff via Piazza.
• Course restricted information via Canvas pages and Files.
• Grading via Canvas.
• Synchronous class meetings via Zoom. (see Zoom for CS559)
• Consulting hours and office hours will be held in person or via Zoom.
• Workbooks are obtained and handed in via GitHub classroom and a Canvas survey.
• Exams and Surveys will use Canvas Quizzes.
• Please be respectful of others in online communications.

1. There will be 3 exams, given online. Two will be given on Wednesday evenings during the semester, one will be given in the official University Final Examination time slot.
2. Each exam will be administered using Canvas Quizzing.
3. Each exam will consist of 3 short segments. You must complete all 3 segments within the exam time window.

The course web has a lot to read. Here is a suggestion as to where to start (and a recommended order you could look at them). If you’d like to see this list as a checklist, I’ve made it into a Canvas Survey for Getting Started - so you can check things off as you complete them. (but if you submit the quiz, you have to start over)

This list is long - but it is worth taking the time to understand class before it starts.

1. Read through this page before following links from it.
2. Check the Course Overview page to get a basic sense of what the course is going to be.
3. Check the Course Pre-Requisites (should you be here?) page to get an idea of what you need to know to take this class. The Technical Requirements page describes what you need to participate in the class online.
4. The Policies page will give you a sense of the rules for how the class will operate. There are lots of details, but make sure you understand the basic ideas.
5. Read the Communications Policy page to understand how you will communicate with us in class.
6. Understand how we will use Zoom for CS559 because you will need it for class.
7. Read Getting Help in case you need it.
8. Look at the Tools for 559 page to see what tools you will want to gather together to do the assignments in the class. We recommend that you use Visual Studio Code (see Visual Studio Code (VSCode) for CS559). The software page Software gives some instructions on how to set up Windows. It is important that you set up Git Setup and SSH configuration.
9. The Javascript in CS559 page discusses the use of JavaScript in CS559, and gives some suggestions on how to learn it if you haven’t already.
10. The Learning Goals will help you understand what you are going to learn in class. Check the Calendar to see the planned schedule.
11. Read about the Workbooks that we will use in class. Students also often ask about Grading.
12. The Readings (Course Materials) page describes the readings and other materials we will use in class. The Books page to see what books we will use in class, and why you don’t need to buy any (but can if you want to).

Before class starts, we recommend that you:

1. Have a look at the web pages above.
2. Register for an account on GitHub if you don’t already have one.
3. Set up the tools you will want to use for the class and try them out. This includes configuring canvas and Zoom for CS559. Set up Git Setup and SSH configuration. Set up Visual Studio Code.
4. If you haven’t done any JavaScript programming before, have a look at some of the resources on the Javascript in CS559 page and try to do a little JavaScript programming. Read some of one of the books, maybe watch some of the videos, but also try things out!
5. If you’ve never used GIT before, you might want to read about it and try it out a little. See the Git and GitHub in CS559 page where I have a brief tutorial, and pointers to resources. There is a link to a GIT tutorial I made showing how to use it for class.

If you need to find something on this course web, try using the search box in the upper right corner.

This class is meant to teach you about Computer Graphics. Computer Graphics is the study of how we make pictures with computers. The focus of the class is teaching you the key ideas of computer graphics.

The class will also teach you about how to do interactive graphics programming. We will use web technologies for this. On one hand, doing interactive web programming is a means to an end: you need to program graphics in order to really learn it. But, learning to build interactive applications for the web is a useful skill in its own right.

In CS559 this semester, we will use GitHub as a mechanism for distributing framework code (the starter code for assignments) as well as to have students hand in their assignments.

If you’ve never used Git, some of this might not make sense yet, since we are using Git terminology. See Learning Git and GitHub below for help in getting started.

Learning enough about Git is a requirement for the class. Technically, knowing the basics of Git is a pre-requisite (since it is covered in CS400). However, we will help you learn.

It will be really worth your time to set you computer up for class. The tools you need are discussed at Tools for 559.

Here are some steps that I used to set up a Windows laptop for working on class projects. This can give you a sense of how to get the things on the Tools for 559 page setup on your machine. It will probably be different for you. If you have a Mac or are running Linux, I can’t provide as much help (but other Course Staff can).

The course staff will hold “consulting hours” at the times listed below. We will provide a mixture of in-person and online consulting for students.

The staff for CS559 this semester includes the Professor, 4 Teaching Assistants (graduate students), and 3 Peer Mentors (undergraduate students). We work together as a team, and are all available to help you.

Feel free to contact the course staff via Piazza.

At least one member of the course staff will be available during Consulting Hours. If you would like to make an appointment to meet with a peer mentor or teaching assistant use the FORM COMING SOON

A Syllabus may mean different things to different people.

To the University, it is an official document that explains how the class meets some official rules. Officially, that is on AEFIS (since officially, that’s where syllabi are). What you are probably looking for (what I thought a syllabus is):

• If you want a concise description of how the course works, see the Course Overview.
• If you are looking for a schedule of the class, see the Calendar.
• If you are looking for a list of the learning goals, see Learning Goals. This has more detail than the official syllabus.
• If you are looking for the list of course policies, see Policies
• If you want an outline of the topics covered in class, the Calendar has a rough outline. The Lecture Materials: Videos and Slides has a more detailed outline of what we’ve already covered (with links to the lecture videos). Since that only has what we’ve done, you might want to look at last year’s outline (2022 Course Outline with Video Links) - this year will be similar.