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Assignments

Here are the programming assignments and final project. If you're stuck, the checklists contain hints and possible progress steps. The course policies for collaboration and late work appear in the syllabus. The assignment FAQ answers many common questions related to the programming assignments.

# DUE LOGO ASSIGNMENT COLLABORATION SUBMIT
0 Monday
Sept. 19th
Hello, World (Checklist)
Install a Java programming environment, write a few short Java programs, and submit them using our submission system.
This is an individual assignment. Submit!
1 Monday
Sept. 26th
Conditionals & Loops (Checklist)
Write five short Java programs to gain practice with loops, conditionals, and arrays.
This is an individual assignment. Submit!
2 Monday
Oct. 3rd
N-Body Simulation (Checklist)
Simulate the motion of n particles, mutually affected by gravitational forces, and animate the results.
This is an individual assignment. Submit!
3 Monday
Oct. 10th
Recursive Graphics (Checklist)
Plot a Sierpinski triangle, as illustrated to the left. Then, plot a recursive pattern of your own design.
This is an individual assignment. Submit!
4 Monday
Oct. 24th
Hamming Codes in TOY (Checklist)
Write a TOY program to encode data using Hamming codes. Then write a TOY program to correct encoded data that has been corrupted.
This is an individual assignment.
Submit!

Leaderboard
(results)      
5 Monday
Nov. 7th
Linear Feedback Shift Register (Checklist)
Simulate a linear feedback shift register to produce pseudorandom bits. Then, use those bits to implement a simple encryption scheme for digital images.
This is an individual assignment. Submit!
6 Monday
Nov. 14th
Guitar Hero (Checklist)
Simulate the plucking of a guitar string using the Karplus–Strong algorithm, transforming your computer into a musical instrument.
You can work with a partner on this assignment. Submit!
7 Monday
Nov. 21st
Markov Model (Checklist)
Use a Markov chain to create a statistical model of a piece of English text. Simulate the Markov chain to generate stylized pseudorandom text.
You can work with a partner on this assignment. Submit!
8 Monday
Dec. 5th
Traveling Salesperson Problem (Checklist)
Implement two greedy heuristics to find good (but not optimal) solutions to the traveling salesperson problem.
You can work with a partner on this assignment. Submit!
Leaderboard
(results)      
9 Tuesday
Jan. 17th
at 5pm
Atomic Nature of Matter (Checklist)
Re-affirm the atomic nature of matter by tracking the motion of particles undergoing Brownian motion, fitting this data to Einstein's model, and estimating Avogadro's number.
You can work with a partner on this assignment. Submit!
With special thanks to Kathleen Ma '18 for creating these wonderful assignment logos.