Lecture 1 - Welcome to DS210! (Section B)
What today will look like
- Screen-free space
Agenda
- What is this course?
- Quick introductions and logistics
- Syllabus review activity
- AI use discussion
All the material in the course will be in the service of at least one of:
- Code development skills - tools, collaboration, best practices
- Programming in Rust
- Systems programming (memory, performance, types)
- Data structures and algorithms (to be continued in DS 320)
But why are YOU taking it?
I just want to say - I hear you. Here's my job...
Why coding development skills matter
- Often never taught explicitly, can be tricky to self-teach
- Vitally important in "the real world", when you'll need to:
- Get out of a "detached head" state without losing your head
- Collaborate with others on code across space and time
- Work on massive codebases and data warehouses
Why Systems Programming Matters
Knowing enough to answer
- Why is my code slow?
- Why is my app crashing?
- Why did we get hacked?
Or better yet... not having to answer those questions as often!
Why data structures and algorithms?
Knowing enough to answer
- Why is my model producing weird results?
- Is there a smarter way to do this than brute-force?
- How is this ever going to scale?
And inventing whole net new ways of working with data.
Also -
- Technical interviews
- Intellectual joy
Why are we doing this in Rust?
- A second language
- A compiled language
- A systems programming language
- A modern language
- An increasingly popular language
Logistics
What have you heard about the course?
New This Semester
- Local dev and focus on development skills
- Mastery vs coverage
- In-class activities in every lecture
- Better alignment between lectures, homeworks, and exams
- Three exams, no final project
Why the shift to "active learning"?
- A meta-analysis of 225 studies found students in traditional lecture courses are 1.5 times more likely to fail compared to active learning environments.
- Active learning produces consistent effect sizes of 0.47-0.49 standard deviations, or half a letter grade improvement.
- Active learning reduces achievement gaps between underrepresented and majority students by 33-45%.
Our Teaching Staff
Two things to know about me...
- I am your advocate.
- It's us against the material
- No gotchas
- Lots of practice and review in class
- Please share feedback
- I want to know who you are (coffee slots!)
- If you are struggling, please reach out early so we can help
- I have high expectations for you.
- Grading on an absolute scale
- Less weight on homeworks, more on exams
- When you're here, you're HERE
- You CAN learn this stuff!
What this means for grading
35% course grade based on EFFORT:
- 15% homeworks
- 15% in-class activities
- 5% pre-work and surveys
65% based on MASTERY:
- 20% midterm 1
- 20% midterm 2
- 25% final exam
Lectures and Discussions
Lecture: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 12:20pm-1:10pm (WED 130)
Discussion B2 - led by Joey
- Tue 11:00am – 11:50 (listed 12:15pm)
- 111 Cummington St MCS B37
Discussion B3 - led by Joey
- Tue 12:30pm – 1:20 (listed 1:45pm)
- 3 Cummington Mall PRB 148
B4 and B5 are cancelled this semester
About Section A
Section A Instructor: Thomas Gardos
- Email: tgardos@bu.edu
- Office hours: Tuesdays, 3:30-4:45pm @ CCDS 1623
Their schedule:
- Lectures are Tue / Thu 2-3:15
- Discussions are Wednesday afternoons
- Pacing may be different, so please attend B lectures and discussions!
What we share:
- Homework assignments and due dates
- Exams topics (different questions) and rough dates
- TAs and CAs
Thanks for hanging tight as we get set up!
Syllabus Review Activity (20 min)
Instructions
In groups of 2-3, spend 15 minutes answering the worksheet questions on paper.
Recap
AI use discussion (20 min)
Instructions
Think-pair-share style, each ~6-7 minutes, with wrap-up.
Form groups of 2-3 (different groups if possible!).
We're not putting this on gradescope (sorry if you filled this out on gradescope yesterday! 😅)
Round 1: Learning Impact
How might GenAI tools help your learning in this course?
How might they get in the way?
Round 2: Values & Fairness
What expectations do you have for how other students in this course will or won't use GenAI?
What expectations do you have for the teaching team so we can assess your learning fairly given easy access to these tools?
Round 3: Real Decisions
Picture yourself stuck on a challenging Rust problem at midnight with a deadline looming.
What options do you have?
What would help you make decisions you'd feel good about?
Wrap-up
By Friday
Please fill out the intro survey linked in the email and mark it complete on Gradescope.
Quick show of hands - mac/linux vs windows?
Bring your laptop and come prepared to work with the shell next class!