CMPUT 114 Lab Information
The lab schedule, lab exercises and assignments are all listed on the CMPUT 114 web site, along with useful Java class documentation and sample code. Lab exercises are "revealed" one by one, on a weekly basis; at the start of each week, another exercise will be made available.
Labs are an important component of the course, which consist of weekly lab exercises, two programming assignments, and a lab exam. For lab exercises, you will demo your work to your TA in your scheduled lab section by the posted deadline. You are always guaranteed a place in your scheduled lab section, however you may also attend other lab sections to work on your exercises providing that there is room. For the details of attendance requirements and marking guidelines for lab exercises, see lab attendance and marks.
Students are encouraged to use a variety of resources to find the information needed to complete the lab work You should ask questions and may need to read additional material outside of scheduled class/lab time, especially for the two programming assignments. It is not unusual in Science courses for labs to cover material that has not been discussed in lectures.
The labs use the Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment, or software used to aid programming in languages like Java). This is free software that you can download from the internet. Installing Eclipse at Home is a tutorial that guides you through the download and installation procedure. Although U of A staff, including TAs, are not obligated to give support for home computers, we will try our best to help you with the resources we have. Please send your inquiry to your TA or to the lab instructor.
The lab component of the course consists of 1 weekly 3 hour lab period. All scheduled lab periods are in CSC 1-25. (CSC is the Centre for Computing Science building, behind Athabasca Hall). Consult the lab schedule to find out when labs begin. Students are required to attend each of their scheduled labs. For policies regarding missed labs and assignments, see the Excused Absences Policy page on this web site. Please note: students must attend the lab in which they are officially registered - swapping lab sections is not allowed.
During each lab period, students will have a chance to implement the theory they have learned by completing some short Java lab programming exercises. Students are given one complete week to finish each lab exercise for marks. Details at the lab attendance and marks page. You may also use the lab any time (day or night) as long as it is not booked for a lab session.
You may also use the lab during a booked time if there is a seat available.
You may ask for help in labs other than your own section, however students registered in that lab will have first priority.
TA help in the Lab
- Please understand that TAs must leave their lab on time.
- TAs are not allowed to remain in their lab after the lab period is over since there are other scheduled activities in the lab.
- Ensuring that TAs can get around to everyone's question or demo as fairly as possible, one list of names will be used. If you have a question, write your name under the list. If you need to demo then write your name under the list, and put a (D) behind your name.
- TAs may not be able to completely answer your question, but they will point you in the right direction so you can figure things out yourself and thus learn from it.
- If you are waiting to demo your exercise, please have your projects opened while waiting for the TA to come.
- Also, if you are waiting for the TA to get to your question, you should work on other parts of the lab exercise or assignment on which you are not stuck.
- If you didn't
get your questions answered during the lab, you can always email
your TA, attaching the code you need help with. Make sure that
you
- explain specifically what problem you are having,
- use your CCID email,
- and include your lab section and full name in the email.
Helpdesk (Labadmin)
For technical help with logging in or computer problems (which do not include 114 lab material, Eclipse or Java problems), see the Helpdesk, also known as Labadmin.
