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Computer Science 12


Homework assignments




Assignment 1 (first part due February 11, 2009

Obtain Jerry Waxman's CS 12 lecture notes, available at the Copy Center under Gino’s Pizza, across Kissena Blvd from QC. During the next week and a half, skim through the first third of the notes (up to but not including the lectures on Excel) and choose a topic for the paper that you'll be asked to write. Email me, by no later than Thursday, February 11, about the topic you have chosen.

Then reasearch the paper using Jerry Waxman's notes plus at least one other printed (offline) source plus at least two websites. Send me email containing a list of your sources by no later than Thursday, February 18.

The first draft of your paper must be finished by Sunday, February 28. Bring your first draft with you to class on that day (either on a flash drive or by emailing it to yourself) and again on Sunday, March 7. We will show you how to use various Microsoft Word 2007 features to make the paper look nicer.

Your first draft, which must be finished by February 28, should include at least one quote from each of your sources, and should have at least three sections with headings. We will then show you how to do citations, footnotes, bibliography, index, and table of contents, using Microsoft 2007 features which make these chores easy.

The paper itself should be six to eight pages long, double spaced, with a font size anywhere between 12 and 18. The final version of the paper must have a table of contents at the beginning, an index at the end, and properly formatted footnotes (which will place themselves automatically at the bottom of the relavant page), citations, a bibliography, and at least three other sections whose titles will appear in the automatically generated table of contents at the beginning. The paper must be an original paper, not plagiarized. (Warning: BlackBoard includes the ability to search automatically for possible plagiarism.)

The final version of the paper will then be due on Sunday, March 14.

Your first steps will be to choose the topic, gather sources, and tell me about the topic and the sources by emailing me at the following address (not any other email address of mine, please):

dnixon-cs12@nyclocal.net


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Assignment 2 (Excel assignment due Sunday, February 21, 2010; paper topic due Thursday, February 11; list of sources due Thursday, February 18)

  1. Paper:

    2. Continue work on your paper, as follows: (1) by no later than Thursday, February 11, about the topic you have chosen. (2) By no later than Thursday, February 18, email me your list of sources. (2) Submit the first draft via Blackboard, by no later than the beginning of class on Sunday, February 28. It should have the following filename:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.

  2. Excel assignment:

    1. Making believe you're a teacher, create an Excel spreadsheet with columns as follows: (1) a list of names, (2) five columns of quiz scores, (2) two columns of results to be computed from quiz scores, (3) two columns of in-class exam scores, and (4) the final exam score. The two columns of results computed from the quiz scores must be (a) the average quiz score and (b) the average with lowest score dropped.

      2. Make rows for at least five students. The names of your imaginary students, and the quiz scores, will be left to your imagination. Just don't copy them from another student. The quiz scores should range between 0 to 10, while the exam scores should range between 0 and 100.

      Save your Excel spreadsheet with a filename having the following format:

      • last-first-roster.xlsx

      where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.

      Then format the "Grade Roster" title and "Contact" lines to make them look nice, merging adjacent cells as necessary to eliminate overlap. To the left of the scores, you must have columns for imaginary students' names, first a column for the last names, then a column for the first names. Make up a unique set of names (not used by other Computer Science 12 students). Above the scores, there must be a row for column headings for the scores. The column headings should be: Quiz 1, Quiz 2, Quiz 3, Quiz 4, Quiz 5, Exam 1, Exam 2, and Final Exam.

      Then, in between the quiz scores and the exam scores, insert two columns for calculated results involving the quiz scores. The first of these should be a column for the average quiz score. The second of these should be a column which computes an average of quiz scores with the lowest grade dropped. (Hint: Use a formula involving the SUM, COUNT, and MIN functions, not the AVERAGE function.)

      Below the rows for the students, add rows for (1) the class average for each quiz, exam, or calculated result, (2) the class's lowest score for each quiz, exam, or calculated result, and the class's highest score for each quiz, exam, or calculated result.

      Below the grade roster, create a column chart showing the lowest, average, and maximum scores for each quiz, exam, and calculated result. (The easiest way to do this will be to create a column chart for your entire roster, then right click on it and click "Select Data" to edit the chart, then delete unwanted parts. Also, before you create the chart, it is recommended that you temporarily remove any heading you have at the top of the column for students' names, so that the other column headings will be recognized as headings.) See this week's Excel tutorials for step-by-step instructions on creating charts.

    2. In a separate file, write an invoice for goods ordered from a store. The invoice should have columns for product name, per-unit price, quantity ordered, and total price. There should be rows for at least four products. Underneath the last row, below the total price column there should cells (with identifying text in cells to the left of them) for subtotal, tax, and then total. The tax should be computed from the tax rate, which should be placed in a separate cell somewhere.

      3. In order to do the tax computation, referring to the tax rate in some specific cell, you will need to use absolute addressing, so that your formula will still refer to the tax rate in the same cell when you drag the formula.

      All columns should have clear headings. And, somewhere above the headings, there should be cells for the store's name, the date, and the customer's name and address. Use two or more merged cells for the store's name, the customer's name, and each line of the customer's address, so that these will display nicely, and use an appropriate heading format for the store's name. Put your own name and email address in appropriately merged cells at the bottom.

      The invoice should have a filename with the following format:

      • last-first-invoice.xlsx

      where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last and first name.

      Your invoice must be unique, containing a store name, product names, and prices different from those in files submitted by other students in Computer Science 12.

    Submit BOTH of the above files in the appropriate area on Blackboard, and have access to the files in lab next week. (The two files should be sumitted separately in the same area on BlackBoard, not in a ZIP file. You must submit both at once, not separately.) We will use them again in future exercises both in lab and in homework.


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Assignment 3 (due Sunday, February 28, 2010)

  1. Paper:

    2. Continue work on your paper, as follows: If you have not done so already, email me your paper topic and list of sources ASAP. Begin work on your first draft.

  2. Excel assignment:

    3. Continuing the invoice example from last week, add a cell which computes discounts as follows: (1) No discount for the first $100. (2) For subtotals above $100, five percent of the amount that the subtotal exceeds $100. For subtotals above $500, an additional five percent of the amount that the subtotal exceeds $500.

    There should be separate cells for (1) the original subtotal, (2) the discount, (3) the subtotal with discount subtracted, and (4) the total with sales tax added.

    As before, the invoice should have a filename with the following format:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last and first name.

    Your invoice must be unique, containing a store name, product names, and prices different from those in files submitted by other students in Computer Science 12.

  3. HTML assignment:

    Begin creating three HTML pages that you would actually like to display on a website you'll be creating later in the semester. The two pages must be:

    1. A file named  index.html ,  which will briefly introduce your site and contain links to your other pages.

    2. At least two other pages on any topics you like, within reason. (The topic does not need to be computer-related. The topics can be any hobby of yours, for example, as long as it stays within Queens College's computer use policies. Or your site could be about you. For exampple, one of the pages could be your resume (minus street address, to protect your privacy).The two or more pages other than your index page must each contain a link back to your index page.

    In addition to the local links amongst your pages, at least one of your pages must also contain links to other websites.

    When you are finished, put all your HTML files into a ZIP file with the following filename:

    • last-first-website.zip

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last and first name.

    Submit the ZIP file in the appropriate area on Blackboard, and have access to the files in lab during our next class session. (The two files should be sumitted separately in the same area on BlackBoard, not in a ZIP file.) We will use them again in future exercises both in lab and in homework.


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Assignment 4 (due Sunday, March 7, 2010)

  1. Paper:

    2. Continue work on your paper, as follows: (1) If you have not done so already, email me your paper topic and list of sources ASAP. (2) Submit the first draft via Blackboard, by no later than the beginning of class on Sunday, March 7.

    The file must have a filename with the following format:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.

  2. Excel Assignment:

    1. Create a spreadsheed listing at least 10 sales people who work for some particular company, to compute their rank as employees. The spreadsheet should have columns for the salespersons' names, the date that they were hired, the dollar amount of sales by each sales person during the past month, and the sales person's rank. Sales people have rank 3 if they have worked for the company for at least five years and sold at least $20,000 worth of goods during the past month. They have rank 2 if they have either worked for the company for at least five years or sold at least $20,000 during the past month. They have rank 1 if neither of the above is true. Format the spreadsheet as a table.

      2. This spreadsheet should have a filename with the following format:

      • last-first-salesforce.xlsx

      Submit the above file in the appropriate area on Blackboard, and have access to the file in lab for all future weeks. We will use it again in future exercises both in lab and in homework.

    2. Continuing the invoice example from an earlier week, let's say the store decides to start selling some food items, if it didn't already sell food, or, conversely, let's say that the store now decides to sell some non-food items, if it was already selling food. The point being, some items are now taxable and others aren't.

      3. Add some rows for the new items, and add a column indicating whether a given item is taxable, so that sales tax can be computed.

      As before, the invoice should have a filename with the following format:

      • last-first-invoice.xlsx

      where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last and first name.

      Your invoice must be unique, containing a store name, product names, and prices different from those in files submitted by other students in Computer Science 12.

  3. HTML Assignment:

    1. Make sure you can access, in lab next week, a graphics file that you legally own and have the right to publish on a website, e.g. a digital photo of yourself. During the last hour of lab next week, you'll be shown how to display your graphics file on one of the pages discussed in the next item below.

    2. If you have not done so already, create at least three HTML pages that you've written, one of which has the name index.html and links to the other two (or more), all of which, in turn, link back to index.html, which will be the main page of your forthcoming website. (See these HTML tutorials.) The pages need not be long or fancy, but they should contain the beginnings of an actual intended website. Links between your pages should use relative pathnames, assuming the files are all in the same directory. At least one of the pages should also contain links to at least three outside websites. Submit your HTML pages in a single ZIP file via Blackboard, and make sure you can access them in lab next week.

    3. Continue to develop the text of the above-discussed three pages into something you would actually like to display on a website, and re-submit them. Your HTML files should now contain "real" text, not just demo text.

    As before, your ZIP file must have a filename of the form  last-first-website.zip ,  where  last  and  first  should be replaced by your own last name and first name, respectively.


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Assignment 5 (due Sunday, March 14, 2010)

  1. Paper:

    2. (Revised, March 8, 2010) Only one person managed to complete the first draft by the beginning of class on March 7. For that and other reasons, the planned Microsoft Word lesson was postponed to next week.

    You absolutely must submit the first draft, via Blackboard, by no later than the beginning of class on Sunday, March 14. This time, you will lose a significant number points if you don't submit the first draft by then.

    As stated earlier, the first draft must contain quotes from each of your four sources and must be divided into at least three sections with headings. The first draft must be at least three pages long (whereas the final paper should be between five and eight pages long).

    The file must have a filename with the following format:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.

  2. Excel Assignment:

    3. Continuing the grade roster from an earlier assignment, compute each student's total final score as follows: The quiz average with lowest score dropped counts 30% of the total score. If the student did better on the final exam than on both of the other two exams, then the final exam counts 40% of the total score and the other two exams count a total of 30%, with the better of the two non-final exams counted twice as much as the other one. On the other hand, if it is not true that the student did better on the final exam than on both of the other two exams, then the final exam is counted as 30% of the total score, and the other two exams count a total of 40%, with the better of the two non-final exams being counted as 24% of the total score, while the worse of the two non-final exams is counted only 16%. Put the final score in a column on the right. You may find it helpful to have a few additional columns containing intermediate calculated results.

    In the appropriate cells in the bottom right corner, compute the minimum, maximum, and average total scores for the entire class.

    Generate a column chart displaying the minimum, maxiumim, and average for the entire class, with clearly labeled axes.

    The grade roster itself should be displayed as a table.

    As before, your Excel file should have a filename with the following format:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.

    Submit the above file in the appropriate area on Blackboard, and have access to the file in lab next week. We will use it again in future exercises both in lab and in homework.

  3. HTML Assignment:

    4. Continue work on your set of HTML pages, adding at least two graphics files. Add a "graphics credits" page clearly identifying all graphics as to their source. If the graphic has been copied from a website, follow the instructions in Copyright issues and policies of "free" graphics download sites. If the graphic was created by you (e.g. a photo taken by you), say so explicitly, and state your wishes as to whether other people may use your graphic and, if so, under what conditions. Your main page, index.html, should include a link to your graphics credits page, which, in turn, should link back to index.html, as do all your other pages.

    Submit both your HTML files and your graphics files, together, in a ZIP file uploaded to the appropriate place on BlackBoard. The ZIP file should have a filename with the following format:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and first name, respectively. Also, please have access to this file in lab next week, because we will continue work on your HTML files in future lab sessions and homework assignments.


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Assignment 6 (due Sunday, March 28, 2010)

  1. Paper:

    2. Next week is your absolute hard deadline for submitting the first draft of the paper. If you do not submit the first draft by the beginning of next week's class, you will not be allowed to submit it later.

    Note: If you are able to complete the first draft of the paper but are having trouble submitting it via Blackboard, please bring it with you to class and submit it with my direct, in-person help. That will count as on-time submission.

  2. Excel assignment:

    1. Continuing the invoice example from last week, with taxable and non-taxable items. Do the same example again, this time using SUMIF. The use of SUMIF will allow you to simplify your spreadsheet, perhaps eliminating a column.

      2. As before, the invoice should have a filename with the following format:

      • last-first-invoice.xlsx

      where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last and first name.

      Your invoice must be unique, containing a store name, product names, and prices different from those in files submitted by other students in Computer Science 12.

    2. Table of sales people (continued from two weeks ago):

      3. Continuing the "sales force" exercise from two weeks ago: A little further down on the worksheet, create a separate table containing results computed from the other table. There should be rows for each rank of employee and columns for (1) the total number of employees with a given rank, (2) the total amount of sales by all employees of a given rank, and (4) the average sales by employees of a given rank.

      This spreadsheet should have a filename with the following format:

      • last-first-salesforce.xlsx

    Submit both of the above files in the appropriate area on Blackboard, and have access to the files in lab next week. (The two files should be sumitted separately in the same area on BlackBoard, not in a ZIP file.) We will use them again in future exercises both in lab and in homework.

  3. HTML assignment:

    Continue work on you set of HTML pages. Begin learning how to use CSS, in the form of  style  attributes within HTML tags to set setting colors, fonts, margins, etc. (Next week you'll be asked to use CSS in the form of a single CSS style sheet file, separate from your HTML files.)

    If you have not done so already, please write some actual content for your HTML files, not just test/demo code. Your pages should say something that you would actually want to say on a website. You may, if you choose, create a website similar to what Joe Svitak asks for in the weekday sections of Computer Science 12. Or, if you prefer not to focus on yourself and your friends and famiily, you may create a website on any other topic within reason and within what is allowed by the Policies Governing Use of Queens College Information Technology.

    Submit your HTML files and your graphics files, together, in a ZIP file uploaded to the appropriate place on BlackBoard. The ZIP file should, as before, have a filename with the following format:

    • last-first-website.zip

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and first name, respectively. Also, please have access to this file in lab next week, because we will continue work on your HTML files in future lab sessions and homework assignments.


Both the Excel assignment and the HTML assignment must be submitted, via BlackBoard, by no later than the due date, at the beginning of our class session. If you have any trouble submitting them, come early to lab and ask me to help you. (Have access to your files in lab, of course.)


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Assignment 7 (due Sunday, April 18, 2010)

  1. Excel assignment:

    1. Continuing the grade roster assignment from previous weeks, replace the "quiz average with lowest score dropped" by "quiz average with lowest two scores dropped." (Hint: Use the SMALL function.)

      2. Using a separate spreadsheet, play with both the SMALL and LARGE functions until you are fully comfortable with them.

    2. Experiment with the PMT, PV, and FV functions, applying them both to loans and to savings accounts with interest. Also, try varying the period of the payments (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual).

    You are not asked to submit the above via Blackboard, but you are expected to become fluent enough with the PMT, PV, FV, SMALL, and LARGE functions that you can use them on a quiz.

  2. HTML assignment:

    Continue work on your set of HTML pages. Use a single CSS style sheet to do most of the formatting on all your pages, setting colors, fonts, margins, etc. On each page, there should be at least two  div  elements, of at least two distinct classes, as there are in the example files provided with last week's tutorial material on HTML and CSS. Where you need to do any local formatting (e.g. to set the position or size of a particular graphic), use  style  attributes, rather than assorted attributes from HTML 3, as exemplified in the tutorial on graphics files, as well as in the file  style-atribute-demo.html  that was provided with last week's tutorial material.

    Also, please be sure to adhere to the XHTML standard, as described here.

    Submit your HTML files, your graphics files, and your CSS file, together, in a ZIP file uploaded to the appropriate place on BlackBoard. The ZIP file should, as before, have a filename with the following format:

    • last-first-website.zip

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and first name, respectively. Also, please have access to this file in lab next week, because we will continue work on your HTML files in future lab sessions and homework assignments.


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Assignment 8 (due Sunday, May 2, 2010)

  1. Catch up:

    2. The Excel and HTML assignments that were formerly listed here as Assignment 8 have been postponed to Assignment 9, because many students were behind on Assignments 7 and 8. Please catch up on these.

  2. Paper:

    3. Finishe writing your paper. It should be six to eight pages long, double spaced, with a font size anywhere between 12 and 18. The final version of the paper must have a table of contents at the beginning, an index at the end, and properly formatted footnotes (which will place themselves automatically at the bottom of the relavant page), citations, a bibliography, and at least three other sections whose titles will appear in the automatically generated table of contents at the beginning. The paper must be an original paper, not plagiarized. (Warning: BlackBoard includes the ability to search automatically for possible plagiarism.)

    The paper is due two weeks from now. The paper must have the following filename:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.


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Assignment 9 (due Sunday, May 9, 2010)

  1. Access assignment:

    2. Create a simple single-table database, including the table plus a query, a form, and a report, using Justin Farrell's tutorial. Begin by creating a blank new database with the following filename:

    last-first-simple.accdb

    replacing "last" and "first" with your own last and first name. As you create the database file, be sure to send it to some appropriate folder, preferably on your own network drive, if you're doing this in lab.

    Then continue following the instructions in the tutorial, except to make the following important changes: (1) The tutorial suggests that the table have a field for "age." This is a very bad idea, because a person's age changes from year to year. Instead, a database should store each person's date of birth. So, where the tutorial tells you to create a field for "age," you should instead create a field for "date of birth," with a data type of "Date/time." (2) Also, create an additional field for "annual salary," with a data type of "Currency."

    When you save the table (after selecting ID as the "Primary Key," as instructed in the tutorial), give the table the name "Employees."

    When you enter some sample data in the the table, enter the birthdates in MM/DD/YYYY format. Salaries may be entered with or without a leading dollar sign. (If you omit the dollar sign, it will appear automatically after you press [Enter].)

    When you get to the part of the tutorial about queries, you'll be asked to create a query to "extract all the records in the above table where the persons age is greater than or equal to 35." Instead you should write a query to extract all the records where the person was born before some particular date. Choose a date such that approximately half your records will satisfy the criterion.

    When you are finished, save your work, close Access, and upload the file to the appropriate place on Blackboard.

  2. Excel assignment:

    3. Experiment with using Goal Seek to determine how long it will take to reach a given financial goal. Try using GOALSEEK with each one of the financial functions (PMT, PV, FV) in turn.

    Experiment also with using Goal Seek with various other Excel functions too. Try some examples similar to the ones in the tutorials.

    You will not be asked to upload a spreadsheet to Blackboard, but you are expected to become fluent enough in the use of Goal Seek with the financial functions that you can answer quiz questions about them.

  3. HTML assignment:

    4. Continue to add more text and/or graphics to your pages. Check the feedback you've been getting with your grades on Blackboard and make any needed corrections. Submit the corrected and expanded version on Blackboard, as usual.

  4. Paper:

    5. Finishe writing your paper. It should be six to eight pages long, double spaced, with a font size anywhere between 12 and 18. The final version of the paper must have a table of contents at the beginning, an index at the end, and properly formatted footnotes (which will place themselves automatically at the bottom of the relavant page), citations, a bibliography, and at least three other sections whose titles will appear in the automatically generated table of contents at the beginning. The paper must be an original paper, not plagiarized. (Warning: BlackBoard includes the ability to search automatically for possible plagiarism.)

    The paper must have the following filename:

    where "last" and "first" should be replaced by your own last name and and first name, respectively.


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Assignment 10 (due Sunday, May 16, 2010)

  1. Access assignment:

    2. In Access, you do not necessarily have to design a database from scratch. Access provides some pre-made database designs, known as "templates."

    Open Access. This time, don't select "New Blank Database." Instead, under "Featured Online Templates," select the "Projects" template. When prompted for a file name, enter a filename like the following:

    last-first-Projects.accdb

    replacing "last" and "first" with your own last and first name, and click on the folder icon to select an appropriate folder where the template will be saved. Then click "Download."

    Then open the file. Click on the "Navigation Pane" on the left.

    Then click on "Employees" (in the Navigation Pane) and select "Employee list." Make up several rows' worth of data. Then save the file and close the Employee list.

    Then click "Projects" (in the Navigation Pane on the left) and select "Project details." This is a form. Fill in all the blanks for at least five projects, at least one for each possible "Status." Notice that "Owner" gives you a drop down menu with the names of the employees you entered in the employee list, so you cannot enter a nonexistent employee in this form. Thus this form enforces referential integrity. After you've entered data for at least five projects, close this form.

    Then click "Tasks" (in the Navigation Pane on the left) and select the first of two items which are both called "Task Details." This one is a form. Fill in all the blanks for several tasks. Notice that "Assigned to" gives you a drop-down list of employees, and "Project" gives you a drop-down list of projects. Thus, this form enforces referential integrity for two separate tables. After you've entered data for several projects, close this form.

    Then open, examine, and close all the other items you can find in the "Navigation Pane, to get more of a feel for some of the things that can be done with databases."

    When you are finished, save and close your Access file, then upload it to Blackboard as usual.

  2. Excel assignment:

    3. Practice using VLookup as in this week's Excel tutorials. Practice first by duplicating one or more of the examples in the tutorials.

    Then modify your old "roster" file to contain an additional table which converts percentage scores to letter grades. Add a column to the main roster table for the letter grade, and use the separate table, with VLookup, to compute each student's letter grade, based on the final numeric score.

    When you are finished, upload your "roster" file to the appropriate place on Blackboard. It must have a filename like the following:

    last-first-roster.xlsx

    (replacing "last" and "first" with your own last and first name).


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D. Nixon: CS 12 > Assignments