56:246 The Design of Virtual Environments
Administrative Information

Instructor:

By appointment

Lectures:

MWF 1:30-2:20, 4030 SC

Note that the standard university policy is that for each semester hour credit in the course, students should expect to spend two hours per week preparing for class sessions and one hour in class.

Textbooks:

No textbooks are required. A set of journal articles is on reserve in the Engineering Library

Students may want to purchase a good book on C, such as:

The C Programming Language, Second Edition
by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988.
ISBN 0-13-110362-8 (paperback), 0-13-110370-9 (hardback).

This is available from most on-line bookstores.

You may also wish to purchase a guide to OpenGL programming, such as

The OpenGL Programming Guide 3rd Edition
The Official Guide to Learning
OpenGL Version 1.2

If you don't want to spend the money, you can use some of the electronic books the university has on the 24x7 system.  These aren't my favorites, but they may be helpful and, hey, they don't cost you anything:

C Programming for the Absolute Beginner: The Fun Way to Learn Programming by Michael Vine

Practical C Programming

 OpenGL SuperBible, Second Edition

Finally, you might like a VRML textbook, but I haven't found one that I really like, so you are on your own there.

Exam Dates:

Final:

12/13/04, noon

Grades:

Your grades will be based on a combination of homework and exams according to the following formula.

Homework : 50% (best 10 of 12)
Midterm 1: 15%
Midterm 2: 15%
Final exam: 20%

Final grades will be determined based on a straight percentage during the year. No plus or minuses modifiers will be attached to the grade

Homework:

There are 11 homework assignments in this course. All assignments are submitted on the WebCT system by the time indicated there.  A deduction of 5% will be made on the grade for each day it is late, for up to 6 days.

Statement On Disabilities:

I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please contact me during my office hours.

Complaints:

Students are reminded that the formal methods for complaints concerning faculty actions are spelled out by The College of Engineering Student Complaint Policy.  Generally, these policies specify that you should first attempt to resolve your complaint with me.  If you are not satisfied with this result, you may complain to my supervisor, who is the Department Executive Officer of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Dr. Jeffrey Marshall.  If that proves unsatisfactory, you may submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean of Academic Programs.  There are various other mechanisms and possibilities for which you may wish to consult the Handbook.

Acadmic Misconduct:

The college also has a formal policy including the definition of academic misconduct, such as cheating and plagerism, and the consequences can be brought to bear on badly behaving students.  Plagiarism, representing someone else's ideas as your own, has lately become a particularlly odious problem.  I'm commited to making sure that none of my students believe that such trickery is a viable career strategy and would be happy to exercise my role as gatekeeper to the world of professional engineering by diverting such miscreants from the path of obtaining a degree.

Revised: 8/27/04 by Geb Thomas