CPSC 350

I realized that I forgot to ask for people’s pronouns along with their names yesterday, as is my custom. So let me just say: if you think there’s a chance of me misgendering you, please send me email telling me what your preferred pronouns are. If you don’t think there’s a chance of that, and you’re sure that I would guess correctly what your pronouns are based solely on your appearance, you need do nothing.

You might not realize this from where you sit, but it’s darn challenging for professors to learn 50-75 new names and faces every semester. And that’s without dealing with jet lag complications!

One of the ways I expedite learning students’ names is practicing. (Some might call this “cheating.” I call those people “haters.”) I download everybody’s “mug shot” from Banner, and run through the faces like flash cards, gradually learning to associate a name with a face.

It used to be that all Banner students had a mug shot, period. (I think it’s the pic that appears on our EagleOne card.) But for the past few years, I’ve noticed that there are plenty of gaps where for some mysterious reason no picture is registered with you in the Banner system.

So why am I telling you this? Because you can earn another easy and valuable +1XP by providing me with a mug shot (meaning, a portrait of you looking fairly normal doing something interesting (or not) but most importantly: your face fully visible on the portrait. It can be a silly snapshot or your prom dress from high school: I just need a face to go with your name.)

For students who already have such a Banner mug shot, you have already been proactively awarded the aforementioned +1XP on the scoreboard. If not, you can still claim this point if you follow these three directions:

1. Make sure you’ve entered your name and a super clever and secret alias on the class scoreboard.
2. Once you’ve done that, and you believe you have a perfectly good picture in Banner for you, I just need you to send me an email with subject line “Stephen: get the Banner mugshot” and I will download and add it to my collection, then award you the point.
3. If you don’t have a mug shot in Banner at all, I feel like the best way is to contact the Registrar about taking a snapshot of which they evidently forgot.
4. Finally, if you don’t want to futz around with Banner and the Registrar, just send me an email attachment of a recent photo that shows your entire face and all outwardly distinguishable appearances. For this email, use subject line “Stephen: here’s a mug shot for me!”

When I receive any of the above emails, I will do my best to get their point awarded and their picture & name added to my little black book.

Oh, and one other thing: this is due before class on Wednesday of this week. It’s not a hard task, it’s just remembering to do it.

I almost never check or receive “Canvas messages” and only saw one from a student today by accident. Please, to get in touch with me always use email (my first name _AT_ umw _DOT_ edu) and you’ll have better luck!

In order to earn any experience points (XP) at all for this class, you’ll need to sign up on the class scoreboard. Do this right away, and get your first +1XP of the semester!

IMPORTANT NOTE: you should choose a secret screen name that does not resemble your real name in any way, and you should keep it secret from others throughout the semester.

Assignment #0 has been posted, and can net you up to +20XP! It’s due on September 1st.

You can earn up to +3XP each week for the first eight weeks of class by completing Python challenges on codingbat.com.

To earn these points, first create an account on codingbat.com. Please use your UMW email address. Then, click on “prefs” in the upper-right, and enter my email address (stephen _AT_ umw _DOT_ edu, written as a correct email address) as the “Teacher Share” value, and the string “CPSC 350 fall 2026” as the “Memo”. Make sure you click the correct button after entering each field (one is called “Share” and the other is called “Update Memo.”)

Then, each week, you can complete all of the items in the following codingbat sections:

1. Week #1 — Warmup-1 (due Aug 26th)
2. Week #2 — Warmup-2 (due Sep 2nd)
3. Week #3 — String-1 (due Sep 9th)
4. Week #4 — List-1 (due Sep 16th)
5. Week #5 — Logic-1 (due Sep 23rd)
6. Week #6 — Logic-2 (due Sep 30th)
7. Week #7 — String-2 (due Oct 7th)
8. Week #8 — List-2 (due Oct 14th)

To claim your credit for the week, you need to send me an email with subject line “CPSC 350 codingbat week # turnin” (where “#” should be replaced with an integer from 1 to 8). In the body of the email, you must type (not copy/paste) the following pledge, followed by your full name (first and last, and middle initial if any) as your signature:

“I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have completed all the items on this week’s codingbat challenge on my own, with no help from other people or websites, and without pressing the ‘Show Solution’ button on any problem.”

I must receive this email no later than midnight on the day listed above in order for you to receive XP for the week.

Good luck, and happy coding!

Greetings, earthlings, and welcome to the fall 2026 edition of CPSC 350 with Stephen!

This site is gonna be hip-hoppin’ with all kinds of great stuff real soon, so stay tuned!