COSC 10001: Course Schedule¶

Fall 2026 · Wednesdays 9:00–9:50 AM · RJH 333

The shape of the semester¶

Act	Weeks	What it does
I: Get set up and get dangerous	1–5	Tooling first, so you have the whole semester to build
II: The map of CS	6–13	One subfield per week, each ending with a hands-on agent moment
III: Becoming a computer scientist	14–16	Careers, planning, shipping

Act I: Get set up and get dangerous¶

🤖 Meet Karel¶

Weeks 2 through 5 share one running example: Karel the Robot, a robot in a grid who understands four commands. You write your first Karel program in Week 2 and design a harder one properly in Week 3. In the sessions after that you put it under version control and hand the same problem to an AI agent.

This is not a Java course. You're learning Java syntax in Intro to Programming; here we're after the other half: what an algorithm actually is, what "step by step" really demands, and how to break a problem into named pieces.

No prior programming experience needed. Karel has four commands. That's the point. Stanford's free Karel reader is assigned below, and it's also the thing to reread when something in class goes by too fast.

Week	Date	Session	Before class	Due & announcements
1	Wed, Aug 26	Welcome to Computer Science. What CS is and isn't, pod assignment, and why you belong here. Slides	Nothing. Just show up	In class: everyone starts GitHub Student Pack verification. Then: the five things to do in your first week
2	Wed, Sep 2	Your First Program: Karel. What an algorithm is, your first Karel program, and a first look at the shapes you'll meet in every language: naming a sequence, repeating one, and choosing between two Slides	Two things only: install IntelliJ IDEA, then open `karel-starter` in it. IntelliJ + Karel walks through both, and IntelliJ installs Java for you Read chapters 1–2 of the Karel reader	No terminal setup needed this week. No class time for installs either: in class we fix what broke, pods debug together, mentors float, nobody leaves broken Read after class: Karel reader chapters 3 and 5–7, which cover the methods, loops, and conditionals we went through Stuck? How to Ask for Help
3	Wed, Sep 9	Top-Down Design. Karel doubles a pile of beepers without ever being told how many there are. Decomposition, stepwise refinement, and how you know when to stop: when every line is something Karel already understands. No AI today, on purpose	Terminal setup: Windows · macOS A Karel program that runs	Your terminal setup is still due, and we use all of it on Wed, Sep 16 Pod activity: triple the pile, then count how many lines it took
4	Wed, Sep 16	Your Terminal, Git & GitHub. Where your files actually live, why `command not found` happens, and what version control is for: we break Karel on purpose and get it back in one command. Then your code goes public under your name Slides	Terminal setup working: Windows · macOS	🚀 Ship-It project announced today. You have eleven weeks In class: push your Karel repo, write a profile README, and post both URLs in Slack Forgot a command? Every one of them is in the slides; press P to read them as one searchable page
5	Wed, Sep 23	Agentic Coding: Delegation and Verification. The most important session of the semester. We hand an agent the beeper problem you solved by hand on Wed, Sep 9, and you already know the answer Slides	Copilot CLI working in your terminal A second agent to compare it against: Codex CLI	Last Karel session. All four weeks hand in as Build Checkpoint 1, due Wed, Oct 7: nothing is collected today 🎤 *This Week in CS* starts today. Two to four students open every session from here through Wed, Nov 18 Heads up: your CS Engagement first reflection is due Wed, Sep 30, next week

Act II: The map of CS¶

Each session here closes with ten minutes of "now do it with your agent", a small hands-on task in that week's subfield. Weeks 6 and 9 are the exceptions: a panel, and a field trip. Two to four students also open every session with This Week in CS, starting Wed, Sep 23.

Week	Date	Session	Before class	Due & announcements
6	Wed, Sep 30	👥 Thriving in College. Student panel, no laptops. Your five peer mentors, and you ask the questions	Bring a question. Anonymous is fine	The written version, with deadlines, is Opportunities 📌 Professional Foundations due · CS Engagement 1 of 3 due Ship-It: pick your project and tell your pod what you chose
7	Wed, Oct 7	Networks & the Internet. What happens when you hit Enter on a URL Slides		📌 Build Checkpoint 1 due: your Karel repository, your own world, and `NOTES.md`
8	Wed, Oct 14	❌ No class: cancelled. The session would have been Cybersecurity & Digital Risk: threat models, a phishing teardown of real messages, and a live attack on a website built to be broken. The slides are yours to read on your own Slides
9	Wed, Oct 21	🎤 Field trip: the Neeley School's Tandy Executive Speaker Series. A fireside chat with Neeley's Dean Craig Crossland and Stephen Gillett, CEO of Verily Health: Turning Ghost Data into Real-World Business Impact. 9:00 to 10:00 AM, and not in RJH 333: we meet in the Brown-Lupton University Union (BLUU) Ballroom. We sit together	Business casual. Breakfast and networking start at 8:00: optional, and worth it if your morning is free. Got a 10:00 class? Slip out at 9:50, that's fine	Counts as one of your three CS Engagement events: write it up the usual way 📌 Peer Mentor Meeting due · CS Engagement 2 of 3 due
10	Wed, Oct 28	How Computers Actually Work. Memory, processes, and the rest of the story behind `command not found`
11	Wed, Nov 4	🎤 AI, ML & LLMs From the Inside. What's actually in the tool you've driven for six weeks, and why it hallucinates. Industry guest		📌 Ship-It: last day to propose a project that isn't on the menu Your mentor checks in with your pod this week: show them your repo, even if it's broken
12	Wed, Nov 11	Data & Databases. Tables, queries, scale, and who the data belongs to
13	Wed, Nov 18	Open Source & Your First Pull Request. You open one in class, against a practice site built for this, and watch it merged and live before you leave		Your pull request counts as participation

Act III: Becoming a computer scientist¶

Week	Date	Session	Before class	Due & announcements
14	Wed, Nov 25	No class. Thanksgiving
15	Wed, Dec 2	🎤 Careers, Internships & Résumés. TCU Career Center plus an alum, then a working session on your Four-Year Plan		Placed here because internship applications open over winter break. See also Opportunities 📌 Ship-It due Sun, Dec 6, 11:59 PM
16	Wed, Dec 9	🚀 Ship-It Demo Day. Last class. Science fair, two rotations: everyone demos, nobody presents to thirty people	Your project, running. What the demo has to cover	Demo in class
	Mon, Dec 14	No class meeting. Nothing to show up for		📌 Four-Year CS Development Plan due 11:59 PM: one to two pages, uploaded to TCU Online

All deadlines¶

Every assignment name below links to its full spec. Which AI rules apply to each one is a separate table: Green, Yellow, Red, assignment by assignment.

Due	Assignment	Weight
Wed, Sep 30	Professional Foundations: Pack, GitHub, LinkedIn, résumé, repo, profile README	10%
Wed, Sep 30	CS Engagement: 1 of 3 complete	n/a
Wed, Oct 7	Build Checkpoint 1: Karel repository, your own world, `NOTES.md`	5%
Wed, Oct 21	Peer Mentor Meeting + 250-word reflection	10%
Wed, Oct 21	CS Engagement: 2 of 3 complete	n/a
Wed, Nov 4	Ship-It: last day to propose a project not on the menu	n/a
Wed, Nov 18	CS Engagement: all 3 complete	15%
Mon, Nov 30	Build Checkpoint 2: read somebody else's code, run it or log the attempt	5%
Sun, Dec 6	Ship-It Project: artifact, `README.md`, `AI-NOTES.md`	20%
Wed, Dec 9	Ship-It demo (in class)	(included above)
Mon, Dec 14	Four-Year CS Development Plan: one to two pages, written	15%
Your assigned week, Sep 23 – Nov 18	This Week in CS: one slide, 90 seconds	(participation)
Ongoing	Attendance & Participation, incl. your This Week in CS slot	20%