Programming in Visual Basic

Syllabus

Fall 2005
BA 4318

Instructor: Radha Mookerjee, Ph.D.

Office: SOM 3.209
Phone: (972)-883-2415
Email: Use WebCT for all communications
Office hours: By Appointment

Teaching Assistant

The TA for this course is Cuneyd Kaya. He will be available to answer all questions regarding
home work assignments. His contact information and office hours are given below.

Name: Cuneyd Kaya

Office: SOM 3.428
Phone: 972-883-6359
Email: cckaya@utdallas.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 1:30 - 3:30

Text
The text for the course is Simply Visual Basic .NET 2003 by Deitel, Deitel & Yaeger, Prentice Hall
Publishers.

Software
You will require Visual Studio .NET 2003 environment for this class. The Professional edition is
available at a significant discount to students through the Technology Store located next to the
bookstore. The software will also be installed on all the computers in the School of Management
computer labs.

Course Objective
This introductory course teaches programming business applications. Business applications such as a
payroll program require customization for a particular business without much sophisticated
mathematical analyses. Usually, the speed of execution is not critical. Developing such an
application involves deep understanding of the problem, decomposition of the problem into sub-
problems, the design of visual objects on the screen, the selection of data structures and algorithms.
The objective of this course is to introduce how to solve business problems by creating high quality
computer applications.
This course uses Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB) .NET programming language and integrated
development environment (IDE). VB provides tools to make it easier for programmers to create good
graphical user interfaces (GUIs), write scripts, and make modifications of scripts. VB programs are
event-driven programs, which respond to user actions such as the clicking of mouse. Developing VB
programs involves analyzing the problems, designing GUI, selecting data structures and algorithms,
and implementing objects (buttons, text boxes, etc.) to properly respond to user actions. VB has
emerged as an exceedingly powerful development system from a very simple programming language

Grading
Exam I 30%
Exam II 30%
Homework 40%
Total 100%

All class information will be posted on the course website on WebCT. Any communication to me
should also be conducted ONLY via WebCT email. I will not respond to any email sent to my
regular email address. All assignments should be submitted via WebCT. It is therefore essential that
you are familiar with WebCT. It is also YOUR responsibility to make sure that you can access your
WebCT account.

If you are dialing into UTD to access E-mail or the World Wide Web, you may have trouble getting
connected for various reasons. Make sure that you give yourself enough lead-time to complete
assignments. Because you will almost always have access to these systems on campus, busy modems
or other technical problems are not accepted as excuses for late assignments.

Click here for more information on using WebCT

Exams
The two exams will consist of short questions and programming problems. Two sheets of letter size
(8 ½ by 11) notes (both sides; Total: 4 sides) will be allowed in exam 1 and four sheets (both sides;
Total: 8 sides) in exam 2.
Any exam grading disputes must be submitted in writing within two weeks of the results.

No make-up tests will be offered except on medical grounds.

Homework
The programming assignments should be done individually. The difficulty of each assignment, and
hence the time required to finish it, increases as the semester progresses. As a result, the weight each
assignment carries also increases. Start early and make sure you allocate enough time to complete
and test your code.

Each assignment is due by 11:00 pm on the due date. You should submit a zipped copy containing
the entire project folder via WebCT. I will not accept the assignment any other way.
No late submissions will be accepted.

Grading Policy
The grading will be based on a relative grading scheme. The student with the highest grade in the
class will be normalized to a 100%. The rest of the students will be normalized accordingly. The
following cut offs will be used to assign the final grade

Range Grade Range Grade

96 - 100 A+ 91 - 95 A
86 - 90 A- 81 - 85 B+
76 - 80 B 71 - 75 B-
67 - 70 C+ 63 - 66 C
59 - 62 C- 56 - 58 D+
53 - 55 D 50 - 52 D-
< 50 F

Attendance / Class Participation

No points are awarded for attendance. However, students are expected to attend all classes and to
read the assigned material. It is also the students' responsibility to keep abreast of any
announcements made in class. I will post information about significant changes, if any, to the
syllabus. This is only to be used as a supplement, and not as a substitute, to announcements made in
class. I will monitor attendance in class and will provide no additional help to students who
regularly skip lectures.

Schedule
The following is a tentative schedule, which I will try to follow as closely as possible. Should any
changes become necessary, I will announce it in class as well as post it on WebCT. It is YOUR
responsibility to check for changes at least once a week. I will not be held responsible if you miss any
announcements regarding changes to schedule and/or deadlines.

Date Topic Readings

08/22/05 (M) Course Introduction Chapter 1

8/24/05 (W)
Visual Basic .NET environment Chapter 2
 Welcome Application Chapter 3
8/29/05 (M) Inventory Application Chapter 4
8/31/05 (W) Inventory Application (contd) Chapter 5
9/5/05 (M) Labor Day Holiday - No Classes
9/7/05 (W) Inventory Application (contd) Chapter 6
9/9/05 (F) Homework 1 Due
9/12/05 (M) Wage Calculator Application Chapter 7
Dental Payment Calculator Application Chapter 8
9/14/05 (W) Car Payment Calculator Application Chapter 9
Class Average Application Chapter 10
9/16/05 (F) Homework 2 Due
9/19/05 (M) Interest Calculator Application Chapter 11
09/21/05 (W) Security Panel Application Chapter 12
9/23/05 (F) Homework 3 Due
09/26/05 (M) Enhanced Wage Calculator Application Chapter 13
09/28/05 (W) Enhanced Wage Calculator Application (contd) Chapter 13
10/03/05 (M) Fund Raiser Application Chapter 15
10/05/05 (W) Exam I Review
10/07/05 (F) Homework 4 Due
10/10/05 (M) Exam I Chapters 1 - 15
10/12/05 (W) Flag Quiz Application Chapter 17
10/17/05 (M) Sales Data Application Chapter 18
10/19/05 (W) Shipping Hub Application Chapter 20
10/24/05 (M) Chapter 23
Screen Scraping Application

10/26/05 (W) Ticket Information Application Chapter 24

10/28/05 (F)
Homework 5 Due
10/31/05 (M)
ATM Application Chapter 25

11/02/05 (W) ATM Application

11/07/05 (M) Bookstore Application Chapter 28
11/09/05 (W) Bookstore Application Chapter 29
11/11/05 (F) Homework 6 Due
11/14/05 (M) Bookstore Application Chapter 30
11/16/05 (W) Bookstore Application Chapter 31

11/21/05 (M) Enhanced Car Payment Calculator Application Chapter 32

11/23/05 (W) Exam II Review
11/25/05 (F) Homework 7 Due
11/28/05 (M) Exam II Chapters 16 - 32

Important Dates
Homework 1 Sep 09, 2005
Homework 2 Sep 16, 2005
Homework 3 Sep 23, 2005
Homework 4 Oct 07, 2005
Exam I
 Oct 10, 2005
Homework 5 Oct 28, 2005
Homework 6 Nov 11, 2005
Homework 7 Nov 25, 2005
Exam II Nov 28, 2005
Scholastic Dishonesty
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty.
Because the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by
the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student maintains a high standard of individual
honor in his or her scholastic work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements,
acts or omissions related to applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the
submission as one's own work of material that is not one's own. As a general rule, scholastic
dishonesty involves one of the following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion, and/or falsifying
academic records. Students suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary
proceedings. Specifically, copying another student's computer files or buying assignments from a
3rd party could result in a grade of F and/or expulsion from the University.