This FAQ is intended to provide answers to Frequently Asked Questions
by undergraduate students in computer science. If the answer you need
is not contained here, contact your advisor or
Lisa Hipkins, staff assistant for the math and computer science programs,
at (717)948-6081 or lmh34@psu.edu.
The departmental Information of Local Interest page
at http://cs.hbg.psu.edu/misc/
is also a valuable source of information for computer science majors.
Your advisor is the faculty member assigned to help you make the
transition into the computer science program, and particularly to
help you with scheduling courses and making sure that you satisfy
degree requirements. You should have received a letter with your
advisor's name and contact information when you were accepted into
the computer science program. You can also find out who your advisor
is by logging in to the eLion
system (https://elion.oas.psu.edu) and requesting a degree audit.
Your advisor's name should appear at the top of your audit. If this
does not work, contact Lisa Hipkins (948-6081).
The degree audit is a listing of the courses you have taken and how
they apply to the requirements for the computer science degree. The
degree audit also shows requirements you have yet to satisfy,
including required courses you have not yet taken and so on. You can
request a copy of your degree audit by logging in to the
eLion system
(https://elion.oas.psu.edu). You can NOT graduate
unless all of the requirements listed on the degree audit are satisfied.
Your degree audit may contain errors -- courses that do not appear at
all, or are not listed as satisfying some requirement when they
should. In this situation, you should consult with your advisor. Your advisor can arrange for changes to
be made to your audit if appropriate.
Although you are not required to talk with your
advisor before selecting courses, it is an
excellent idea to do so, and will help to prevent unpleasant
surprises at graduation time. Your degree
audit is also a helpful guide for selecting courses.
You can see a schedule of classes at Enrollment Services
(in the Swatara building) or the department office (W256 Olmsted). You
can also view all courses offered in the PSU system at
http://soc.our.psu.edu/
, by selecting the appropriate semester, campus location and
department. For PSU Harrisburg, the courses are divided into regular
offerings [campus location "Penn State Harrisburg, the Capital
College"(CL)] and courses offered through continuing education
[campus location "Penn State Harrisburg -- CE]. Most courses are
regular offerings. Courses offered through continuing education are
mostly lower-level, general-education courses. We recommend using
this web page to view the schedule since it is more current than a
printed schedule, and also shows how many seats are left in each
class. You can also use the departmental Information of Local
interest page at http://cs.hbg.psu.edu/misc/
for direct links into the schedule of courses web pages for math and
computer science courses.
You can register in person (at Enrollment Services in the Swatara
Building), or you can use the the eLion system
(https://elion.oas.psu.edu). For any registration method, you will
need the schedule number for each class you wish to register for.
You can obtain the schedule numbers from a printed schedule of
classes or from the web (see How can I see what
classes are offered?).
At the discretion of the instructor, you may be able to register for a
course even if it is full. To do so, you will need to talk with the
instructor, and you will need to fill out an Add/Drop form (sometimes
called a Schedule Adjustment form). The instructor will then initial
the course in question to let you add over the enrollment limit, and
then you will need to take the form to Enrollment Services (in the
Swatara building) to register for the course.
In general, yes, although you will need to be somewhat careful. In
particular, at least 36 of the last 60 credits you take for your degree
must be taken within the PSU system. Additionally, you MUST provide a
transcript (with final grade) for such courses to Academic Records (in
the Swatara building) so that these courses can be added to your PSU
coursework. If you take take classes at another school the semester you
intend to graduate, you must be able to get such transcripts to Academic
Records before the end of the PSU semester. This is a potential problem
because PSU semesters end earlier than those of many surrounding colleges
and universities. Finally, if the courses you take at another school are
to substitute for required courses or fill a particular graduation
requirement, you must get approval for these courses from your
advisor. If the course taken elsewhere is to
substitute for a particular required course, you should fill out a
Prior Approval form (available from Enrollment Services in the
Swatara building), have your advisor sign it, and then return the
form to Enrollment Services.
Early in the semester you intend to graduate, you must register your intent
to do so using the "Graduating this Semester" application on
eLion. Confirm the activation
period on the
academic calendar for the dates when you can activate your intent to
graduate.
An Access account is a computer account that is given to every student
in the PSU system. An Access account provides Internet access,
email, access to network resources in the PC computer labs and
hosting for a personal web page. The following paragraphs provide
more detail on some of these features.
An Access account is automatically created for you when you are
accepted into the PSU system. You can pick up the userid and
password for your Access account from any of the lab operators behind
the desk in the front of the W305 Olmsted building computer lab. You
will need a photo ID to pick up your account information. After you
have the initial password, you can use it to log in to
https://www.work.psu.edu, where you
can change your password, set up email forwarding and do some other
configuration of your Access account.
The Instructional and Information Technology (IIT) office has a
helpful FAQ that addresses this and many other topics. The FAQ is
available at:
http://www.hbg.psu.edu/iit/mw1/guidefaq.htm.
From this page, try the link labeled "Internet Access".
We encourage you to use the Sun workstations (in W210A and W210
Olmsted) for all of your programming assignments (although you may
also program under Windows for most assignments). The workstations
are also useful for Web development, email, digital circuit design
(using diglog), general word processing and productivity uses (using
OpenOffice), and many other tasks.
You can pick up an account application form from Lisa Hipkins, staff
assistant for math and computer science, in W256 Olmsted. This form
also contains instructions for maintaining and accessing a personal
Web page on the Sun workstations. After filling out the form, you
can return it to Lisa. Your account will usually be created
within a few days after returning the form.
To enter the Sun workstation labs (W210A and W210 Olmsted), you will
need to be added to the access list, after which time you can use
your PSU ID card to unlock the door. Please see Lisa Hipkins, staff
assistant for math and computer science, in W256 Olmsted. You must
apply for a Sun workstation account before
you are added to the access list. You will also need to sign a form
indication your promise not to misuse the lab. Once you have been
granted access, you can unlock the door to the Sun workstation labs
by simply sliding your ID card in reader located by the doors.
One helpful resource is the local usage guide, available on-line at
http://cs.hbg.psu.edu/misc/usage.html . The book "UNIX in a
Nutshell", Arnold Robbins, O'Reilly, 1999, ISBN 1-56592-427-4, is a
useful reference for anyone who is new to Unix. Finally, any more
experienced Unix user who happens to be working in the lab will
usually be willing to answer short questions.
All of the usual Penn State rules apply, as well as some additional
rules that you should view at
http://cs.hbg.psu.edu/misc/ethics.html . The local ethics page
has links to
the general Penn State computer usage policies. The short answer is that
viewing or altering another user's data without permission is never allowed,
and that any commercial use of any Penn State computing resource is
prohibited.
You can access the Sun workstations remotely using ssh (Secure Shell)
and sftp (secure ftp). The department does not condone using telent
or ftp. When you use telnet or ftp, your password is sent across
the network unencrypted, and so could be intercepted by some
malicious user. The usage guide at:
http://cs.hbg.psu.edu/misc/usage.html
contains a list of the hostnames of all of the workstations.
Secure shell is available on the department resource CD,
or can be downloaded for free (for non-commercial use) from
Secure Shell.
Yes. Basic instructions for this are contained on the
account application form. You can use CGI
programs with your Web page if the computer science faculty check and
approve your programs - contact Dr. Bui at tbui@psu.edu or 948-6088. You can
also maintain a personal Web page on a University-wide server - see
http://www.personal.psu.edu for more details.
Computer Science is the most technical of the three, and emphasizes
problem solving and mathematics. Information Systems emphasizes
business applications of technology. Information Sciences and
Technology emphasizes using and administering hardware and software
systems.
The Learning Center
in Olmsted C-216 provides help to students with writing and
other course-related issues.
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