Textbooks: Supplemental resources are listed below
Course Homepage: https://www-cs.ccny.cuny.edu/~wes/CSC480/
Time and Place: T,R 3:30-4:45PM NAC 7/219
Instructor: William E. Skeith (WES)
Office: Shepard 279
An introduction to modern cryptography. Topics will likely include:
CSC 220 and 304.
You are strongly encouraged to attend lectures. I believe in a close, open and interactive classroom environment whenever possible. This typically leads to far greater understanding than what the (non-interactive) book alone can offer.
There will be 2 or 3 programming assignments. Generally speaking, the assignments are work to be done outside of class. I may spend some class time describing the assignments, but I will likely not devote much class time to explaining how to do them. I encourage you to discuss ideas with one another regarding the assignments, but I do require that all answers (written, source code, etc.) be completed separately by each individual. In addition to being a violation of the academic integrity policy, it really is a disservice to yourself to copy assignments from others.
There will be one midterm and a Final exam.
The midterm will (tentatively) be October 18th
The final exam will be…TBD (usually it’s from 6-8:15pm)
There will be no make-up exams.
The final grade will be based on the best of the following:
HW/Assignments/Quizzes -20%, MT-35%, Final-45%,
or
HW/Assignments/Quizzes -25%, Final-75%.
There will be a zero-tolerance policy regarding cheating. Given the severe consequences of this offense, let me be perfectly clear on its definition. There are of course the classic forms of cheating, which include copying the work of another student, either during an exam, or on the homework, but more generally, cheating includes turning in work that is not your own, regardless of the source, even if the source is well known (e.g., wikipedia). Anything you submit, you had better be very well prepared to explain to me. Trying an assignment and failing is OK! Sometimes the problems are difficult, and I don’t expect everyone to get everything right. What is not OK, is to submit work that is not your own. Consider the following quote, taken from the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity:
Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in The City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension and expulsion.
Upon a single offense, you’ll at a minimum be removed from the class with a failing grade.
The main text is optional, but here is even more optional reading: