Welcome to the CSE 12X Guided Self-Placement!

We're excited that you are interested in taking an introductory computer science course! Our CSE 121, 122 and 123 programming courses are designed for all students, regardless of how much prior experience you do or do not have and regardless of your goals or reasons for taking the course. In that spirit, we want everyone to take the right first course for them, especially since prior experience can come in many different forms. This self-placement will help you find that course.

If you have never programmed before, or if your programming experience is limited, you will probably begin with CSE 121, which is designed for students with no previous experience whatsoever. If you took a high-school programming course intended to be similar to a first college course, like AP Computer Science A or IB Computer Science, you will probably start with CSE 122. If you have substantial previous experience you might even want to enroll in CSE 123. This guided self-placement will help you make this decision by asking you questions about your background. These will include questions about the specific courses and experience you have, how familiar you are with various topics and concepts, and how comfortable you are solving practice problems. We hope this will help most people pick the right course for them, but if you still have questions at the end, you can always contact our helpful course placement advising team for more support.

This self-placement is adaptive, meaning which questions you see and in which order will depend on your responses. So each student will have a slightly different experience, and if you go back and change your answers, you may see different questions appear. This is to help make sure we get the information that will most help us recommend the best course for you. As you go through the self-placement, you may also encounter terms or concepts you haven't heard of before. Don't be intimidated-- if you haven't seen a topic or concept, that just means you should probably be in the course that teaches it! We encourage you to answer all questions as truthfully as possible based on your current experience.

When you're ready, click the button below to begin.

Have you taken a previous computer science course?

Yes

Do you have previous programming experience outside of a course?

Yes

What is the most recent computer science course you have completed?

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: What is the output after executing the following code?

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        figure(8);
    }

    public static void figure(int max) {
        for (int line = 1; line <= max; line++) {
            for (int dots = 1; dots <= -1 * line + max; dots++) {
                System.out.print(".");
            }
            System.out.println(line);
        }
    }
}

.......1 ......2 .....3 ....4 ...5 ..6 .7 8

def figure(max_num):
    for line in range(1, max_num + 1):
        for dots in range(1, max_num - line + 1):
            print(".", end="")
        print(line)

figure(8)

Toggle solution

.......1 ......2 .....3 ....4 ...5 ..6 .7 8

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: What is the output after executing the following code?

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] list = {"hello", "banana", "lime", "lemon", "apple", "strawberry", "grape"};
        boolean mystery1 = mystery(3, list);
        System.out.println("Mystery 1: " + mystery1);
        boolean mystery2 = mystery(5, list);
        System.out.println("Mystery 2: " + mystery2);
    }

    public static boolean mystery(int x, String[] list) {
        for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
            if (list[i].length() < x) {
                return true;
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
}

Toggle solution

Mystery 1: false Mystery 2: true

def mystery(x, values):
    for el in values:
        if len(el) < x:
            return True
    return False


values = ["hello", "banana", "lime", "lemon", "apple", "strawberry", "grape"]
mystery1 = mystery(3, values)
print("Mystery 1:", mystery1)
mystery2 = mystery(5, values)
print("Mystery 2:", mystery2)

Toggle solution

Mystery 1: False Mystery 2: True

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: In one or two short sentences, describe what the following code does.

import java.util.*;

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        inputLoop();
    }

    public static void inputLoop() {
        Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);
        int totalChars = 0;
        String sentinel = "quit";
        System.out.print("Type a word (or \"" + sentinel + "\" to quit): ");
        String word = console.next();
        while (!word.equals(sentinel)) {
            totalChars += word.length();
            System.out.print("Type a word (or \"" + sentinel + "\" to quit): ");
            word = console.next();
        }
        System.out.println("The total number of characters is: " + totalChars);
    }
}

Toggle solution

Reads in input from the user one word at a time until the word "quit" is entered, then prints the total number of characters entered (not including the word "quit").

def input_loop():
    total_chars = 0;
    sentinel = "quit";
    prompt = 'Type a word (or "' + sentinel +'" to quit): '
    word = input(prompt)
    while word != sentinel:
        total_chars += len(word)
        word = input(prompt)
    print("The total number of characters is:", total_chars)

input_loop()

Toggle solution

Reads in input from the user one word at a time until the word "quit" is entered, then prints the total number of characters entered (not including the word "quit").

How familiar and comfortable are you with each of the following programming topics/constructs?

Console and/or file input and output

Maps and/or dictionaries

Defining classes

Defining constructors

Interfaces

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: In one or two short sentences, describe what the following code does.

public static Map<String, Set<Integer>> mystery(Map<String, Set<Integer>> map1) {
    Map<String, Set<Integer>> map2 = new HashMap<>();
    for (String key : map1.keySet()) {
        Set<Integer> set1 = map1.get(key);
        Set<Integer> set2 = new HashSet<Integer>();
        for (int n : set1) {
            set2.add(n);
        }
        map2.put(key, set2);
    }
    return map2;
}

Toggle solution

Creates a new map that contains the same keys and copies of the values of the parameter map. (Creates a deep copy of the parameter map.)

def mystery(dict1):
    dict2 = {}
    for key in dict1:
        set2 = set()
        set1 = dict1[key]
        for n in set1:
            set2.add(n)
        dict2[key] = set2
    return dict2

Toggle solution

Creates a new dictionary that contains the same keys and copies of the values of the parameter dictionary. (Creates a deep copy of the parameter dictionary.)

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: What is the output of the following code?

class CreditCard {
    private String cardNumber;
    private String name;
    private double creditLimit;
    private double balance;
    private int totalCharges;

    public CreditCard(String name, String cardNumber, double creditLimit) {
        this.cardNumber = cardNumber;
        this.name = name;
        this.creditLimit = creditLimit;
        this.balance = 0;
        this.totalCharges = 0;
    }

    public void charge(double amount) {
        if (balance + amount > creditLimit) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Beyond Credit Limit");
        }

        balance += amount;
        totalCharges++;
    }

    public void payBill(double amount) {
        balance -= amount;
    }

    public String getPaymentType() {
        return "CC";
    }

    public int totalPayments() {
        return totalCharges;
    }

    public String toString() {
        return getPaymentType() + " " + cardNumber + " (" + balance + ")";
    }
}

public class Example5 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        CreditCard card1 = new CreditCard("Brett Wortzman", "1234567801019275", 1000);
        CreditCard card2 = new CreditCard("Zorah Fung", "9876543210108473", 500);

        card1.charge(325);
        card1.charge(400);
        card1.payBill(200);

        card2.charge(175);
        card2.payBill(50);
        card2.charge(75);
        card2.charge(100);

        System.out.println("Payment Method 1: " + card1);
        System.out.println("Payment Method 2: " + card2);

        System.out.println("Payment Method 1 charges: " + card1.totalPayments());
        System.out.println("Payment Method 2 charges: " + card2.totalPayments());
    }
}

Toggle solution

Payment Method 1: CC 1234567801019275 (525.0) Payment Method 2: CC 9876543210108473 (300.0) Payment Method 1 charges: 2 Payment Method 2 charges: 3

Read and work on this problem, then answer the next question: In one or two short sentences, describe what the following code does.

class CreditCard implements PaymentMethod {
    private String cardNumber;
    private String name;
    private double creditLimit;
    private double balance;
    private int totalCharges;

    public CreditCard(String name, String cardNumber, double creditLimit) {
        this.cardNumber = cardNumber;
        this.name = name;
        this.creditLimit = creditLimit;
        this.balance = 0;
        this.totalCharges = 0;
    }

    public void charge(double amount) {
        if (balance + amount > creditLimit) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Beyond Credit Limit");
        }

        balance += amount;
        totalCharges++;
    }

    public void payBill(double amount) {
        balance -= amount;
    }

    public String getPaymentType() {
        return "CC";
    }

    public int totalPayments() {
        return totalCharges;
    }

    public String toString() {
        return getPaymentType() + " " + cardNumber + " (" + balance + ")";
    }
}

class BankAccount implements PaymentMethod {
    private String number;
    private String name;
    private double balance;
    private int withdrawals;

    public BankAccount(String name, String number, int initialDeposit) {
        this.name = name;
        this.number = number;
        this.balance = initialDeposit;
        this.withdrawals = 0;
    }

    public void charge(double amount) {
        if (amount > balance) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Insufficient Funds");
        }

        balance -= amount;
        withdrawals++;
    }

    public void deposit(double amount) {
        balance += amount;
    }

    public String getPaymentType() {
        return "BankAccount";
    }

    public int totalPayments() {
        return withdrawals;
    }

    public String toString() {
        return getPaymentType() + " " + number + " (" + balance + ")";
    }
}

interface PaymentMethod {
    public void charge(double amount);

    public String getPaymentType();

    public int totalPayments();
}

public class Example6 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        CreditCard card1 = new CreditCard("Brett Wortzman", "1234567801019275", 1000);
        PaymentMethod method2 = new CreditCard("Zorah Fung", "9876543210108473", 500);
        PaymentMethod method3 = new BankAccount("Dubs", "1000000123467", 600);

        card1.charge(325);
        card1.charge(400);
        card1.payBill(200);

        method2.charge(175);
        method2.charge(75);
        method2.charge(100);

        method3.charge(150);

        System.out.println("Payment Method 1: " + card1);
        System.out.println("Payment Method 2: " + method2);
        System.out.println("Payment Method 3: " + method3);

        System.out.println("Payment Method 1 charges: " + card1.totalPayments());
        System.out.println("Payment Method 2 charges: " + method2.totalPayments());
        System.out.println("Payment Method 3 charges: " + method3.totalPayments());
    }
}

Toggle solution

Payment Method 1: CC 1234567801019275 (525.0) Payment Method 2: CC 9876543210108473 (350.0) Payment Method 3: BankAccount 1000000123467 (450.0) Payment Method 1 charges: 2 Payment Method 2 charges: 3 Payment Method 3 charges: 1

Welcome to the CSE 12X Guided Self-Placement!

CSE 121

CSE 121

CSE 122

CSE 122

CSE 123

CSE 123

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