Orientation

Welcome to CS 169A! Before you can get the most out of the course content, work through this short orientation. It ensures you know how the course runs, where everything lives, and what we expect of you.

Getting started

1. Watch the Course Welcome video.
2. Read the Syllabus and Course Policies (grading, extensions, etc.).
3. Read How to Have a Bad Experience in This Course — and then do the opposite.
4. Read the AI Policy so you know how you may (and may not) use AI tools in this course.
5. Review the UC Berkeley Honor Code.
6. Take the Orientation Quiz (required — you must pass it, and sign an integrity pledge, before starting the course content). The orientation quiz also familiarizes you with the Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) used for the module quizzes, so it is mandatory: showing up for it is what qualifies you to have your lowest module quiz dropped.
7. Join the course Ed discussion forum (linked at the top of this site).
8. Set up your development environment and accept the GitHub organization invitation — see Module 1 and the first CHIPS for details.

Self-checks are on Gradescope

Each module has a short self-check on Gradescope covering that module’s videos and readings. Self-checks count toward your grade, require every answer correct for credit, and allow unlimited attempts.

How the course works

Each week you will work through one module. Every module has:

• an overview video and a set of short section videos (the same professionally recorded lecture videos as previous semesters);
• readings from the free PDF of the ESaaS textbook — one chapter per module;
• a self-check on Gradescope; and
• for most modules, one or more hands-on CHIPS programming assignments (see Assignments within each module page).

Lectures and weekly sections complement the videos and readings — see the Calendar for times and locations.