Introductory Computer Science assignments [closed]

Question

I will be teaching my first university level Computer Science course this summer, and I'm currently working on coming up with ideas for fun assignments that the students will complete. The course is the second in the program, covering analysis of algorithms and basic data structures such as stacks, queues, lists, trees, etc.

I have a number of ideas that I can run with (creating music with Markov chains, Twitter client, etc.), but am always looking for new ideas that would be interesting/fun for the students -- after all, it is easiest to become/remain engaged in the course material when one is having fun. I am looking for ideas on interessting first-year level assignments that you or others may have completed in the past.

Before anyone suggests it, yes I know about Nifty Assignments, and have checked it out. Just soliciting any other ideas that you might have. We all remember certain assignments from university that were particularly fun to work on. These are the experiences I am ideally seeking.

Answer 1

The trouble with "fun" assignments is that they often turn out to be more work for students than you intended them to be. Especially students with poor English and students who leave the assignments to the last minute. [And then turn up on SO with "please do my homework" questions.] A lot of them are going to have difficulty with any assignments you set, but you don't need the aggravation of a bunch of students complaining about the exercises being too hard, or not being covered in your lecture notes.

My advice (from experience) is to try to keep the amount of background knowledge and "challenge" of marked programming assignments low.

Setting interesting problems for optional exercises is a reasonable idea, though it is important to warn students NOT to spend time on them at the expense of other more important work.