ECE177: Programming I: From C Foundations to Hardware Interaction

University of Maine ECE

Spring 2026

Instructor: Vincent Weaver
The class meeting time is Mon/Wed/Fri at 1:00pm-1:50pm.
The meeting place is Williams Hall 120.

Labs: There are four lab sections, Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs 2pm-4:50pm in Barrows Hall 228.

Final exam: Wednesday 6 May 2026, 1:30pm, Williams Hall 120

Office hours:

Weaver: Tues/Thurs 1-2pm

Syllabus

ece177_2026s.pdf

Course Listing

Introduction to computer programming with emphasis on algorithms and an understanding of underlying hardware. Topics include syntax, variables, control structures, pointers, operators, functions, and input and output.

What We'll Do this Semester

Learning about C

Class Schedule

	Lab	Lectures
		Monday	Wednessday	Friday
Week 1	No Lab	19 January No Class (MLK Day)	21 January Introduction / Hello World! Lecture 1 Notes	23 January C History, CPU/Memory Background Lecture 2 Notes
Week 2	Lab 1	26 January No Class (snow)	28 January Lab1 Preview, Code Comments/Style, C Data Types Lecture 3 Notes	30 January Number Systems, Type Promotion Lecture 4 Notes
Week 3	Lab 2	2 February Simple Arithmetic, Hello World Revisited Lecture 5 Notes	4 February Lab2 Preview, printf Lecture 6 Notes	6 February for/while loops Operators/Statements/Functions Lecture 7 Notes
Week 4	Makeup Lab	9 February if/else Statements Logical Boolean Operators Lecture 8 Notes	11 February Switch/Case Statements, getchar Lecture 9 Notes	13 February Bitwise Logic Operators Lecture 10 Notes
Week 5	Lab 3	16 February No Class (President's Day)	18 February Arrays Lecture 11 Notes	20 February Strings Lecture 12 Notes
Week 6	Lab 4	23 February No Class (snow again)	25 February Lab#4 Preview, HW#3 Notes Lecture 13 Notes	27 February Pointers scanf()
Week 7	Lab 5	2 March Binary Addition sizeof, pre-processor	4 March Midterm Preview	6 March Midterm #1
Week 8	Lab 6	9 March File Scope Variable Scope Operator Precedence More Pointers Bit Manipulation	11 March Structs	13 March GPIOs on Pi Pico
Spring Break		16 March	18 March	20 March
Week 9	Lab 7	23 March GPIO/PWM on Pi Pico	25 March Serial Port, enums	27 March More Pi Pico
Week 10	Lab 8	30 March String Manipulation	1 April PWM, ADC on Pico	3 April File I/O
Week 11	Lab 8 continued	6 April fgets/scanf	8 April Midterm Preview	10 April Midterm #2
Week 12	Lab 9	13 April malloc/calloc	15 April unions, bitfields	17 April state machines
Week 13	Lab 9 continued	20 April command line arguments	22 April debugging	24 April recursion
Week 14	No Lab	27 April Senior Project Presentations	29 April git	1 May final exam review

Homework Assignments

All homeworks will be done via CodeLab. You should have received an e-mail with the information you need to log into the CodeLab site.

Homework 1 -- Variable Definitions -- Due 11 February 2026
Homework 2 -- Assignments -- Due 18 February 2026
Homework 3 -- Conditionals and Loops -- Due 25 February 2026

Labs

See here for details on the Labs

Optional Useful Textbooks

Note: in my experience there aren't really any standout C textbooks. That, combined with how expensive textbooks tend to be, is why I don't have a required textbook. However, with the new "flat-rate" textbook thing the bookstore does it might be worth reinvestigating that. If you feel strongly about this let me know. Below are a few texbooks that might be useful if you would like to have one.
"The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie. -- this is the classic book about C, but it is a bit bare bones and maybe not the best if trying to learn from scratch.
"C Programming for Scientists and Engineers" by Reddy and Ziegler. -- This is what ECE177 used years ago with previous professors.

Useful Links

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Last updated 19 February 2026, 16:24