News

Midterm Retake Updates and - important - Final Exam Registration

Written on 23.01.26 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

This news contains important information regarding the registration for the final exam. Please make sure to read the part below carefully.

The final exam will take place on February 07, 2026. You must register for this exam if you want to participate. Provided you have passed the… Read more

Dear students,

This news contains important information regarding the registration for the final exam. Please make sure to read the part below carefully.

The final exam will take place on February 07, 2026. You must register for this exam if you want to participate. Provided you have passed the midterm or its retake, you can register regardless of your current point score in minitests H-N, but we will deregister you in case you end up not having accumulated enough points on the day of the exam. There will be another XXL Minitest Inspection (more details will follow). The registration modalities differ from those of the midterm exams, and it is in your absolute interest to adhere to them. They differ across study programs:

  • If your study program uses HISPOS/LSF, the registration takes place there. Registration and deregistration are possible before January 31, 23:59. We import registrations from HISPOS/LSF to the dCMS continually, but not immediately. You can check your current registration status on your personal status page in the dCMS. If your registration is not transferred within 36 hrs, do contact us immediately.
  • If you study Wirtschaftsinformatik (business informatics), you should already be registered. We have imported the registrations from ViPa/FlexNow2. Your registration status is displayed on your personal status page. Please verify its correctness. If your registration has not been transferred, contact us immediately!
  • If your study program uses neither HISPOS/LSF nor ViPa/FlexNow2, we do not have any information about your registration deadlines. You must take care of this yourself. On top of that, you must send your current certificate of enrollment to us by January 29, 15:00 at the latest, so that we can verify that you are eligible to take the exam. You will be registered in the dCMS after this verification step.

If you have any questions or issues with the exam registration, please contact us before the registration deadline via the forum.

Furthermore, we have now processed all issues that remained open after the inspection of the midterm retake exam. The results of this are reflected on your personal status page.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Lecture L1 moved to Zoom

Written on 11.01.26 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

Because of the extreme risk of icey grounds tomorrow morning, we will be moving lecture L1 to Zoom.

We will meet at the link below at the usual time tomorrow, 8:24::59. 

https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/87154774007

The link will be open from 8:05, so that you can try… Read more

Dear students,

Because of the extreme risk of icey grounds tomorrow morning, we will be moving lecture L1 to Zoom.

We will meet at the link below at the usual time tomorrow, 8:24::59. 

https://cs-uni-saarland-de.zoom.us/j/87154774007

The link will be open from 8:05, so that you can try your side of the technology well ahead of the start. We expect cooperative behaviour. Using your name or nickname on entry prevents you from being kicked out. 

Mobile access via phone might also work: 

+496938079884 , , 87154774007# 
+496950500951 , , 87154774007# 

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Guest Lecture by Dr. Sabine Schmaltz

Written on 07.01.26 (last change on 07.01.26) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

Next week, Friday, we will be presenting a guest lecture by Dr. Sabine Schmaltz from Tarides, France, entitled “You Can Just Do Things – Building Software with OCaml.”

The lecture will take place on Friday, January 16, 2026, at 14:15 in our Günter Hotz Lecture Hall… Read more

Dear students,

Next week, Friday, we will be presenting a guest lecture by Dr. Sabine Schmaltz from Tarides, France, entitled “You Can Just Do Things – Building Software with OCaml.”

The lecture will take place on Friday, January 16, 2026, at 14:15 in our Günter Hotz Lecture Hall (GHH).

OCaml is more than just a tool for learning functional programming in "Programmierung 1"; it is a powerful language for building robust, real-world applications. In this talk, Sabine Schmaltz bridges the gap between academic theory and professional practice, showcasing how OCaml is used to develop everything from web services to machine learning frameworks. She will share insights from her career in Developer Relations, explore the modern OCaml ecosystem, and discuss the upcoming FUN OCaml 2026 conference. Join us to see how the concepts you learn in class translate into a versatile toolkit for modern software engineering.

We highly encourage your participation. The content of this guest lecture looks beyond the scope of our module and, as such, shows you that OCaml is not just used inside a lecture hall.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Inspection of Midterm Retake Exam and Minitest J + K

Written on 06.01.26 (last change on 11.01.26) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

You will have the chance to inspect the marking of your midterm retake exam this Thursday, January 08, from 16:00 to 18:00 in HS001, building E1 3.
For that reason, the inspection of this week's minitest J will be postponed to next week and will take place together with the… Read more

Dear students,

You will have the chance to inspect the marking of your midterm retake exam this Thursday, January 08, from 16:00 to 18:00 in HS001, building E1 3.
For that reason, the inspection of this week's minitest J will be postponed to next week and will take place together with the inspection of minitest K.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Midterm Retake Results

Written on 23.12.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

The results of the midterm retake exam are now available on your personal status page in the dCMS, assuming you participated in the retake.

We can share the following observations about the retake exam:

  • We had 252 participants in total. 121 of them made the cut, which was… Read more

Dear students,

The results of the midterm retake exam are now available on your personal status page in the dCMS, assuming you participated in the retake.

We can share the following observations about the retake exam:

  • We had 252 participants in total. 121 of them made the cut, which was again set to 40 points.
  • About one-third of the participants (80) had previously passed the midterm. Their point score total in the retake is on average 0.25 points below the respective midterm total.
  • The majority of the participants (166) were students who had failed the midterm before. 54 thereof now have managed to pass the retake and thus can proceed to the final exams (provided their performance in the ongoing minitesting unlocks that). Their total score has improved by about 12 points on average. 
  • A single out of six students who had not participated in the midterm has managed to pass the retake. 

Retake participants will also be able to see in the dCMS the points scored per exam exercise. 

Students who see a total score below 38 points in the dCMS are asked to be aware of the following: In some cases we aborted the grading of an exam paper once it was clear that it will be impossible to reach a total of 38 points. In this case, we overapproximated the points for Exercise 3 and/or Exercise 5. If this case applies to you, this means that:

  • The points displayed for Exercise 3 may be up to 13 points above your actual score, and similarly 
  • The points displayed for Exercise 5 may be up to 3 points above your actual score. 

We did so for efficiency reasons. 

You will have the chance to inspect the marking of your exam. We will announce further details in due course.

We wish you a relaxing holiday season.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Midterm Retake Exam

Written on 19.12.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

Assuming you registered for the midterm retake, you can now find the lecture hall and your assigned seat for tomorrow on your personal status page.
If we did not assign you a seat and you think this is an error, please notify us as soon as possible.
The retake exam will start at… Read more

Dear students,

Assuming you registered for the midterm retake, you can now find the lecture hall and your assigned seat for tomorrow on your personal status page.
If we did not assign you a seat and you think this is an error, please notify us as soon as possible.
The retake exam will start at 09:00 and will take around 90 minutes. Please arrive at your assigned lecture hall at 08:45 at the latest so that you have enough time to find your seat.

You will need your national ID card or passport AND your student ID card, as well as writing utensils (indelible pen, neither red nor green).
No own paper or other auxiliary material is allowed.
The exam language is English. We will provide a German translation for each exercise as additional help for you; however, note that this translation is on a best-effort basis.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Main Midterm Inspection Results

Written on 16.12.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

We have just updated the point scores of the midterm for about 40 students, rooted in (a) cases that surfaced during the exam inspection from last Thursday, and (b) a change in the grading of Ex 2.4, which applied to all participants. Points only got better.

Kind regards,
Your… Read more

Dear students,

We have just updated the point scores of the midterm for about 40 students, rooted in (a) cases that surfaced during the exam inspection from last Thursday, and (b) a change in the grading of Ex 2.4, which applied to all participants. Points only got better.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Midterm Results

Written on 09.12.25 (last change on 11.12.25) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

The results of the midterm exam are now available on your personal status page in the dCMS. There have been 326 participants. With at least 40 points, the midterm exam is passed. This has been achieved by 136 participants. The highest score obtained is 81 out of 90.

In case you… Read more

Dear students,

The results of the midterm exam are now available on your personal status page in the dCMS. There have been 326 participants. With at least 40 points, the midterm exam is passed. This has been achieved by 136 participants. The highest score obtained is 81 out of 90.

In case you have passed the exam, the following information gives you an indication of your relative performance. For the population that has passed the exam,

  • the best 10% have a point score of 66.5 or above,
  • the next 25% are at 54 points or above,
  • the next 30% are at 46.5 points or above,
  • the next 25% are at 41 points or above,
  • the last 10% are at 40 points or above.

In the dCMS, you will also be able to see the points you scored per exam exercise.

You will have the chance to inspect the marking of your exam. This exam inspection will take place on Thursday, December 11, from 16:00 to 18:00 in HS001, building E1 3. For that reason, the inspection of this week's minitest H will be postponed to next week and will take place together with the inspection of minitest I.

Further, note that the midterm retake exam will take place on Saturday, December 20. In case you want to participate in the retake, you must register for it on your personal status page before December 13, 23:59. We appreciate de-registrations in case your midterm exam performance is considered sufficient by you.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Registration for Midterm Retake Exam and Tutorial Adjustments

Written on 08.12.25 (last change on 09.12.25) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

The registration for the midterm retake exam is now open and will end this Saturday, December 13 at 23:59.
The registration only takes place in dCMS. An exam registration in LSF or VIPA/FlexNow is neither sufficient nor possible!
Please note that you will need to pass the retake… Read more

Dear students,

The registration for the midterm retake exam is now open and will end this Saturday, December 13 at 23:59.
The registration only takes place in dCMS. An exam registration in LSF or VIPA/FlexNow is neither sufficient nor possible!
Please note that you will need to pass the retake exam if you haven't passed the main midterm exam to get admitted to the final exam.

The exam is expected to start at 09:00 and the seating will be published in due time.

You will need your national ID card or passport and your student ID card, as well as writing utensils (indelible pen, neither red nor green). You will not need your own paper. No other auxiliary material will be allowed. The exam language will be English. We will provide a German translation for each exercise as additional help for you; however, note that this translation will be on a best-effort basis.


Furthermore, in reaction to decreasing participation counts, we have decided to merge tutorials.

This might have affected the tutorial you are assigned to, starting immediately. The time and language of your tutorial should not have changed.

Please verify the tutorial currently assigned to you on your personal status page, and take note of the room where the tutorial (and minitests) will take place tomorrow (December 09) and after.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Main Midterm Exam

Written on 05.12.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

Tomorrow, December 06, we will write the Main Midterm Exam.

On your personal status page, you will now find the lecture hall and seat assigned to you. If we did not assign you a seat and you think this is an error, please notify us as soon as possible.
The exam will start at… Read more

Dear students,

Tomorrow, December 06, we will write the Main Midterm Exam.

On your personal status page, you will now find the lecture hall and seat assigned to you. If we did not assign you a seat and you think this is an error, please notify us as soon as possible.
The exam will start at 09:00. Please arrive at your assigned lecture hall at 08:45 at the latest so that you have enough time to find your seat.

The exam will take around 90 minutes.
You will need your national ID card or passport and your student ID card, as well as writing utensils (indelible pen, neither red nor green).
You will not need your own paper. No other auxiliary material will be allowed.
The exam language will be English. We will provide a German translation for each exercise as additional help for you; however, note that this translation will be on a best-effort basis.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Lecture canceled on December 4

Written on 03.12.25 (last change on 03.12.25) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

As mentioned in the last lecture, tomorrow's lecture (December 4) is canceled. There will be no other organized activity during the lecture time frame, but you are invited to use the free time to study hard and prepare questions to put forward in the XXL office hour, which will take… Read more

Dear students,

As mentioned in the last lecture, tomorrow's lecture (December 4) is canceled. There will be no other organized activity during the lecture time frame, but you are invited to use the free time to study hard and prepare questions to put forward in the XXL office hour, which will take place tomorrow from 14:00 to 18:00.

More information about the midterm will be provided on Friday.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

XXL Inspection and Inspection Minitest G

Written on 01.12.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

As indicated before, there will be the opportunity to inspect all of your minitests prior to the midterm exam. We are scheduling this for Thursday, 04.12, from 16:30 to 18:00 in E1 3, HS001.

With this, we primarily target that fragment of the student population that has failed to… Read more

Dear students,

As indicated before, there will be the opportunity to inspect all of your minitests prior to the midterm exam. We are scheduling this for Thursday, 04.12, from 16:30 to 18:00 in E1 3, HS001.

With this, we primarily target that fragment of the student population that has failed to reach the 40-point bar for exam admission, possibly by a very small margin. 

For this purpose, we have now opened a specific registration on your personal status page.
If you are below 40 points and want to come to the minitest XXL inspection, this registration is for you. This prior registration step allows us to gather all of your tests in advance and thus speed up the inspection. If there is any other reason for you feeling the need to see all prior minitest, please tell us separately.

The normal inspection of Minitest G will happen simultaneously (in HS001) and does not require a registration.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Mock Exam and Midterm Registration Deadline

Written on 28.11.25 by Robin Ohs

Please read this message carefully to the end!

Dear students,

Tomorrow is the mock midterm exam.

You can now find your assigned seat and lecture hall on your personal status page.
If no seat has been assigned to you and you believe this is an error, please notify us immediately.
You are not… Read more

Please read this message carefully to the end!

Dear students,

Tomorrow is the mock midterm exam.

You can now find your assigned seat and lecture hall on your personal status page.
If no seat has been assigned to you and you believe this is an error, please notify us immediately.
You are not allowed to choose a random seat—the seating plan is mandatory.

The mock exam will start at 10:00 and will last approximately 90 minutes.
Please arrive at your assigned lecture hall by 09:50 at the latest so that you have enough time to find your seat.

You will need to bring:

  • Your national ID card or passport
  • Your student ID card (bringing only the student ID is not sufficient!)
  • Writing utensils (indelible pen, neither red nor green)

You will not need to bring your own paper. Auxiliary materials are not allowed.


Additionally, the registration deadline for the actual midterm exam is also tomorrow, Saturday, November 29, at 23:59.
If you have not yet registered, please do so now.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Midterm Registration and VIPA/FlexNow Registration

Written on 24.11.25 (last change on 24.11.25) by Robin Ohs

Please read this message carefully until the end! If you miss the exam registration, you cannot take the exam and thus will not be able to pass the course.

Dear students,

The Programming 1 midterm exam will take place on Saturday, December 06
To participate, please register for this exam on… Read more

Please read this message carefully until the end! If you miss the exam registration, you cannot take the exam and thus will not be able to pass the course.

Dear students,

The Programming 1 midterm exam will take place on Saturday, December 06
To participate, please register for this exam on your personal status page no later than Saturday, November 29, 23:59.

Registration is open to everyone participating (as there are still two more mini-tests to come), but recall that you must have accumulated at least 40 points from your best 5 mini-tests by the time the exam takes place. Students who do not reach this threshold will be deregistered by us once this is clear.

Exam registration only takes place in dCMS. A registration in LSF or VIPA/FlexNow is neither sufficient nor necessary! (Economics-related students, do read to the end of this email!)

All technical difficulties that may arise when registering in the dCMS must be reported to us before the registration closes. 

Please keep in mind that passing the midterm exam (or its retake on December 20) is a prerequisite for admission to the final exam (or its retake).

The midterm exam is expected to start at 09:00 in the morning and will take about 90 minutes. We will announce further details in due time.


Special note for students enrolled in economics-related degree programmes

For many economics programmes, the registration deadline for the final exams is already on Friday, November 28, at 15:00 (see here). Make sure to register in time in the FlexNow2 portal, as you will otherwise not be able to take the final exams, even if you pass the midterm exam. 

For study programs using LSF, the registration will be open until one week before the respective final exam takes place.

For any clarifications, feel free to reach out to us in the forum.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Mock Midterm Exam and XXL Office Hour

Written on 19.11.25 by Lukas Czulak

Dear students,

We, the team of tutors, will organize a mock midterm exam (“Probeklausur”). The mock exam is completely voluntary. It is a chance for you to see how exams are conducted at university, under conditions that are as realistic as possible. It does not contribute to the final grade or… Read more

Dear students,

We, the team of tutors, will organize a mock midterm exam (“Probeklausur”). The mock exam is completely voluntary. It is a chance for you to see how exams are conducted at university, under conditions that are as realistic as possible. It does not contribute to the final grade or eligibility for taking exams. The mock exam is entirely created by tutors. Therefore, its content is neither relevant nor irrelevant for the real exam.

The mock exam is scheduled for Saturday, November 29 at 10:00.  To participate, you are expected to be in front of the lecture hall at 9:45 at the latest. 

For practical reasons, we are restricting the mock exam to students who (are admitted or) can possibly be admitted to the midterm exam. This means that your personal status page must show a point total of at least 10 points in the mini-tests by now. 

You will have to register for the mock exam on your personal status page in the dCMS by November 27, 23:59. To avoid printing too many exams, the registration for the mock exam is binding. If you decide to not attend the exam, please deregister on your personal status page. After the registration phase is over, we will assign you a lecture hall and seat. You will then be able to see your seat assignment on your personal status page in the dCMS. If you want to participate, please be on time and bring your student and photo ID. No auxiliary materials (calculator, cheat sheets, …) are allowed.

The mock exam will take around 90 minutes. We will not grade your exams. Instead, you are expected to keep your exam booklet afterwards and check for yourself. Suggested solutions will be uploaded to the dCMS after the exam.

There is yet another announcement to make: On Thursday before the midterm exam (December 4), there will be an additional XXL office hour from 14:00 to 18:00 in SR 015 + SR 016 in E1 3. There you can ask all questions you might have regarding the midterm content. The regular office hour on that day will thus not take place.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

Cheers,
Your Programming 1 tutors

Exam Dates

Written on 07.11.25 (last change on 07.11.25) by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

We have now secured sufficient rooms for the main exam as well as for its retake.
The complete exam dates are now as follows:

  • Midterm exam: Saturday, December 6, 2025 (unchanged)
  • Midterm retake: Saturday, December 20, 2025 (unchanged)
  • Main exam: Saturday, February 7, 2026… Read more

Dear students,

We have now secured sufficient rooms for the main exam as well as for its retake.
The complete exam dates are now as follows:

  • Midterm exam: Saturday, December 6, 2025 (unchanged)
  • Midterm retake: Saturday, December 20, 2025 (unchanged)
  • Main exam: Saturday, February 7, 2026 (as indicated in first lecture)
  • Main retake: Saturday, March 28, 2026 (new)

Further information will be published as these dates approach.
You can also find them in the calendar.

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Minitest A

Written on 22.10.25 by Robin Ohs

Dear students,

The grading of Minitest A is now finalized. You can now find your point score on your personal status page.

This is a one-time announcement: We do not plan to send out further notifications regarding the availability of upcoming minitest results. 

Note that, since only the best… Read more

Dear students,

The grading of Minitest A is now finalized. You can now find your point score on your personal status page.

This is a one-time announcement: We do not plan to send out further notifications regarding the availability of upcoming minitest results. 

Note that, since only the best five minitests count towards your midterm exam admission, the system ignores your lowest scoring minitest. As a consequence, your current point total will equal zero (or n.a.) no matter your points, as minitest A is necessarily your lowest scoring minitest to date. Your point total will update with future minitests accordingly.

For those with a desire to inspect the marking of their minitest rapidly, we offer the possibility to do so tomorrow (October 23). This takes place in SR 016, E1 3 from 13:30–15:00. You must bring your student ID to be admitted to inspect your minitest. You will not be allowed to take pictures or notes during the inspection.

The setup for the minitest inspection is experimental. We will change the procedure if the need surfaces. There might be long waiting lines, due to limits in parallelism. Your fellow students will appreciate non-excessive inspections.

In case you wish to talk about the topics covered in the Minitest, be invited to visit the Office Hours, e.g., the one happening in parallel in SR014, E1 3, starting 14:00. (Note the change, it was meant to be in SR016 so far.)

Kind regards,
Your Programming 1 team

Show all

Programming 1

This course introduces the core concepts of programming.

More specifically, it introduces data structures and algorithms, programming constructs, and programming techniques, as well as the structure and realization of programming languages.

No specific prior knowledge is required. In particular, no pre-existing programming skills are expected.

Appreciating the joy of mathematical thinking will help.

Dates

Lectures will take place in the Günter Hotz lecture hall (building E2 2), Mondays from 08:25 to 10:00, and Thursdays from 10:15 to 12:00.

We start on Monday, October 13.

First lecture on Monday, October 13, at 08:25.

Tutorials are scheduled for Tuesdays in slots spanning the time from 10:00 to 16:00. Each student will be assigned to a tutorial once the lectures start and the registration is closed. You will then find the exact time and location on your personal status page. To qualify for the examinations, you will need to be present in the tutorials.

The first tutorials will take place on Tuesday, October 14.

We strongly recommend that you attend our Office Hours. There, you can work together on the weekly assignments and approach the tutors directly if you have any questions or problems. The office hours take place three times a week:

Monday, 10:00-14:00 E1 3, SR 016
Thursday, 14:00-16:00 E1 3, SR 014
Friday, 14:00-16:00 E1 3, SR 013

Exams

Please take note of the following dates. You are needed in person then.

Midterm Saturday, December 6, 2025
Midterm (Retake) Saturday, December 20, 2025
Final Exam Saturday, February 7, 2026 
Final Exam (Retake) Saturday, March 28, 2026

All important dates can also be looked up in the timetable. The timetable is kept up to date in case of changes.

Changes to the organization of the lecture will be communicated via dCMS news and via email.

 

 

 

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