This laboratory compliments the lectures and work you will receive in your regular CS151 course. The idea of the lab is to work on small-sized assignments that help you exercise the topics you are currently studying.
In general, you will receive lab assignments at the beginning of lab time on Wednesdays, they will be due at the beginning of lab time on the following Wednesday, and you will receive the graded assignment at the beginning of lab time on the Wednesday after that.
You should start each assignment during lab time, taking advantage of the presence of the lab instructor, but you should not feel any pressure to finish during lab time. There will be evening TAs available in the lab during the week, and you can also come see the course and lab instructors for help outside of class.
Some people may finish some assignments (especially the first one) during lab time, but in general we expect you to finish on your own time during the week. You should plan to spend in the neighborhood of 6 hours per week (including lab time) on lab assignments. If you schedule your time, you will probably find it easier to keep up. Also, you will probably find that spending several small sessions at the computer is more effective than spending a single ``marathon'' session, especially if the lab assignment can be logically broken up into several parts.
Finally, keep in mind that if you put off doing your assignment until the last minute, you will likely not learn as much as you could, and you will likely turn in a shoddy product. In addition, if all of your fellow classmates are doing the same thing, it may be difficult to find a free computer on which to do your last-minute work.