Using Course Data

First, you'll need instructions and access to course data. Then, you can proceed.

All course data is stored in a series of quite large minified JSON files. One JSON file holds the latest plan data (around 2 MB - 3 MB), and each term (quarter) available to Paper has a JSON file with the term-specific schedule data (each around 3 MB - 4 MB). While schedule data files doesn't include all of the course data like the plan data file does, schedule data files tend to be larger since they can include paragraphs of descriptions provided by instructors.

There is currently no standalone conversion tool available to convert the JSON files into a more usable format. Instead, you'll need to use the tables below to understand the structure of these files.

You can see these conversions being made here in the Paper source code.

Subject data

The following are the keys of the root object of the subject data.

• subjects - A map of all subject data.
  • key: the subject code (ex. COMP_SCI)
  • value: information on the subject relevant to Paper

Short	Long	Type
subjects	subjects	{ [subject]: SubjectInformation }

Plan data

The following are the keys of the root object of the plan data.

• courses - An array of all current courses.
• legacy - An array of old courses that used to be included in the data from the registrar but no longer are. This is important in case a user has a plan that includes one of these courses back when it may have been offered.

Short	Long	Type
courses	courses	PlanCourse[]
legacy	legacy	PlanCourse[]

Schedule data

The schedule data consists of an array of ScheduleCourse.

Type Reference

Many properties in these types will not always exist. I highly recommend null checking every one.

SubjectInformation

in subject data

Short	Long	Type	Description
c	color	ColorString	the color of the subject
d	full name	string	the full name of the subject
s	schools	string[]	the schools the subject is offered in

PlanCourse

in plan data

Short	Long	Type	Description
i	id	string	the subject and catalog number of the course
n	name	string	the name of the course
u	units	string	the number of units the course is worth
r	repeatable	boolean	whether the course is repeatable
d	description	string	the description of the course
p	prerequisites	string	the prerequisites of the course
s	distribution areas	DistrosString	the distribution areas that the course fulfills
f	foundational disciplines	DisciplinesString	the foundational disciplines that the course fulfills
l	placeholder	boolean	whether the course is a placeholder
t	terms	string[]	the terms IDs of when the course has been offered in the past

ScheduleCourse

in schedule data

Short	Long	Type	Description
i	course id	string	the course ID number provided by NU
c	school	string	the school the course is in
t	title	string	the name of the course
u	subject	string	the subject of the course
n	catalog number	string	the catalog number of the course
s	sections	ScheduleSection[]	the sections of the course

ScheduleSection

in ScheduleCourse

Short	Long	Type	Description
i	section id	string	the course ID number provided by NU with a section number
r	instructors	SectionInstructor[]	the instructors of the section
t	title	string	the name of the course
k	topic	string	the topic of the section
u	subject	string	the subject of the course
n	catalog number	string	the catalog number of the course
s	section number	string	the section number of the section
m	meeting days	(MeetingDaysString | null)[]	the meeting days for each time slot of the section
x	start time	(Time | null)[]	the start time of the section
y	end time	(Time | null)[]	the end time of the section
l	room	string[]	the location of the section
d	start date	string	the start date of the section
e	end date	string	the end date of the section
c	component	string	the component of the section
a	capacity	int	the capacity of the section
q	enrollment requirements	string	the enrollment requirements of the section
p	descriptions	SectionDescription[]	the descriptions of the section
o	distribution areas	DistrosString	the distribution areas that the section fulfills
f	foundational disciplines	DisciplinesString	the foundational disciplines that the section fulfills

SectionInstructor

in ScheduleSection

Short	Long	Type	Description
n	name	string	the name of the instructor
p	phone	string	the phone number of the instructor
a	campus address	string	the campus address of the instructor
o	office hours	string	the office hours of the instructor
b	bio	string	the bio of the instructor
u	url	string	the URL of the instructor

Time

in ScheduleSection

Short	Long	Type	Description
h	hour	int	hour from 0 to 23
m	minute	int	minute from 0 to 59

DistrosString

in PlanCourse and ScheduleSection

A DistrosString is a normal string where each character represents a distribution area.

Character	Distribution Area
1	Natural Sciences
2	Formal Studies
3	Social and Behavioral Sciences
4	Historical Studies
5	Ethics and Values
6	Literature and Fine Arts
7	Interdisciplinary Studies

For example, the string "14" means both the Natural Studies and Historical Studies distribution areas are linked to the course.

DisciplinesString

in PlanCourse and ScheduleSection

A DisciplinesString is a normal string where each character represents a foundational discipline.

Character	Distribution Area
1	Natural Sciences
2	Empirical and Deductive Reasoning
3	Social and Behavioral Sciences
4	Historical Studies
5	Ethical and Evaluative Thinking
6	Literature and Arts
7	Interdisciplinary

For example, the string "14" means both the Natural Studies and Historical Studies foundational disciplines are linked to the course.

MeetingDaysString

in ScheduleSection

A MeetingDaysString is a normal string where each character represents a day of the week.

Character	Day of the Week
0	Monday
1	Tuesday
2	Wednesday
3	Thursday
4	Friday

For example, the string "024" means the section includes a repeated meeting time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

SectionDescription

in ScheduleSection

A SectionDescription is an array of strings (string[]). The first element is the description title. The second element is the description value.

For example, a section may have the following SectionDescription[] value:

[
  [
    "Overview",
    "This is an overview of this class. Blah blah blah words here words there and so on."
  ],
  [
    "Class Materials",
    "You'll need this textbook and this calculator and this device and so on."
  ]
]

ColorString

in SubjectInformation

A ColorString is a string that equals one of the following:

• red
• orange
• amber
• yellow
• lime
• green
• emerald
• teal
• cyan
• sky
• blue
• indigo
• violet
• purple
• fuchsia
• pink
• rose
• gray