CSE 16: Breadth of Computer Science

CSE 16: Breadth of Computer Science
Professor Glenn D. Blank, Fall 2007
Office: 328 Packard Lab, 3:10-4pm and by appointment, 610-758-4867

Catalog description: Survey of topics in computer science. Multimedia laboratory only. No prerequisites. Cannot be taken with CSE 12 or CSE 15. Instructional mode: multimedia laboratory sections, simultaneous with the lab for CSE 16.

Rationale: This course is a good way to learn about computer science as a discipline and light introductions to object-oriented design in Java, HTML and Flash programming, primarily through web-based multimedia. It provides a way for Engineering students to meet the breadth of computer science requirement of the Computer Science minor, supplementing the programming experience of Engineering 1 and can also complement BIS 120 (Business Applications of Java) for Business students.

Class meetings: Wednesdays 1:10-3PM, Grace 28 (northeast corner of the building).

Requirements: CSE 16 students will be responsible for lab exercises to be completed in the multimedia lab. CSE 16 will have no homework assignments other than reading the textbook (The Universal Computer) and going through the multimedia that accompanies this book (either in lab or on their own). They will have a six-weeks exam and final exam. CSE 16 students will also learn some Java and Flash along with CSE 12 students in lab, will show their work to the TA in lab, and may be asked questions about Java on exams, but will not be required to submit programming assignments.

Lab attendance and exercises : 25%
6-weeks exam: 25%
Final exam: 50%

Syllabus:

W 8/29 Objectives; Introducing the Universal Computer
W 9/5 Problem solving; Knobby’s World: see exercises
W 9/12 Programming languages and their translators
W 9/19 Classes, objects and object-oriented design
W 9/26 Software engineering
W 10/3 6-weeks exam
W 10/10 Computer architecture
W 10/17 Operating systems
W 10/24 Networks
W 10/31 Algorithms
W 11/7 User interface and web site design
W 11/14 Flash and dynamic web design
W 11/28 Social and ethical issues
W 12/5 Artificial intelligence

Resources:

Web site for the textbook: The Universal Computer. Links to solutions to chapter review exercises, web links by chapters, etc.

Eclipse Java programming environment. A professional, open-source integrated development environment. We have included plug-ins for UML and DrJava to help novices program in Java.

Knobby's World. Also on LANs and CDROMs.

WinZip. An file archiving tool, widely for compressing and uncompressing files, for faster trasfer via the web or disks.

ws_ftple. A file transfer tool, free to students for educational use.

ASCII code table. (Note that this isn't a complete table.)

Sample exams:

Answers to chapter review questions. After you've studied a chapter and tried to answer the Chapter Review questions at the end of a chapter in the textbook, The Universal Computer, you can check here for the answers.
Sample 6-weeks exam. CSE16 students are will not be asked to write Java or C++ code, so you can ignore these questions. Otherwise,This will give you some idea what this exam will be like. Recommended for study!
Sample questions that might appear on a final exam.