Computer Science Classes

This course provides an introduction to the handling, analysis, and interpretation of the big datasets now routinely being collected in science, commerce, and government. Students achieve facility with a sophisticated, technical computing environment. The course aligns with techniques being used in several courses in the natural and social sciences, statistics, and mathematics. The course is intended to be accessible to all students, regardless of background.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course provides an introduction to the handling, analysis, and interpretation of the big datasets now routinely being collected in science, commerce, and government. Students achieve facility with a sophisticated, technical computing environment. The course aligns with techniques being used in several courses in the natural and social sciences, statistics, and mathematics. The course is intended to be accessible to all students, regardless of background.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What are the truths and falsehoods that data and databases tell us about contemporary culture? How do we use data to tell stories? Increasingly, computational methods are being used to ask questions and look for patterns in cultural data (from museums, libraries, archives, and elsewhere). This class provides an introduction to some of the methods and tools used to investigate data and datasets, while encouraging critical engagement with a number of humanities-based research questions surrounding them. Students will consider ethical and design questions encompassing the collection, analysis, and presentation of data through class conversations and the process of creating their own digital projects.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course offers an in-depth introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. Students will work with algorithms in pseudocode, and will learn formal and informal methods for analyzing algorithm efficiency and correctness. Topics may include recursion, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, greedy methods, branch and bound, randomized, probabilistic, and parallel algorithms. Application areas include string processing, graphs, geometric problems, and optimization. This course will introduce computability topics including regular expressions, grammars and parsing, automata, nondeterminism, and NP completeness. Prerequisite(s): COMP 128 (or COMP 124, if previously taken) and MATH 279, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the problem of building software with humans and for humans. Students work in teams to design and implement a semester-long user-facing software project of their own invention. There are no limitations on topic or technology; on the contrary, students are responsible for imagining possibilities, articulating goals, and researching and selecting suitable technologies. The format resembles a studio art class, with in-class discussion guided by sharing and critiquing classmates' ongoing work. Topics include communication, division of labor, user-centered design, human-computer interaction, product management, project management, iterative development, engineering tradeoffs, separation of concerns, code readability and maintainability, refactoring, testing, and version control. Teams give a public demonstration of their working projects at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (COMP 128 recommended), or COMP 124 if previously taken, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes the student with the internal design and organization of computers. Topics include number systems, internal data representations, microarchitectures, the functional units of a computer system, memory, processor, and input/output structures, instruction sets and assembly language, addressing techniques, system software, and concurrency and parallelism. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (or COMP 124 if previously taken) or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course will introduce students to the design, implementation, and analysis of databases stored in database management systems (DBMS). Topics include implementation-neutral data modeling, database design, database implementation, and data analysis using relational algebra and SQL. Students will generate data models based on real-world problems, and implement a database in a state-of-the-art DBMS. Students will master complex data analysis by learning to first design database queries and then implement them in a database query language such as SQL. Advanced topics include objects in databases, indexing for improved performance, distributed databases, and data warehouses.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course will introduce students to the design, implementation, and analysis of databases stored in database management systems (DBMS). Topics include implementation-neutral data modeling, database design, database implementation, and data analysis using relational algebra and SQL. Students will generate data models based on real-world problems, and implement a database in a state-of-the-art DBMS. Students will master complex data analysis by learning to first design database queries and then implement them in a database query language such as SQL. Advanced topics include objects in databases, indexing for improved performance, distributed databases, and data warehouses.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course will investigate the theory and practice of computer graphics programming using C++ and OpenGL. Through hands-on projects, supported by lecture and discussion, you will learn the fundamentals of creating interactive 2D and 3D images with applications in art, design, games, movies, science, and medicine. Topics covered will include event loops, polygonal models, rendering techniques, texturing, lighting, interaction techniques, and virtual reality. This course counts as the capstone. Prerequisite(s): COMP 240; Linear Algebra recommended but not required.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes students with the fundamental data structures in computer science. Using the Java programming language, students will study existing data structure implementations, implement their own data structures, and develop data-intensive applications. The course covers stacks, queues, lists, trees, heaps, hash tables, graphs, and the common algorithms that use these data structures. Students will also receive an introduction to basic complexity analysis (Big-O), learn the time complexity of different data structure operations, and gain experience in calculating the time complexity of programs that use data structures. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes students with the fundamental data structures in computer science. Using the Java programming language, students will study existing data structure implementations, implement their own data structures, and develop data-intensive applications. The course covers stacks, queues, lists, trees, heaps, hash tables, graphs, and the common algorithms that use these data structures. Students will also receive an introduction to basic complexity analysis (Big-O), learn the time complexity of different data structure operations, and gain experience in calculating the time complexity of programs that use data structures. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course offers an in-depth introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. Students will work with algorithms in pseudocode, and will learn formal and informal methods for analyzing algorithm efficiency and correctness. Topics may include recursion, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, greedy methods, branch and bound, randomized, probabilistic, and parallel algorithms. Application areas include string processing, graphs, geometric problems, and optimization. This course will introduce computability topics including regular expressions, grammars and parsing, automata, nondeterminism, and NP completeness. Prerequisite(s): COMP 128 (or COMP 124, if previously taken) and MATH 279, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the problem of building software with humans and for humans. Students work in teams to design and implement a semester-long user-facing software project of their own invention. There are no limitations on topic or technology; on the contrary, students are responsible for imagining possibilities, articulating goals, and researching and selecting suitable technologies. The format resembles a studio art class, with in-class discussion guided by sharing and critiquing classmates' ongoing work. Topics include communication, division of labor, user-centered design, human-computer interaction, product management, project management, iterative development, engineering tradeoffs, separation of concerns, code readability and maintainability, refactoring, testing, and version control. Teams give a public demonstration of their working projects at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (COMP 128 recommended), or COMP 124 if previously taken, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes the student with the internal design and organization of computers. Topics include number systems, internal data representations, microarchitectures, the functional units of a computer system, memory, processor, and input/output structures, instruction sets and assembly language, addressing techniques, system software, and concurrency and parallelism. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (or COMP 124 if previously taken) or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course examines the theoretical foundations of computation. It explores different mathematical models that try to formalize our informal notion of an algorithm. Models include finite automata, regular expressions, grammars, and Turing machines. The course also discusses ideas about what can and cannot be computed. In addition, the course explores the basics of complexity theory, examining broad categories of problems and their algorithms, and their efficiency. The focus is on the question of P versus NP, and the NP-complete set. Prerequisite(s): (COMP 128 or COMP 221 or COMP 124 if previously taken) and MATH 279, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

A mix of applied linear algebra and numerical analysis, this course covers a central point of contact between mathematics and computer science. Many of the computational techniques important in science, commerce, and statistics are based on concepts from linear algebra, such as subspaces, projections, and matrix decompositions. The course reviews these concepts, adopts them to large scales, and applies them in the core techniques of scientific computing. These include solving systems of linear and nonlinear equations, approximation and statistical function estimation, optimization, interpolation, eigenvalue and singular value decompositions, and compression. Applications throughout the natural sciences, social sciences, statistics, and computer science. Prerequisite(s): COMP 120 or COMP 123, and MATH 236

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

A mix of applied linear algebra and numerical analysis, this course covers a central point of contact between mathematics and computer science. Many of the computational techniques important in science, commerce, and statistics are based on concepts from linear algebra, such as subspaces, projections, and matrix decompositions. The course reviews these concepts, adopts them to large scales, and applies them in the core techniques of scientific computing. These include solving systems of linear and nonlinear equations, approximation and statistical function estimation, optimization, interpolation, eigenvalue and singular value decompositions, and compression. Applications throughout the natural sciences, social sciences, statistics, and computer science. Prerequisite(s): COMP 120 or COMP 123, and MATH 236

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course provides an introduction to reinforcement learning, which is a machine learning technique. Reinforcement learning is concerned with building programs that learn how to take actions in an environment with a goal of maximizing "rewards". It has applications in robotics, computer games, marketing, health, and finance, among others. We will study theoretical properties and practical applications of reinforcement learning. Students will demonstrate their learning through a project. This course involves programming in Python. Prerequisite(s): COMP221 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Many current computational challenges, such as Internet search, protein folding, and data mining require the use of multiple processes running in parallel, whether on a single multiprocessor machine (parallel processing) or on multiple machines connected together on a network (distributed processing). The type of processing required to solve such problems in adequate amounts of time involves dividing the program and/or problem space into parts that can run simultaneously on many processors. In this course we will explore the various computer architectures used for this purpose and the issues involved with programming parallel solutions in such environments. Students will examine several types of problems that can benefit from parallel or distributed solutions and develop their own solutions for them. This course counts as the capstone. Prerequisite(s): COMP 240 and COMP 221, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course provides an introduction to the handling, analysis, and interpretation of the big datasets now routinely being collected in science, commerce, and government. Students achieve facility with a sophisticated, technical computing environment. The course aligns with techniques being used in several courses in the natural and social sciences, statistics, and mathematics. The course is intended to be accessible to all students, regardless of background.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course provides an introduction to the handling, analysis, and interpretation of the big datasets now routinely being collected in science, commerce, and government. Students achieve facility with a sophisticated, technical computing environment. The course aligns with techniques being used in several courses in the natural and social sciences, statistics, and mathematics. The course is intended to be accessible to all students, regardless of background.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q3

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course provides an introduction to the handling, analysis, and interpretation of the big datasets now routinely being collected in science, commerce, and government. Students achieve facility with a sophisticated, technical computing environment. The course aligns with techniques being used in several courses in the natural and social sciences, statistics, and mathematics. The course is intended to be accessible to all students, regardless of background.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q3

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces the field of computer science, including central concepts such as the design and implementation of algorithms and programs, testing and analyzing programs, the representation of information within the computer, and the role of abstraction and metaphor in computer science. The exploration of these central ideas will draw examples from a range of application areas including multimedia processing, turtle graphics, and text processing. Course work will use the Python programming language.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

What happens as software grows in complexity? How do we break a program into manageable pieces? How do we write readable, maintainable code? This course is an introduction to the building blocks of software design: abstraction, decomposition, and encapsulation. Using object-oriented programming in Java, we will create graphics, games, and simulations, and explore natural language processing. Topics may include: classes, objects, polymorphism, inheritance, testing, refactoring, events, closures, streams, immutability, parallel programming, and version control. The course culminates in a student-designed project. There is a required 1.5 hour laboratory section associated with this course. Prerequisite(s): COMP 123 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes students with the fundamental data structures in computer science. Using the Java programming language, students will study existing data structure implementations, implement their own data structures, and develop data-intensive applications. The course covers stacks, queues, lists, trees, heaps, hash tables, graphs, and the common algorithms that use these data structures. Students will also receive an introduction to basic complexity analysis (Big-O), learn the time complexity of different data structure operations, and gain experience in calculating the time complexity of programs that use data structures. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes students with the fundamental data structures in computer science. Using the Java programming language, students will study existing data structure implementations, implement their own data structures, and develop data-intensive applications. The course covers stacks, queues, lists, trees, heaps, hash tables, graphs, and the common algorithms that use these data structures. Students will also receive an introduction to basic complexity analysis (Big-O), learn the time complexity of different data structure operations, and gain experience in calculating the time complexity of programs that use data structures. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

When this course was first developed, the ethical questions it considered largely imagined, as a context, an Internet user sitting at a personal computer. As digital devices and the activities that they afford permeate many aspects of our everyday lives and social institutions, that Internet user is ever increasingly a device-connected data-subject. In this course, we will consider a wide array of ethical issues connected to these devices and the activities and practices in which they are embedded and which they help shape. Up for consideration, reflection, and discussion will be topics such as privacy, dataveillance, algorithmic bias and other ethical issues within AI, and the responsibilities of social media companies with respect to content moderation. The questions we will ask will be both small and big—including ones about the ethical impacts of “digital life” on our relations with others and the quality of our lives. No books will be required for this course: all readings will either be available online or as .pdfs.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

What do data look like in the humanities? How can data and databases inform our understanding of culture, or, alternately, be manipulated to distort the truth? Increasingly, computational methods are being used to ask questions and look for patterns in cultural data (from museums, libraries, archives, and elsewhere). This class provides an introduction to some of the digital methods and tools used to investigate humanities data and databases, while encouraging critical engagement with the many ethical and design questions that arise in the collection, analysis, and presentation of data. In this course we will read articles from a range of disciplines, engage in activities reflecting on our own collecting practices and daily routines, and explore and articulate ways that digital technologies may be used more effectively and ethically.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q2

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course offers an in-depth introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. Students will work with algorithms in pseudocode, and will learn formal and informal methods for analyzing algorithm efficiency and correctness. Topics may include recursion, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, greedy methods, branch and bound, randomized, probabilistic, and parallel algorithms. Application areas include string processing, graphs, geometric problems, and optimization. This course will introduce computability topics including regular expressions, grammars and parsing, automata, nondeterminism, and NP completeness. Prerequisite(s): COMP 128 (or COMP 124, if previously taken) and MATH 279, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the problem of building software with humans and for humans. Students work in teams to design and implement a semester-long user-facing software project of their own invention. There are no limitations on topic or technology; on the contrary, students are responsible for imagining possibilities, articulating goals, and researching and selecting suitable technologies. The format resembles a studio art class, with in-class discussion guided by sharing and critiquing classmates' ongoing work. Topics include communication, division of labor, user-centered design, human-computer interaction, product management, project management, iterative development, engineering tradeoffs, separation of concerns, code readability and maintainability, refactoring, testing, and version control. Teams give a public demonstration of their working projects at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (COMP 128 recommended), or COMP 124 if previously taken, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to the problem of building software with humans and for humans. Students work in teams to design and implement a semester-long user-facing software project of their own invention. There are no limitations on topic or technology; on the contrary, students are responsible for imagining possibilities, articulating goals, and researching and selecting suitable technologies. The format resembles a studio art class, with in-class discussion guided by sharing and critiquing classmates' ongoing work. Topics include communication, division of labor, user-centered design, human-computer interaction, product management, project management, iterative development, engineering tradeoffs, separation of concerns, code readability and maintainability, refactoring, testing, and version control. Teams give a public demonstration of their working projects at the end of the semester. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (COMP 128 recommended), or COMP 124 if previously taken, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes the student with the internal design and organization of computers. Topics include number systems, internal data representations, microarchitectures, the functional units of a computer system, memory, processor, and input/output structures, instruction sets and assembly language, addressing techniques, system software, and concurrency and parallelism. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (or COMP 124 if previously taken) or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course familiarizes the student with the internal design and organization of computers. Topics include number systems, internal data representations, microarchitectures, the functional units of a computer system, memory, processor, and input/output structures, instruction sets and assembly language, addressing techniques, system software, and concurrency and parallelism. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 (or COMP 124 if previously taken) or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course will introduce students to the design, implementation, and analysis of databases stored in database management systems (DBMS). Topics include implementation-neutral data modeling, database design, database implementation, and data analysis using relational algebra and SQL. Students will generate data models based on real-world problems, and implement a database in a state-of-the-art DBMS. Students will master complex data analysis by learning to first design database queries and then implement them in a database query language such as SQL. Advanced topics include objects in databases, indexing for improved performance, distributed databases, and data warehouses.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

Why do people create different programming languages? What characteristics do languages have in common? What design decisions differentiate them, and what tradeoffs motivate those decisions? How do languages affect the style of code we write, our development processes, and the ways we think about software? In this course, we will examine a wide variety of programming languages, many briefly and a few in depth. We will compare how they approach topics such as type systems, abstraction, composition, state and mutability, access control, flow control, function dispatch, closures, metaprogramming, concurrency, memory management, compilation, and runtime environment. Prerequisite(s): COMP 128  (COMP 240 and COMP 361 useful but not required)

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Course Materials

In this capstone course, we will study techniques and algorithms for visualization design and analysis. We will cover topics such as visualization of multivariate, temporal, text-based, spatial, hierarchical, and network/graph-based data to clearly and effectively convey information graphically. Our discussions will revolve around principles of graphic design, perceptual psychology, and cognitive science. Students will have the opportunity to complete several programming assignments and data analysis tasks. Prerequisite(s): COMP 127 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

This course introduces technologies for building dynamic web applications. It will look at all stages in the web application design process, including: 1) the basic protocols and technologies underlying the web (e.g. HTTP, REST), 2) front-end web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript, 3) and application servers that manage requests for information, update data, etc. The course will be programming-intensive, with students using web frameworks to design and implement Internet applications. The format of the course will be mainly laboratory-based sessions, where students learn components of a web application, supported by lectures and discussions. Students will research particular topics and present their findings during these discussion sessions. The course will also investigate the usability of designs from a human factors standpoint and discuss privacy and other social consequences of this technology. This course counts as the capstone. Prerequisite(s): COMP 225 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials

An introduction to the basic principles and techniques of artificial intelligence. Topics will include specific AI techniques, a range of application areas, and connections between AI and other areas of study (i.e., philosophy, psychology). Techniques may include heuristic search, automated reasoning, machine learning, deliberative planning and behavior-based agent control. Application areas include robotics, games, knowledge representation, and natural language processing. This course involves programming in Python; students should have a basic familiarity with Python or be prepared to learn Python during the course. This course counts as the capstone. Prerequisite(s): COMP 221, or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Natural science and mathematics

Course Materials