COMP 101: Intro. to Computers & Computing

What is computer science?

• Better name: computing science
• Study of computation and problem-solving (by humans or by computers)
  • the organization and representation of ideas
  • the development and application of practical problem-solving techniques
  • the modeling of complex systems
  • the use of formal languages to express ideas succinctly and unambiguously.
• Big questions:
  • What are good approaches (algorithms)?
  • How can it be done "reproducably" (repeatedly, getting the same results)?
  • How can it be done more quickly, more accurately, more easily?
  • Are there limits to what can be computed?

Week	Monday		Friday
1	What is CS? What is Computing?		What is the CPU? CS History: Concepts to Implementation
2	Representing Data		Representing Programs
3	Logic		Circuits
4	Arithmetic via Logic		Catch-up
5	Higher-Level Programming		CS History: Mainframes to PCs
6	Algorithm Analysis		Sorting Comparisons
7	Hard Problems, Complexity		Automata
8	The Internet & the Web		Social/Ethical Issues
9	Human-Computer Interaction		Artificial Intelligence
10	Presentations		Wrap-Up