Introductory Computer Science Curriculum

Welcome to Fall Term!

Fall is always an exciting time of the year. Each Fall we have new experiences and new classes. I personally love the Fall with the crisp mornings but warm afternoons.

This Fall is an especially exciting time. We have adjusted our curriculum to best suit you. For example, if you have programmed before – in any programming language – then you can skip CS161 and start immediately with CS162. But, if you have never programmed, we will have plenty of fun learning about Computer Science and programming in CS161.

Our Curriculum…

Beginning Fall 2009, CS161 will be an introductory programming class for people who have never programmed before. It will be a fun class where we can learn about Computer Science and what computers and programming are all about. It is taught in the language (or languages) selected by the Instructor.

CS162 then becomes the first official course in C++. If you have programmed before in a high level programming language, and are wondering which class to take, CS162 is probably the right place to start. If you have never programmed before or are not confident with programming in a high level language, then consider CS161.

What does it mean if your class is “online”?

Have you signed up for an online course this Fall? Our “online” classes are actually hybrid classes. This means that the class is taught “live” on campus in Portland, Oregon. The classes are videotaped and streamed on the web within 24 hours of the class taking place. Students have the opportunity to view the class through the internet rather than attending in person. This facility is provided to both students registered for the “in class” and “online” sections. Exams can be taken at a proctoring center or on campus at PSU. Exams taken off campus must be previously arranged with the Instructor.

Online Students: If you have signed up for an online class, then you will need to watch the first lecture(s) of the class online at media.pdx.edu; you should do this near the end of the first week of school. After that, you will want to keep watching the class online every week. Getting behind is the biggest risk of taking these courses online!

The due dates and assignments for students registered for either section are the same. This means that you will need to stay on top of the material regardless of which section you are registered for!

Strategy

PSU’s approach for teaching Introductory Computer Science focuses on building a foundation of knowledge that allows students to select the appropriate methodology, syntax, and data structures depending on the situation. Students learn about writing efficient programs and how to make decisions about which programming methodology or data structure to select. Students use procedural abstraction, modular abstraction, data abstraction and object oriented programming in C++ in the CS162, CS163, and CS202 courses.

From the 16x courses students become equipped to deal with the management of external data files, external source files, arrays, strings, classes, pointers, and dynamic memory management. Students are taught about efficiency tradeoffs and have experienced the relationship between pointers, arrays, and pointer arithmetic.

Information about Handouts and Assignments

All handouts and assignments for the CS16X and CS202 courses can be retrieved from this site. Questions regarding the materials can be directed to the course supervisor, Karla Fant (mailto:karlaf@cs.pdx.edu).

Fall 2009 Course Materials

Course Syllabi and Outlines for Fall 2009 are available at the following web sites:

CS161 (Fant): http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~karlaf/CS161_Fall09.html

CS162 (Fant): http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~karlaf/CS162_Fall09.html

CS202 (Fant): http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~karlaf/CS202_Fall09.html

Course Materials for Academic Year: 2008-2009

Course Syllabi and Outlines for Fall 2008, Winter 2009, Spring 2009, and Summer 2009 are available at the following web sites