Computers are indispensable tools for research. This does not only hold for more technical fields such as physics or chemistry but also for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. While most students are competent users of standard software such as word processing or spreadsheets, the real power of the computer is unleashed when we are able to program it ourselves and make it do exactly what we want it to do.

This course is aimed at people who want to learn how to use computer science to solve basic information processing problems, such as analyzing text data and performing elementary statistics on them. It will cover elementary principles of computer science and will teach the student to independently write their own programs in the computer language Python.

This course is meant for people who have little or no previous experience in computer science. Therefore, in this course we do not assume that the students already know how to write computer programs. However, computer programming is a skill, and learning a new skill takes substantial amounts of effort and time. So the fact that this course is aimed at beginners does not mean that it is easy, or that it will involve less work than our other introduction courses, like e.g. COMP 11. On the contrary, it is very likely the case that this course will involves more effort than other introductory programming courses, if only because the fact that we do not assume any previous experience means that the road to our goal is going to be longer.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Passing this course does NOT fulfill the A&S Mathematics distribution requirement.

The study of computer science centers on two complementary aspects of the discipline. First, computer science is fundamentally concerned with the problem-solving methodologies it derives from its foundational fields: the design principles of engineering, mathematical theory, and scientific empirical study. Second, these methodologies are applied in the complex context of a modern day computing system. In this course we will address both of these important aspects. As a means for developing your design skills, we will discuss the fundamental features of a high level, general purpose programming language -- namely C++-- and learn how to use it as a tool for problem solving. We will also consider the performance of solutions, and how to apply both analytical and empirical assessment techniques. Finally, we will explore the Unix operating system as a context for problem solving. (Additional 2 hr weekly lab time scheduled at first class meeting.) Recommendations: High school algebra. No prior programming experience is necessary.

A second course in computer science. Data structures and algorithms are studied through major programming projects in the C++ programming language. Topics include linked lists, trees, graphs, dynamic storage allocation, and recursion.

(Cross-listed as Mathematics 61.) Sets, relations and functions, logic and methods of proof, combinatorics, graphs and digraphs.

Principles and application of computer programming languages. Emphasizes ideas and techniques most relevant to practitioners, but includes foundations crucial for intellectual rigor: abstract syntax, lambda calculus, type systems, dynamic semantics. Case studies, reinforced by programming exercises. Grounding sufficient to read professional literature.

Fundamental concepts of database management systems. Topics include: data models (relational, object-oriented, and others); the SQL query language; implementation techniques of database management systems (storage and index structures, concurrency control, recovery, and query processing); management of unstructured and semistructured data; and scientific data collections.

A systems perspective on host-based and network-based computer security. Current vulnerabilities and measures for protecting hosts and networks. Firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Principles illustrated through hands-on programming projects.

Web applications are complex systems that deliver a plethora of functionality to a large number of users, and also exhibit unique behaviors and demands in terms of performance, scalability, usability, and security. Web engineering is an emerging and multidisciplinary process that is used to create quality web applications. This course will discuss the limits of current web technologies, the similarities and differences between web and software engineering, design, information and service architectures, content management, and testing disciplines. Frameworks such as Rails, Spring, and Symfony will be emphasized and used. Projects will involve search, cloud computing, location-based services, and mobile web development.

History, theory, and computational methods of artificial intelligence. Basic concepts include representation of knowledge and computational methods for reasoning. One or two application areas will be studied, to be selected from expert systems, robotics, computer vision, natural language understanding, and planning.

An overview of methods whereby computers can learn from data or experience and make decisions accordingly. Topics include supervised learning, unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning, and knowledge extraction from large databases with applications to science, engineering, and medicine.

This course offers an opportunity to expand your knowledge on various topics involving algorithms, data structures and graphs. Often these topics are intertwined; e.g., to create efficient algorithms, it may be useful to design data structures or use existing ones. We will cover a range of topics, such as path approximation, spanners, network flow, linear programming, all-pairs shortest paths, near-planarity, Fibonacci heaps and Quake heaps, balanced trees (Splay, WAVL, Scapegoat, BB-alpha), skip lists, fractional cascading, high-dimensional range counting, graph coloring, the probabilistic method, string matching, etc. These are topics that are useful to know, as one prepares for advanced interviews and/or further graduate work. As an elective, this course will aim to let each student focus more on topics that they are interested in. Evaluation will be primarily based on participation and a project.

This course focuses on three aspects of the Internet: how it works (design of key protocols and applications), why it works like that (design trade-offs and alternate solutions), and how can you make it better (proposals to make the Internet better). A major emphasis will be on the basic performance and engineering tradeoffs underlying the design of the Internet. Topics to be covered include: networked applications (e.g., web, p2p), reliability, congestion and flow control, routing, addressing, naming, wireless, security, and new Internet architectures. We will also cover several classic and recent research papers in networking.

Introduction to the study of algorithms. Strategies such as divide-and-conquer, greedy methods, and dynamic programming. Graph algorithms, sorting, searching, integer arithmetic, hashing, and NP-complete problems.

Models of computation: Turing machines, pushdown automata, and finite automata. Grammars and formal languages including context-free languages and regular sets. Important problems including the halting problem and language equivalence theorems.