CISC 1600: Mission Statement

This is an introductory course in computer science, which will teach you basics of computer programming. This course is intended for people who intend to major in either computer science or information science. It is not an introduction to computers for people whose only interest is in using computers and in computer applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and the like.

Although we do not require you to have previous computer experience, any such experience that you have will probably be beneficial. However, there are no guarantees here! There are lots of people experienced with word processors and graphics programs, and yet turn out not to be good programmers. These are different talents.

The programming language that we have chosen for this course is C++. However, this is not a class in C++. This is a class in programming. Our main interest will be in issues surrounding the design and implementation of good software, with a worried look now and again towards problems arising with large systems that must not fail (e.g., the software managing a nuclear reactor).

Why C++? C++ is one of the hottest languages used today, because

  1. it is based on the widespread "C" programming language,
  2. it can be used as a more "civilized" version of C,
  3. it is a multi-paradigm programming language, supporting procedural-based programming, object-oriented programming, and generic progamming.

We will cover a lot of material this semester. This course will involve a great deal of work. The learning curve is admittedly steep, but this means that you'll be learning a lot quickly.

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Last modified: Mon Jul 20 14:47:13 2015