Undergraduate classes, Spring 2007, Computer Science

Note: All courses taken towards the major or minor must be taken on a letter grade basis, not pass/fail.
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CS 110: Computer Science FundamentalsCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: The course will provide a basic understanding of the principles underlying computer systems and software. Topics include an overview of computer hardware, the design of algorithms and their role in problem solving, and programming in a high level language. Databases, networking and the world-wide web, and contemporary issues in information technology will also be discussed.
Particulars: Lectures will be supplemented by readings and some laboratory exercises; there will be several quizzes, a midterm, a final exam, and assignments. Computer-based assignments will account for approximately 25% of the grade but this is not primarily a programming course. CS110 is intended for students who do not expect to take additional computing courses. Students interested in further course work should instead start in CS170.
000MSC: W201MWF 10:40am - 11:30amPhil Hutto
CS 153: Computing for BioinformaticsCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: The course introduces tools of computer science that are relevant to bioinformatics, with a focus on fundamental problems with sequence data. Practical topics will include Perl programming, data management, and web services. We will give only the barest sketch of the underlying biology, with instead an emphasis on computational concepts.
Particulars: Grades will be based on regular technical assignments (including some programming), a midterm, and a final exam. A likely text is Tisdall's "Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics". The course satisfies requirement II.A of the GER. There is no prerequisite to this course.
000MSC: W304MWF 9:35am - 10:25amMichelangelo Grigni
CS 170: Introduction to Computer Science ICredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: This course is an introduction to computer science for the student who expects to make serious use of the computer in course work or research. Topics include: fundamental computing concepts, general programming principles, the Unix Operating System, the X-window system, and the Java programming language. Emphasis will be on algorithm development with examples highlighting topics in data structures.
Particulars: No previous programming experience is required for this course. Students expecting to take more advanced Computer Science courses should start here. The grade in this course will be based on programming assignments and examinations. Typically the programming assignments will count no more than 50%.
000MSC: W201TuTh 2:30pm - 3:45pmLi Xiong
001MSC: W303TuTh 2:30pm - 3:45pmShun Yan Cheung
L-BMSC: E308Tu 4:00pm - 5:00pmLi Xiong
L-DMSC: E308Th 4:00pm - 5:00pmShun Yan Cheung
CS 171: Introduction to Computer Science IICredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: A continuation of CS170. Emphasis is on the use and implementation of data structures, introductory algorithm analysis, and object oriented design and programming with Java. The course will also introduce the basics of procedural programming with C.
Prerequisites: CS170
000MSC: W303TuTh 10:00am - 11:15amEugene Agichtein
CS 253: Data Structures and AlgorithmsCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: This is an advanced course in computer science, studying ideas and algorithms for processing data in a computer. The course will involve studying such data structures as arrays, lists, trees, hash tables, and their applications in the construction of efficient algorithms. Searching and sorting algorithms will be also discussed.
Particulars: Grades will be based on several programming assignments, quizzes, homework, one or two hour-exams, and a final exam. The programming language used in this class is Java.
Prerequisites: CS 171 and CS 224 [CS 124].
000MSC: W304MWF 11:45am - 12:35pmMichelangelo Grigni
CS 355: Computer ArchitectureCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: This is the second course in computer organization and architecture. This course will involve studying the register transfer level of the control unit, micro-programming, pipelining, caching, interrupt handling, virtual memory (paging), and I/O programming. We will also look at SIMD, MIMD architectures, message passing multi-processors and dataflow machines.
Particulars: Students should have a thorough understanding of the SISD von-Neumann architecture. Grades will be based on quizzes, homework, one or two midterm exams, and a final exam.
Prerequisites: CS 255.
000MSC: W306TuTh 10:00am - 11:15amPhil Hutto
CS 424: Theory of ComputingCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: This course gives mathematical methods to classify the complexity of computational problems. Topics include regular languages, grammars, decidability, NP-completeness, and corresponding models of computation.
Prerequisites: CS 253 and CS 224 [CS 124].
000MSC: W304MWF 12:50pm - 1:40pmOjas Parekh
CS 451: Operating SystemsCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: The structure and organization of computer operating systems. Process, memory, and I/O management; device drivers, inter-machine communication, introduction to multiprocessor systems. An important portion of the course is a course long programming project that implements a simple operating system in stages. Each stage takes about three weeks, and is used as a basis for the next stage. (The scope and pace of the project is somewhat less than the related project in CS580)
Particulars: Grades will be based on the project and a final exam. Must be taken for a letter grade.
Prerequisites: CS 351.
000MSC: E408TuTh 2:30pm - 3:45pmKen Mandelberg
CS 457: Database SystemsCredits: 4− Description− Sections
Content: Database design and manipulation. The course first discusses file storage techniques that achieve physical and logical data independence. We then proceed to discuss techniques to model the reality with the entity-relation model and the relational model. The relational query language SQL is presented and used in several database projects. Database access using JDBC in Java will be presented. The first three normal forms in the relational database theory and the normalizational process will also be discussed in detail. Finally, we discuss transaction processing which include the ACID property, synchronization, locking and commit protocols.
Particulars: Grades will be based on homeworks, programming and database (SQL) projects, exams and a final exam.
Prerequisites: CS 171.
000MSC: W302TuTh 11:30am - 12:45pmLi Xiong