Session 1

An Introduction to an Introduction to Computing

810:061
Computer Science I: Media Computation

Computer Science Camouflage

... give talk from Camouflage conference. Stress computing side, with some discussion of camouflage ideas for context. [Link to slides to follow soon.]

Welcome to the Course

Welcome to 810:061, formally titled "Computer Science I". I will usually just call it "CS I" or "061". Another name for the course might be "Media Computation", for reasons that will be obvious by the time you leave today, if not already.

This is a great time to study computer science. ...

I hope that this course is a lot of fun for you, helps you to see just why CS is such a cool discipline, and prepares you well for the rest of your computer science studies. You should find the course challenging -- but I also hope that you find it fascinating.

Details of the Course

I am Eugene Wallingford, and I'll be your instructor for CS I. (Everyone say, "Eugene"!) I've been at UNI for fourteen years and am currently serving as head of the department.

I have passed out a short "vital statistics" page (page 1 of the syllabus) containing basic contact information for me and the course. It lists the URL of the course web page, which includes pointers to a full syllabus and links to all our class activities, including notes on session notes, programming assignments, and code. Use this sheet to set a bookmark to the course web page in your favorite web browser. You never know when a strong urge to compute will strike you!

Study the syllabus carefully. It lists the policies by which we will run this course. You will need to know these policies and when they apply.

• You can contact me via my web page, via e-mail, and during my office hours.

• We have a course mailing list, through which we can discuss course topics, ask and answer questions, and so on. The e-mail address of this list is 810-061-04@uni.edu. By default, you are subscribed to this listserv from your uni.edu e-mail address. If you intend to send mail from some other address regularly, you will want to subscribe from that other address. Let me know.

• Our textbook introduces you to computer science through a common theme: media computation. One of the great contributions of CS to the modern world is the rich new media that it affords, from movies to music to the web. This text will teach you a bit about how computers make all these media go. Read it and ask questions. Our course sessions will occasionally go deeper than the text, in which I will supplement your reading with notes and handouts.

• This course may seem tough at times. Learning to program a computer is like learning to speak any new language; it takes time, patience, and practice, practice, practice. I assign challenging exercises and set a high standard for achievement. But I think that you will find that your effort is adequately reflected in your grade -- but, even more important, in your learning.

• Late work is not accepted for grading.

• I encourage collaboration on homework but also take very seriously the issue of academic honesty. You may share ideas with anyone in the course. But be careful about sharing your code outside the bounds of the course. You may work with a partner on the compiler project. Under no circumstances should you submit code that you and your partner did not write without prior approval.

Be sure to review the last item in the syllabus, which gives a tentative schedule of our activities for the semester, including reading assignments and exam dates. Some points that you should pay special attention to include:

• We have two midterm exams and a comprehensive final. Combined, they account for 50% of your grade.
• We will have a week in October where you will probably be free to work on a project.

Now, back to the course...

What is Computer Science

What did my talk on camouflage have to do with CS?

• media computation
• effect of CS in the world
• representing data
• manipulating data

Computer science is about processes, and building models of processes. But these models aren't dead -- they are alive, because we can "execute" them.

We do three different kinds of thinking in CS:

• language and method to design models
• theory to analyze models, reason about them
• experiment to understand the models -- and the world -- better

Design is about trade-offs. Example: colors as RGB or HSV. What are the effects of different choices? What does each allow, make harder?

Programs ... programming language

Dr. Java will be our tool of choice. It is an "IDE" -- and integrated development environment. We will use Dr. Java to create programs and to execute them. We will use one tool to do both. There are other ways to create programs, and other ways to execute them.

Java is but one of many, many languages for expressing programs. Can you name another?

These days, everyone uses computer-based tools. We in CS make tools to help us and others do our jobs better. To do this, we find ways to represent and manipulate data.

The reason is to understand the universe better, both the abstract nature of computation and the nature of the things we model. The reason is to solve problems, make the world better. When we are struggling with a tough idea or challenging program, it is good to remember the effect of what we do on the world. Media computation as a theme will help.

That is why we are here. Let's get busy.