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Introduction To Computer Science - Ryan Stansifer

This document provides an introduction and overview of a computer science course. It discusses that the course will review Java, introduce classes and generics, and cover program analysis and data structures. It states the goals are to learn programming fundamentals and problem solving, as well as gain an introduction to non-programming computer science topics. An outline previews that the course will cover what computer science and computing are, the Java platform, program development, program style, and input/output.

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Aryan
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29 views

Introduction To Computer Science - Ryan Stansifer

This document provides an introduction and overview of a computer science course. It discusses that the course will review Java, introduce classes and generics, and cover program analysis and data structures. It states the goals are to learn programming fundamentals and problem solving, as well as gain an introduction to non-programming computer science topics. An outline previews that the course will cover what computer science and computing are, the Java platform, program development, program style, and input/output.

Uploaded by

Aryan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Computer Science

Introduction

Ryan Stansifer

Florida Institute of Technology


Melbourne, Florida USA 32901
http://www.cs.fit.edu/~ryan/

5 February 2024

Computer Science (Introduction) © 5 February 2024 1 / 138


Overview of Course

• Introduction and Context. What is CS?


• Java review. Data, control constructs, static methods
• Classes. Incorporation, instantiation, inheritance
• Generics. Code reuse
• Program analysis. Steps the program takes
• Data structures. Lists, stacks, queue

Computer Science (Introduction) Preface (Overview) © 5 February 2024 2 / 138


Course Goals

• Programming
• exciting to translate ideas into reality
• basics are simple, yet programming well is difficult; do not underestimate the
challenge
• programming is not just learning the constructs (but there are a lot of them)
• delivery high-quality programs on time; be able to express control flow and
design data in Java
• problem solving is hard and difficult to teach
• Computer Science
• Computer Science is not just programming
• It is easy to lose sight of the big picture, so we have a general introduction
• Other (non-programming) topics from time to time: architecture, Monte Carlo
methods, O(N), invariants, and so on

Computer Science (Introduction) Preface (Goals) © 5 February 2024 3 / 138


Outline of Introduction
There are couple of topics that put programming in context and that are helpful if
pointed out in advance before getting mired in the details.
• What is Computer Science? Areas of study: AI, OS, . . .
• What is a computer? Architecture, CPU, memory hierarchy
• Interface layers: hardware, operating system, application
• The Java platform
• JVM and a million other pieces
• Java history, pragmatics
• Translating high-level langauges
• Program development; debuggers and so on
• Program style. A program is a text file
• I/O, streams
The single most important skill in programming, computer science, and science in
general is abstraction. Yet I think that belaboring the idea may be too
philosophical at this time. If one is observant, one will see abstraction at work in
all the topics above.
Computer Science (Introduction) Preface (Goals) © 5 February 2024 4 / 138
What is Computer Science?

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 5 / 138


What is Computer Science?

computer science. The study of information, protocols and algorithms


for idealized and real automata.

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 6 / 138


What is Computer Science?

computer science. The study of information, protocols and algorithms


for idealized and real automata.
• automaton:

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 7 / 138


What is Computer Science?

computer science. The study of information, protocols and algorithms


for idealized and real automata.
• automaton: “self moving” – in our context, self “deciding” or autonomous
mechanism with bounded resources (time and space)

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 8 / 138


What is Computer Science?

computer science. The study of information, protocols and algorithms


for idealized and real automata.
• automaton: “self moving” – in our context, self “deciding” or autonomous
mechanism with bounded resources (time and space)
• information:

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 9 / 138


What is Computer Science?

computer science. The study of information, protocols and algorithms


for idealized and real automata.
• automaton: “self moving” – in our context, self “deciding” or autonomous
mechanism with bounded resources (time and space)
• information: knowledge represented in a form suitable for transmission,
manipulation, etc.

Computer Science (Introduction) What is CS? © 5 February 2024 10 / 138

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