What is Computer Science

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What is Computer Science?

• Mr. Throndson
• Fall 2008

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It is NOT a Science

• It is part Engineering
• It is part Art Form
• It is similar to MAGIC!

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Declarative vs. Imperative Knowledge

• Declarative knowledge is what is knowledge
• What is a square root?

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Declarative vs. Imperative Knowledge

• Imperative knowledge is how to knowledge
• Imperative knowledge leads us to define a PROCESS
  to get a task done.

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One example ofHow to find a square root of x

• Guess a number g (less than x)
• Average g and x/g
• This average is your new guess
• Repeat steps 2 and 3 until your guess is good
  enough
• This is Herons method of successive averaging

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Processes

• These methods or processes are what we will be
  working on
• Non-programmers think of these as the magical
  spirit in the machine

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Procedures (Rules)

• We use procedures to control the process
• They are analogous to using spells to control the
  magical spirit
• The language we will use is Java

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Procedures (Rules)

• Learning the rules isnt really that hard
• Realizing the limitations and implications of the
  rules is hard
• Becoming a master of the rules is hard

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Real Programming Skills

• Useful programs most often need to be large
  programs
• How do we break down the task into smaller steps?
• How do we put the programming pieces together?
• This is software engineering

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1. Introduction to hardware, software and the
Internet

• Elements of a computer system.
• How information is represented in computer
  memory.
• A glimpse of binary and hex systems and ASCII /
  Unicode.

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2. Software development environment

• Getting familiar with the software development
  process.
• Compilers and interpreters.
• Running a Java program in a command-line
  environment.
• Using an IDE.
• Java classes and source files.
• A brief introduction to OOP.
• Lab Compile and run simple programs using
  command-line JDK tools or an IDE (Section 2.4).
• Lab Compile and run simple GUI applications and
  an applet (Section 2.6).

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3. A first look at objects and classes

• Classes and objects.
• Classes and source files.
• Case study First Steps (a prototype for the
  Dance Studio program).
• CRC cards.
• Library classes and packages.
• The import statement.
• Extending library classes.
• A first look at fields, constructors, and methods
  of a class.
• Inheritance.
• Lab Exploring objects Calling a Foot object
  methods
• Lab Finish the Walker class and write the
  WalkerTest class
• Lab Redefining methods in subclasses, Pacer
  class
• Lab Exploring objects add Walker and Pacer
  objects to the group

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4. Algorithms

• The concept of an algorithm.
• Pseudocode and flowcharts.
• Iterations.
• Recursion.
• Working with lists.
• Case study Euclids GCF Algorithm.
• Lab Print stars using iterations and recursion

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5. Java syntax and style

• Syntax and style in a programming language.
• Comments.
• Reserved words and programmer-defined names.
• Statements, braces, blocks, indentation.
• Syntax errors, run-time errors, logic errors.
• Lab Correcting syntax errors and a logic error
  as an adventure game

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6. Data types, variables, and arithmetic

• The concepts of a variable and a data type.
• Declarations of variables.
• Fields vs. local variables.
• The primitive data types int, double and char.
• Literal and symbolic constants.
• Initialization of variables.
• Scope of variables.
• Arithmetic expressions.
• Data types in arithmetic expressions.
• The cast operator.
• The compound assignment (, etc.) and increment
  and decrement operators (, --).
• Converting numbers and objects into strings.
• Lab Pie Chart
• Lab Rainbow