CS1JC3: Introduction to Computational Thinking

CS 1JC3: Introduction to Computational Thinking - Fall 2015

Outline

Announcements:

Tutorials start September 8th!!!!!!!!!!! Start here: (only works on campus).
We will start with some exercises in ELM which you can try at home.

Calendar Description

Inquiry into ideas and methods of computer science (CS), the science underlying our computational universe. Topics include what computers can and cannot do, the Internet and search engines, artificial i\ ntelligence, computer-controlled devices, and sustainability in computing.

Computers + Thinking = ?

...revolutionary impact on scientific research and discovery...

Learning to ride a bicycle for your mind.

Anti-Objective

This is not a course about learning to use specific software or programming languages. You will have to learn some aspects of the language ELM, but the topics have been chosen for their relevance to understanding universal principles in CS. Having said that, ELM is well thought out for this purpose, you will know enough to make 2D graphical games.

Course Objective

This is a course for people who want to know where Computer Science came from, how people do it, and how it is changing the world, No previous experience is required, but challenge problems are available if you do have experience.

Textbook

There is no textbook, but you are advised to get one or two of the book presentation books below. We will give first-choice on book topics to students who have one or more of the books.

Instructor

Christopher Anand. anandc (circled a) (name of university) (country), ETB 112. I will be available for at least half an hour after class in the Atrium (on the north/Tim Horton side of the building), and by appointment.

Lectures: MoWeTh 10:30AM - 11:20AM in MDCL/1309

Tutorials: BSB/244 or BSB/249, check your schedule on Mosaic.

Drop-In Centre: ETB 126, open as much as possible, hours to be announced.

TAs
grad TA, Curtis d'Alves, dalvescb (circled a) (name of university) (country))
(Tanya Bouman, boumante (circled a) (name of university) (country))
(see Avenue for contact info, including ETB drop-in centre schedule)
(see Avenue for contact info, including ETB drop-in centre schedule)
(see Avenue for contact info, including ETB drop-in centre schedule)
(see Avenue for contact info, including ETB drop-in centre schedule)
(see Avenue for contact info, including ETB drop-in centre schedule)

Schedule and Evaluation

24 - 4 midterms during class time BUT IN ROOM JHE 376 (Sept 24, Oct 8, Oct 29, Nov 19)

15 - 5 surprise lab short assignments (*)

14 - 2 drop-in centre assignments (*)

6 - group presentations in tutorial (based on one of the books, sign up for your book in the first tutorial)

6 - pair visualization (using ELM to make an animation related to a book topic or other topic approved by TA)

5 - pair picture/movie competition (open subject)

30 - final exam

? - bonus problems, if you have a lot of programming experience

Contact Curtis or Dr Anand if you get sick or have another conflict with any exam or assignment.

(*) It is easy for first-year students to get behind without realizing it. For this reason, all assignments will be marked on the spot and you will be asked to explain aspects of your answers to make sure you understand them. Full marks for on-time, correct answers, part-marks for late answers. We will also try to get the midterms back to you quickly.

Topics

We are trying to teach you the basics of computational thinking, trying to cover all of the most important ideas, and skipping as many details as possible. So, we jump into Divide and Conquer, a really simple idea for decomposing problems, and then learn enough programming to implement some examples. We also focus on state and changes of state, and find out that is a principle which allows us to organize our ideas into real software. We see the limits of computation in terms of information, and compare it with computation in our own brains. We guage the enormous impact of Computer Science on our world. And finally, you will demonstrate how you can put all of this together by creating a visualization and a fun animation.

Whatever your program of study, I hope you will see connections with problems you will face. But you are welcome to talk to me or Curtis during office hours about your reason for wanting to know about computer science, and we may be able to turn it into a new example we use in class.

Techniques

Divide and Conquer

Tower of Hanoi - our first language

Divide and Conquer for Data

Searching and sorting lists

Family Trees

Calculating Derivatives

Graphs

State Diagrams (To be or not to be in the basement)

Maps

Trees

Shortest Paths

Digitization

binary numbers

encoding information

images and sound

Chopping Things Up: Modelling the Natural World

weather

epidemics

A Game: How to structure a complete application:

state (also called model)

view (drawing on the screen)

update (handling timed and user-generated transitions)

Creating a Better World

Gamification

Big Data

Internet of Things

Smart Cities

Privacy and Security

Us and Them

How a computer works (architecture of a Central Processing Unit)

How a brain works

Translating an idea into a computer program

what is the problem?

design a solution

program it

compile it

Artificial Intelligence

Books!

CS is so deeply connected to the past and is shaping so much of the future, we will divide and hopefully conquer this material with group book reviews and class discussion.

Books

1) indigo

The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism
by Jeremy Rifkin
Palgrave Macmillan | April 1, 2014 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:368 Pages, 6.3 × 9.06 × 1.18 in
Published:April 1, 2014
Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1137278463
ISBN - 13: 9781137278463

2) indigo

Tubes
by Andrew Blum
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd | May 7, 2012 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:304 Pages, 6.3 × 9.45 × 0.79 in
Published:May 7, 2012
Publisher:HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1554689791
ISBN - 13: 9781554689798

3) indigo

The Naked Future: What Happens In A World That Anticipates Your Every Move?
by Patrick Tucker
Viking USA | March 11, 2014 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:288 Pages, 6.3 × 9.06 × 0.79 in
Published:March 11, 2014
Publisher:Viking USA
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1591845866
ISBN - 13: 9781591845867

4) indigo

Smart Cities
by Anthony M Townsend
WW Norton | October 7, 2014 | Trade Paperback
Format:Trade Paperback
Dimensions:400 Pages, 5.12 × 7.87 × 0.39 in
Published:October 7, 2014
Publisher:WW Norton
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0393349780
ISBN - 13: 9780393349788

5) indigo

Hacking The Future
by Cole Stryker
OVERLOOK PRESS | September 25, 2012 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:304 Pages, 5.12 × 7.87 × 0.79 in
Published:September 25, 2012
Publisher:OVERLOOK PRESS
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1590209745
ISBN - 13: 9781590209745

6) indigo

Enlightening Symbols: A Short History of Mathematical Notation and Its Hidden Powers
by Joseph Mazur
Princeton University Press | March 23, 2014 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:312 Pages, 5.91 × 8.66 × 0.79 in
Published:March 23, 2014
Publisher:Princeton University Press
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0691154635
ISBN - 13: 9780691154633

7) indigo

Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success
by Aaron Dignan
Free Press | March 8, 2011 | Kobo Edition (eBook)
Format:Kobo Edition (eBook)
Published:March 8, 2011
Publisher:Free Press
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1451611072
ISBN - 13: 9781451611076

8) indigo

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think
by Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | March 5, 2013 | Hardcover
Format:Hardcover
Dimensions:256 Pages, 5.91 × 8.66 × 0.79 in
Published:March 5, 2013
Publisher:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0544002695
ISBN - 13: 9780544002692

9) indigo

Automate This: How Algorithms Took Over Our Markets, Our Jobs, And The World
by Christopher Steiner
Portfolio Trade | August 27, 2013 | Trade Paperback
Format:Trade Paperback
Dimensions:256 Pages, 5.51 × 8.27 × 0.39 in
Published:August 27, 2013
Publisher:Portfolio Trade
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 1591846528
ISBN - 13: 9781591846529

10) indigo

The Overflowing Brain: Information Overload and the Limits of Working Memory
by Torkel Klingberg
Oxford University Press | June 20, 2014 | Kobo Edition (eBook)
Format:Kobo Edition (eBook)
Published:June 20, 2014
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0199888256
ISBN - 13: 9780199888252

11) indigo

Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less
by Guy Claxton
Ecco | January 1, 2000 | Trade Paperback
Format:Trade Paperback
Dimensions:272 Pages, 5.12 × 7.87 × 0.39 in
Published:January 1, 2000
Publisher:Ecco
Language:English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0060955414
ISBN - 13: 9780060955410

12) indigo

How To Create A Mind: The Secret Of Human Thought Revealed
by Ray Kurzweil
Penguin Books | August 27, 2013 | Trade Paperback
Dimensions: 352 Pages, 5.51 × 8.27 × 0.79 in
Published: August 27, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
The following ISBNs are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10: 0143124048
ISBN - 13: 9780143124047

ELM Resources

The focus of this course is on problem solving, not programming, but our experience is that it is very hard to know if you are doing things right unless you either have a personal tutor sitting beside you at all times, or actually write functions which you can test.

Web-based interactive examples.

Tutorials from Computing and Software Outreach.

ELM discussions.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

You are expected to exhibit honesty and use ethical behaviour in all aspects of the learning process. Academic credentials you earn are rooted in principles of honesty and academic integrity. Academic dishonesty is to knowingly act or fail to act in a way that results or could result in unearned academic credit or advantage. This behaviour can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript (notation reads: "Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty"), and/or suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. For information on the various types of academic dishonesty please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy, located at http://www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity.
The following illustrates only three forms of academic dishonesty: 1. Plagiarism, e.g. the submission of work that is not one's own or for which other credit has been obtained. 2. Improper collaboration in group work. 3. Copying or using unauthorized aids in tests and examinations.

If in doubt, ask the instructor how this applies to your work.

TURNITIN.COM

In this course we reserve the right to use a web-based service (Turnitin.com) to reveal plagiarism. Students will be expected to submit their work electronically to Turnitin.com and in hard copy so that it can be checked for academic dishonesty. Students who do not wish to submit their work to Turnitin.com must still submit a copy to the instructor. No penalty will be assigned to a student who does not submit work to Turnitin.com. All submitted work is subject to normal verification that standards of academic integrity have been upheld (e.g., on-line search, etc.). To see the Turnitin.com Policy, please go to www.mcmaster.ca/academicintegrity

Personal Information

In this course we will be using subversion, email and other on-line discussion fora. Students should be aware that, when they access the electronic components of this course, private information such as first and last names, user names for the McMaster e-mail accounts, and program affiliation may become apparent to all other students in the same course. The available information is dependent on the technology used. Continuation in this course will be deemed consent to this disclosure. If you have any questions or concerns about such disclosure please discuss this with the course instructor.

Possible Changes

The instructor and university reserve the right to modify elements of the course during the term. The university may change the dates and deadlines for any or all courses in extreme circumstances. If either type of modification becomes necessary, reasonable notice and communication with the students will be given with explanation and the opportunity to comment on changes. It is the responsibility of the student to check their McMaster email and course websites weekly during the term and to note any changes.xsxs

Downloads

Intro