Computer Science I

Several years ago our department revamped our introductory courses in a “Renaissance in Computing” initiative in which we redeveloped several different “flavors” of Computer Science I (one intended for Computer Science majors, one for Computer Engineering majors, one for non-CE engineering majors, one for humanities majors, etc.). The courses are intended to be equivalent in content but have a broader appeal to those in different disciplines. The intent was to provide multiple entry points into Computer Science. Once a student had a solid foundation, they could continue into Computer Science II and pick up a second programming language with little difficulty.

This basic idea informed how I structured this book. There is a separation of concepts and programming language syntax. The first part of this book uses pseudocode with a minimum of language-specific elements. Subsequent parts of the book recapitulate these concepts but in the context of a specific programming language. This allows for a “plug-in” style approach to Computer Science: the same book could theoretically be used for multiple courses or the book could be extended by adding another part for a new language with minimal effort.