CISC105: General Computer Science is an introductory computer programming course
designed for the following groups of students:
- Mathematically-oriented non-CISC majors
- CISC or potential CISC minors/majors (also CPEG, ELEG, MATH) without significant
programming experience.
CISC105 assumes no prior programming knowledge. The following are good reasons
to take CISC105:
- You are a CISC major without significant prior computer programming experience which is prerequisite for CISC 181: Intro to Computer Science.
- You are thinking of becoming a CISC minor/major and need CISC105 and CISC181 before your Change of Minor/Major Request will be considered by the CISC Department.
- You want to learn about:
- Design and implementation of small to medium sized programs in C, including compilation, testing, debugging and execution of these programs.
- Principles of software engineering including naming conventions, program structure, and methodology.
- Familiarity with the Unix Operating System for a variety of purposes including the creation, editing, transfer and printing of files.
- Use of the “X” window-based user interface.
- Use of local network and Internet resources.
- Basic ideas of computer science including program and data structures, file management, computer hardware components, and algorithm development and analysis.
The following are bad
reasons to take CISC105:
- You could not get into CISC101. (Try ACCT160, FREC135.)
- You need a group D requirement, and want to learn about computers.
- You need a course that will not require much time outside of class.
CISC105 is not a course in word processing. CISC105 is
not a course that
teaches canned commercial software packages, such as EXCEL spreadsheets, ACCESS
databases, and POWERPOINT presentations. General computing concepts,
terminology, and popular office software is covered in CISC101: Computers and
Information Systems. CISC105 emphasizes programming. Programming can be a
challenging, sometimes difficult and time-consuming task.