Syllabus for Computers and Computing (COMP-102)

Computers and Computing (COMP-102)

Syllabus - Winter 2015

General Information

Location:	Trottier 0100
Times:	Monday and Wednesday, 14:35am-15:55am.
Instructor:	Professor Kaleem Siddiqi, School of Computer Science Email: siddiqi@cim.mcgill.ca Phone: 514-398-3371 Office: McConnell 420 Office hours: Tuesdays 14:30pm - 16:00pm or by appointment
Teaching assistants:	Swetha Rajagopal email: sriswetha.rajagopal@mail.mcgill.ca Office hours: Monday 10:00 am - 11:30 am AND Thursday 16:00 pm - 17:30 pm, TR 3110.
Class web page:	http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~siddiqi/102.html

Course Description

A course for students with no previous knowledge of computer science. The course is intended to provide a survey of selected topics in computer science starting from how computers store data (text, numbers, images, sound, etc.), to the inner workings of computers (hardware) and moving on to more advanced topics that involve computation including computability, complexity, AI, computer vision, graphics and robotics.

Prerequisite: The course is appropriate for both novice and experienced computer users. It is intended for any student with high-school-level math and science background who has a keen interest in learning how the science of computation is impacting the world in which we live.

Restrictions: Credit will not be given for COMP-102 if it is taken concurrently with, or after, any of COMP-202, COMP-203, COMP-208, or COMP-250. Management students cannot receive credit for COMP-102.

Course Outline

Introduction to Computer Science. A brief history of computing. (1 week)
How is information represented in a computer? Bits and bytes, boolean logic, arithmetic circuits, finite state machines. (2 weeks)
How do we tell computers what to do? Basic ideas in algorithms, scripting, sorting and searching. (2 weeks)
Computer systems. (2 weeks)
Data compression (text, sound, images, video) (1 week)
Computability and complexity. (1 week)
Special topics: Artificial intelligence, Computer Vision, Computer Graphics, Robotics (4 weeks)

Reference Materials

Required textbook: None.
Lecture notes: Available from the course web page as we go.
Additional Material: Additional helpful material, links and examples might be posted on the mycourses page.

Class Requirements

The class grade will be based on the following components:

Four individual assignments - 40%
In-class Midterm 1 - 30%
In-class Midterm 2 - 30%

The assignments will include some practical problems, some applications, some writing, and some basic programming.

Homework Policy

Assignments and projects should be submitted on the day when they are due. For work submitted late, 20% will be deducted from the grade for every late day.

All assignments and exams are to be carried out INDIVIDUALLY.

In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information). In particular, please visit the students rights and responsibilities website, and familiarize yourself with the 2-page quick reference on plagiarism.