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This is the welcome page for Alternative Computer Science. |
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This is Alternative Computer Science, aka MS 059 SC. As the name suggests, the idea behind this class is to provide an alternative approach to learning Computer Science. We will proceed by making analog things (some of which compute in some way), identifying the information contained or generated by these things, and them translating them into Python code.
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Fifty years ago all computers were analog: they found answers by reading changes in a physical model to describe a problem. The course will introduce students to analog computation by solving problems best done with non-digital techniques. We will cover the history of traditional topics in computer science by showing how they emerged from analog computation. We will then map the analogs to algorithms and write code to reproduce the original solutions.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Course Number | MS 059 SC |
| Title | Alternative Computer Science |
| Faculty Member | Douglas Goodwin |
| Semester of First Offering | Fall, 2019 |
| Proposed Frequency | Yearly |
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| Intellectual rationale for the course | Most Computer Science courses jump into applications of symbolic manipulation without considering the history and development of these abstractions. This course is designed to introduce the student to computers, programming, and some of the key ideas on which the field of computer science is based. This introduction is completed in three parts: through readings, lectures, physical labs, and coding. |
| Where will this be placed in the College's general curriculum? | This class will help students majoring in Media Studies to meet major requirements for MS majors. It will serve as an elective in all other cases. |
| Where will this be placed in the department/program major? | This course meets introductory production requirements for the MS major. |
| Are there similar or substantially overlapping courses already offered in Claremont? If so, please describe the need for the proposed course and its relationship to other CC offerings? |
There are other Introductory Computer Science classes offered in the 5Cs. However this one studies the historical and conceptual backdrop of computation and students will see how analog computation was replaced by algorithms and then implemented in hardware and software. This class is offered to help satisfy the overwhelmingly high student demand for CS and MS classes. |
| Will this course fulfill one of the following? | No, the course will not fulfill a GE requirement |
| Does the library have adequate resources to support this new course? | All course materials will be availble online |
| Scripps Course Credit | 1.0 course |
| Grading | Letter Grade |
| Special Course Fee | NA |
| Prerequisite Course(s) | None |
| Is the course repeatable for credit? | No |
| Activity | Assessment | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Labs: Analog and Code | Submit documentation on Google Colab | 35 |
| Submit completed code assignments | Jupyter Lab notebooks | 35 |
| Code dictation | Read some code to your partner. Get it to run through discussion & without showing the solution. | 15 |
| Reading Summaries | Write a 1-3 paragraph summary of the reading | 15 |
The homework and exercise scaffolds are kept in a git repository. You may check these files out on your machine to work on them locally, or click on the [open in colab] button to complete the assignments online.