CS2013-final-report

include appropriate elective material, an overall curriculum can and should achieve an
appropriate balance.
Further Considerations in Designing a Curriculum
As useful as the Body of Knowledge is, it is important to complement it with a thoughtful
understanding of cross-cutting themes in a curriculum, the “big ideas” of computer science. In
designing a curriculum, it is also valuable to identify curriculum-wide objectives, for which the
Principles and the Characteristics of Graduates chapters of this volume should prove useful.
In the last few years, two on-going trends have had deep effects on many curricula. First, the
continuing growth of computer science has led to many programs organizing their curricula to
allow for intradisciplinary specialization (using terms such as threads, tracks, and vectors).
Second, the importance of computing to almost every other field has increasingly led to the
creation of interdisciplinary programs (e.g., joint majors and double majors) and incorporating
interdisciplinary material into computer-science programs. We applaud both trends and believe
a flexible Body of Knowledge, including a flexible core, supports them. Conversely, such
specialization is not required: Many programs will continue to offer a broad yet thorough
coverage of computer science as a distinct and coherent discipline.
Organization of the Body of Knowledge
The CS2013 Body of Knowledge is presented as a set of Knowledge Areas (KAs), organized on
topical themes rather than by course boundaries. Each KA is further organized into a set of
Knowledge Units (KUs), which are summarized in a table at the head of each KA section. We
expect that the topics within the KAs will be organized into courses in different ways at different
institutions.
Curricular Hours
Continuing in the tradition of CC2001/CS2008, we define the unit of coverage in the Body of
Knowledge in terms of lecture hours, as being the sole unit that is understandable in (and
transferable to) cross-cultural contexts. An “hour” corresponds to the time required to present the
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