CS2013-final-report

COS 126: General Computer Science, Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne
rs@cs.princeton.edu, wayne@cs.princeton.edu
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spring12/cos226/info.php
http://algs4.cs.princeton.edu
Knowledge Areas that contain topics and learning outcomes covered in the course
Knowledge Area
Total Hours of Coverage
Software Development Fundamentals (SDF) 11
Algorithms and Complexity (AL) 11
Architecture and Organization (AR) 5
Programming Languages (PL) 4
Computational Science (CN) 1
Social Issues and Professional Practice (SP) 1
Intelligent Systems (IS) 1
Where does the course fit in your curriculum
This course is an introduction to computer science, intended for all first-year students. It is intended to be
analogous to commonly accepted introductory courses in mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. It is not
just a “first course for CS majors” but also an introduction to the field that is taken by over 60% of all Princeton
students.
What is covered in the course
We take an interdisciplinary approach to the traditional CS1 curriculum, where we teach students to program while
highlighting the role of computing in other disciplines, then take them through fundamental precepts of the field of
computer science. This approach emphasizes for students the essential idea that mathematics, science, engineering,
and computing are intertwined in the modern world, while at the same time preparing students to use computers
effectively for applications in computer science, physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and other disciplines.
Instructors teaching students who have successfully completed this course can expect that they have the
knowledge and experience necessary to enable them to adapt to new computational environments and to
effectively exploit computers in diverse applications. At the same time, students who choose to major in computer
science get a broad background that prepares them for detailed studies in the field.
Roughly, the first half of the course is about learning to program in a modern programming model, with
applications. The second half of the course is a broad introduction to the field of computer science.
• Introduction to programming in Java. Elementary data types, control flow, conditionals and loops, and
arrays.
• Input and output.
• Functions and libraries.
• Analysis of algorithms, with an emphasis on using the scientific method to validate hypotheses about
algorithm performance.
• Machine organization, instruction set architecture, machine language programming.
• Data types, APIs, encapsulation.
• Linked data structures, resizing arrays, and implementations of container types such as stacks and queues.
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