CS2013-final-report

CSC 151: Functional problem solving, Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa USA
Henry M. Walker
walker@cs.grinnell.edu
http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~davisjan/csc/151/2012S/
Knowledge Areas that contain topics and learning outcomes covered in the course
Knowledge Area
Total Hours of Coverage
Software Development Fundamentals (SDF) 20
Programming Languages (PL) 13
Algorithms and Complexity (AL) 6
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) 4
Software Engineering (SE) 3
Graphics and Visualization (GV) 2
Brief description of the course’s format and place in the undergraduate curriculum
This course is the first in Grinnell's three-course, multi-paradigm introduction to computer science. As the first
regular course, it has no prerequisites. Many students are in their first or second year, exploring what the
discipline might involve. Other students (ranging from first-years to graduating seniors) take the course as part of
gaining a broad, liberal arts education; these students may be curious about computing, but they think their major
interests are elsewhere. (Note, however, that the course recruits a number of these students as majors or
concentrators.) Each class session meets in the lab. A class might begin with some remarks or class discussion,
but most classes involve students working collaboratively in pairs on problems and laboratory exercises.
Course description and goals
This course introduces the discipline of computer science by focusing on functional problem solving with media
computation as an integrating theme. In particular, the course explores
mechanisms for representing, making, and manipulating images. The course considers a variety of models of
images based on pixels, basic shapes, and objects that draw.
The major objectives for this course include:
• Understanding some fundamentals of computer science: algorithms, data structures, and abstraction.
• Experience with the practice of computer programming (design, documentation, development, testing,
and debugging) in a high-level language, Scheme.
• Learning problem solving from a functional programming perspective, including the use of recursion and
higher-order procedures.
• Sharpening general problem solving, teamwork, and study skills.
Course topics
1. Fundamentals of functional problem-solving using a high-level functional language
1. abstraction
2. modularity
3. recursion, including helper procedures
4. higher-order procedures
5. analyzing of algorithms
2. Language elements
1. symbols
2. data types
3. conditionals
4. procedures and parameters
5. local procedures
6. scope and binding
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