Computer Science Curricula Computer Science Major Computer Systems Concentration (CSC) Software Engineering Concentration (SEC) –New for Fall 2005

Computer Science Curricula 128 Credit Hours 8 Semester at 16 hours per Semester Accredited by ABET – CAC Top Ranked CS Department in the Chicago Area

Computer Science Curricula CS Major CSCSEC Humanities 36 hours Math 22 hours Sciences 12 hours Required CS 38 hours 34 hours 44 hours Elective CS 15 hours 18 hours 9 hours Free Electives 5 hours 6 hours 5 hours Total 128 hours

CS Humanities Requirements Engl English Composition I (3 hrs) Engl English Composition II (3 hrs) 6 hours of Humanities Electives 6 hours of Social Science Electives 18 hours of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts Electives Cultural Diversity Requirement

CS Science Requirements CS Major & SEC Two course lab science sequence in Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Earth & Environmental Sci. Another course to complete 12 credit hours CSO General Physics I General Physics II Circuit Analysis

Required CS Courses – CS Core Computing & Programming – 6 hrs Data Structures and Discrete Math – 7 hrs Computer Architecture – 8 hrs Languages and Automata – 3 hrs Operating Systems – 4 hrs Computer Ethics – 2 hrs Oral Presentations – 1 hr

CS Technical Electives 24 Different Courses AI, Vision, Natural Language Processing, User Interface Design, Multimedia/Gaming, Software Engineering, Distributed Object Programming, Networking, Architecture, System Design, Compilers, Object-Oriented Languages, Programming Language Design, Database, Networked Operating Systems, Graphics, Symbolic Computation, Numerical Analysis, Computational Geometry, Non-Linear Programming, Codes and Cryptography Undergraduate Design/Research

CS First Semester CS 101 – Intro to Computing (3 hrs) MATH 180 – Calculus I (5 hrs) Humanities/Social Sciences/Arts elective (3 hrs) ENGL 160 – Composition I (3 hrs) ENGR 100 – Engineering Orientation (1 hr) Total: 15 hrs

CS Advising Every student is assigned a faculty member as an advisor –Students must see their advisor every semester –Currently 10 students or less per advisor Students are welcome at the Student Affairs Office – 905 SEO Students are welcome at the Director of Undergraduate Studies Office – 919 SEO

CS Transfer Credit AP CS Exam – Up to 10 credit hours In House Placement Exam for CS 101 Tests knowledge in variables, if statements, loops, arrays and function calls College Transfers

Pending Curriculum Items Information Technology Concentration –IT Minor currently approved at Univeristy Committee level –New Area to be accredited by ABET-CAC Computer Security Technical Elective

Questions? For more information contact: Pat Troy at or CS Student Office at 905 SEO

Media Computation Media: Images, Sounds and Movies Focus: Learning programming and CS concepts within the context of media manipulation and creation –Converting images to grayscale and negatives, splicing and reversing sounds, writing programs to generate HTML, creating movies out of Web- accessed content. –Computing for communications, not calculation

Computer Science Challenge We’re losing students, at an increasing rate. –Women and minority percentage of enrollment dropping –High failure rates in CS1 (35-50% or more) –Fewer applications into CS “All programming jobs going overseas” –Research results: “Tedious,” “boring,” “lacking creativity,” “asocial” All of this at a time when we recognize the critical role of IT in our economy, in all jobs

Computer Science is more important than Calculus? In 1961, Alan Perlis argued that computer science is more important in a liberal education than calculus –Explicitly, he argued that all students should learn to program. Calculus is about rates, and that’s important to many. Computer science is about process, which is important to everyone

Strategy Everyone needs computing, and we should be able to teach computing that everyone cares about. Make computing relevant and accessible to students. Motivate and engage students.

Does this motivate and engage students?

Basic Computer Science Ideas Selection (if statements) Iteration (loop statements) Functions Encoding Information

def negative(picture): for px in getPixels(picture): red=getRed(px) green=getGreen(px) blue=getBlue(px) negColor=makeColor(255-red,255-green,255-blue) setColor(px,negColor) def clearRed(picture): for pixel in getPixels(picture): setRed(pixel,0) def greyscale(picture): for p in getPixels(picture): redness=getRed(p) greenness=getGreen(p) blueness=getBlue(p) luminance=(redness+blueness+greenness)/3 setColor(p, makeColor(luminance,luminance,luminance))

Background Subtraction Code Have a background of a known color –Some color that won’t be on the person you want to mask out –Pure green or pure blue is most often used –Using a blue bedsheet This is how the weather people seem to be in front of a map—they’re actually in front of a blue sheet.

Chromakey Coding def chromakey(source,bg): # source should have something in front of blue, bg is the # new background for p in getPixels(source): # Definition of blue: # If the redness + greenness < blueness if (getRed(p) + getGreen(p) < getBlue(p)): # Then, grab the color at the same spot from the new # background setColor(p,getColor(getPixel(bg,getX(p),getY(p))))

Chromakey Results

Creating a Sun Set

Creating Sepia-toned Prints

Posterizing and Image

Data-first Computing Real users start with data that they care about, then they (unwillingly) learn to use the computer to manipulate their data as desired. Media Computation works like that. Students use media they care about.

One Student’s Response Is the course: –Relevant? –Creative?

One Students Reponce Is the course: –Relevant? “I dreaded CS, but ALL of the topics thus far have been applicable to my future career (& personal) plans—there isn't anything I don't like about this class!!!” –Creative?

One Student’s Response Is the course: –Relevant? –Creative? “I just wish I had more time to play around with that and make neat effects. But JES will be on my computer forever, so… that’s the nice thing about this class is that you could go as deep into the homework as you wanted. So, I’d turn it in and then me and my roommate would do more after to see what we could do with it.”

Are Students Motivated and Engaged? Georgia Tech Survey responses (Sp03) suggest that students responded well to the context of media manipulation and creation. Q. What do you like best about this course? Course Don't like it/Nothing EnjoyContent Content is Useful Trad. CS1 18.2%12.1%0.0% Media Comp 0.0%21.3%12.4%

Media Computation at UIC Currently using Media Computation in CS 100 and CS 101 CS 100: Non-CS Majors CS 101: CS Majors