Studying Comp Sci in CSE (notes)

Studying Comp Sci in CSE

(viewing version)

Studying Comp Sci in CSE

(or, why a CS Coop is the right choice for you)

John Shepherd

(Coordinator of Postgraduate Coursework Programs,
formerly Coordinator of Computer Science Program)

... Studying Comp Sci in CSE

Philosophy
Terminology
CS Study
Life in the Lab
Life outside the Lab
(or, at least, in some other lab)

Nerd Pride

Welcome to CSE@UNSW!

Home of some of the top IT nerds in the country ...

Nerd Pride

Welcome to CSE@UNSW!

Home of some of the top IT nerds in the country ...

Wait a minute!? ... Nerds?

Nerd Pride

Welcome to CSE@UNSW!

Home of some of the top IT nerds in the country ...

Wait a minute!? ... Nerds?
If they're all nerds ... does this mean ...?

Nerd Pride

Welcome to CSE@UNSW!

Home of some of the top IT nerds in the country ...

Wait a minute!? ... Nerds?
If they're all nerds ... does this mean ...?

Well, yes ... you should be proud to say

"I'm a Nerd".

... Nerd Pride

So what is a nerd?

A geeky guy with thick glasses, no life and a computer obsession?

E.g.

... Nerd Pride

So what is a nerd?

A geeky guy with thick glasses, no life and a computer obsession?

E.g.

In CSE, we say

"Nerd is Good"

So why does everyone else say

"Nerd is Bad"

... Nerd Pride

Because other people are jealous ...

that you know more about computers than them
that you can do fun stuff all day and get paid for it
that you have more chance to change the world than them

For example ...

A Famous Nerd

... A Famous Nerd

Doug Engelbart

Invented (during the 1960's and 1970's)
- the mouse
- 2-dimensional display editing
  (e.g. Notepad, vi, emacs, Word)
- windows-based interfaces
  (e.g. Mac, Windows, KDE, fvwm)
- hypermedia and collaborative groupware
- etc. etc. etc.

The Original Mouse

(photo circa 1963)

Another Famous Nerd

... Another Famous Nerd

Tim Berners-Lee

Invented the Web
- distributed hypertext
- linking heterogeneous documents
- a universal naming scheme (URL)
Founder of W3C
Now Professor at MIT

The Original "Web" Design

(from his proposal document, 1989)

Yet Another Famous Nerd

... Yet Another Famous Nerd

Marc Andreessen

Pioneer of Web Browsers
1992: Mosaic project at Uni of Illinois
1994: founded Mosaic Communications
1994: changed name to Netscape
1995: Netscape IPO Internet boom

A Pair of Famous Nerds

... A Pair of Famous Nerds

Larry Page

Sergey Brin

Co-founders of
1995: both started PhD at Stanford U
New ideas on Web searching
- use keywords like "normal" search engines
- augment document ranking by "credibility"
- credibility related to inbound links
1998: founded Google
2004: Google floated

And Yet Another Famous Nerd

And, of course, how could we forget ... ?

And Yet Another Famous Nerd

And, of course, how could we forget ... ?

... And Yet Another Famous Nerd

William H. Gates III

Chief Software Architect, Microsoft
World's richest man ($80b)
Contributions to Computing:
- Basic? ... (existed in mid-60's)
- MS-DOS? ... (from Tim Paterson)
- Windows? ... (from Apple)
- Explorer? ... (from Spyglass)
- the Internet? ... (hah! he wishes)

... And Yet Another Famous Nerd

And Microsoft's major "contribution" to computing ... ?

The Windows operating system ... which is ...

reasonably cheap (targetted at novices)
incredibly popular (via suspect corporate behaviour)
rather unreliable (poor software engineering)
the main reason why the general public thinks that computers are inherently unreliable

Thanks, Bill ... you've done the IT industry proud!

And a Cautionary Tale ...

To some extent, nerds love
what they're doing to the
point of obsession

Of course, there's such a
thing as becoming too
obsessed with something ...

For example ...

And a Cautionary Tale ...

To some extent, nerds love
what they're doing to the
point of obsession

Of course, there's such a
thing as becoming too
obsessed with something ...

For example ...

Terminology and Jargon

Information Technology

theory, practice and application of computer systems

Information Systems

application of IT to businesses/organisations
(how to apply packages)

Computer Science and Engineering

foundations and technological basis for IT
(how to build packages)

... Terminology and Jargon

Training

being taught specific skill-set for current products/packages
knowledge that dates quickly as technology changes
the kind of thing they do at TAFE and industry training-courses

Education

being taught foundations on which products/packages are based
knowledge that dates far less rapidly (foundations change slowly)
the kind of thing we do here at UNSW
afterwards, we expect that you can train yourself

However, not just theory ... we do illustrate ideas by specific technologies.

... Terminology and Jargon

Course

a single-semester (14-week) unit of study (aka "subject")

Program

a collection of courses that make up a comprehensive study of an area of knowledge

Degree

the piece of paper (qualification) that you get when you finish a program

CSE Courses

Foundations (1st year)

introduction to programming, mathematics

Core (2nd year)

algorithms, data structures, hardware, s/w engineering

Specialisations (3rd year)

artificial intelligence, cryptography, databases, graphics, ...
architectures, operating systems, compilers, networks, ...
advanced algorithms, theory of computation, ...

That's all very nice ...

but what's it like to study in CSE?

The F.F.D. of C O M P

Fun

... The F.F.D. of C O M P

Frustration

... The F.F.D. of C O M P

Discovery

What are COMP courses really about?

Most COMP courses have a number of goals:

for you to learn about some aspect of computer technology
for you to understand the principles behind the technology
for you to develop skills in using this technology
for you to further develop general problem-solving skills
for you to learn how to learn about new technologies

The last one of these is one of the most important things that you'll get from CSE.

What are our degrees really about?

Our overall goal is for ...

all of you to have a deep understanding of computing
all of you to be technically skilled
all of you to be potential information technology innovators
some of you to create the next generation of IT

But what languages/systems do we learn?

Languages and Systems

We use languages/systems appropriate for each topic e.g.

introductory programming: Haskell, C, Java
software construction: Perl, Unix shell, HTML
databases: SQL, Oracle/PostgreSQL, Java/JDBC, PHP
artificial intelligence: Prolog ....... networks: Java
operating systems: C, assembly language
graphics: Java, OpenGL

Typically, use state-of-art (or research) technology

... Languages and Systems

Languages and pre-requisite structure of CSE courses

How are courses run? What do we actually do?

At the "coal face"

Lectures

we present "theory" via lots of on-line examples
(watch, listen, learn)

Tutorials

clarify theory, practice abstract problem solving
(develop design skills)

Lab Classes

write a small program, with the tutor there to help you
(develop practical/implementation skills)

... At the "coal face"

Assignments

"write a program to do XYZ"
(you take home and solve in your own time on a computer)

Practical Exams

"write n small programs"
(you have 2-3 hours to get the programs working)

Written Exams

questions on a selection of topics
(typically a mixture of multi-choice, programming, written)

How to succeed in CSE Courses

Assessment in CSE courses is based primarily on ...

How to succeed in CSE Courses

Assessment in CSE courses is based primarily on ...

How well you can do things

Not just on how much you can remember.

So ...

... How to succeed in CSE Courses

Practice, practice, practice

Explore, think, create

... How to succeed in CSE Courses

Practice, practice, practice

Explore, think, create

... and install Linux on your PC ...