Computing Resources: It is assumed that students will have access to a computer and have the ability to install software. Some university labs provide the needed software to complete assignments, but in order to gain experience, it is preferable to use a personal system. If a student anticipates difficulty accessing a suitable environment, contact your instructor.
This course is required for all computer science students and serves as an opportunity for students to be introduced to Computer Science Department policies. Freshmen and transfer students are required to take the course in order to ensure that all CS students have exposure to certain essential tools and topics early on to enable their use in subsequent classes.
A | 93% and up |
A- | 90-92% |
B+ | 87-89% |
B | 83-86% |
B- | 80-82% |
C+ | 77-79% |
C | 70-76% |
D | 60-69% |
F | Below 60% |
Topics | Readings | |
Week 1 | Introduction; The CS Major at GMU; Honor Code/Plagiarism | Computer Science Illuminated (CSI)
Chapter 1 (pp 3-30) GMU Honor Code, CS Dept Honor Code |
Week 2 | Bits and Bytes; Binary/Octal/Hexadecimal Numbers | CSI Chapter 2 (pp 35-49) Leibniz - Binary Arithmetic |
Week 3 | ASCII and Unicode (UTF-8); Famous Software Failures | CSI Chapter 3 (pp 55-86) CSI 18.2 (pp 602-610) |
Week 4 | Boolean Logic; Gates and Circuits; Software Engineering Code of Ethics |
CSI Chapter 4 (pp 93-115) ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Code of Ethics |
Week 5 | Computer Architectures; Introduction to Problem Solving | CSI Chapter 5 (pp 121-148) CSI 7.1 (pp 197-204) |
Week 6 | Machine Code; More Problem Solving | CSI Chapter 6 (pp 153-191) |
Week 7 | Introduction to Unix; Midterm | CSI Chapter 10 (pp 337-361) Introduction to Unix: Sections 1-3 (pp 7-32) and Section 8.3 (pp 98-102) |
Week 8 | More Unix; Flow Charts | CSI Chapter 11 (pp 369-388), Introduction to Unix: Sections 4-6 (pp 33-58) |
Week 9 | Computer Networks; Introduction to Ethics | CSI Chapter 15 (pp 501-525) GMU Personal Web Pages |
Week 10 | World Wide Web and HTML; Ethical Theories | CSI Chapter 16 (pp 531-558) Ethical Theories Articles (Links on Blackboard under Course Content) |
Week 11 | Computer Security; More Ethical Theories | CSI Chapter 17 (pp 563-587) |
Week 12 | Social Implications of Computing | TBA |
Week 13 | More Social Implications | TBA |
Week 14 | More Social Implications; Course Review | TBA |
Final Exams | Section 001 - Monday, Dec 17, 7:30-10:15 AM Section 002 - Monday, Dec 17, 1:30-4:15 PM Section 003 - Thursday, Dec 13, 1:30-4:15 PM |