CSCE 190: Computing in the Modern World (Fall 2015)

Bulletin Description: An introduction to the field of computing; trends in computing technology, the profession, and careers; subdisciplines in computing; the nature of research and development.

Corequisites: CSCE 145, 204, 205, 206, or equivalent

Meeting time and venue: Tuesday 1800-1850 in Amoco Hall (1C01)

Instructor: Marco Valtorta
Office: Swearingen 3A55, 777-4641
E-mail: mgv@cse.sc.edu
Office Hours: MWF 11-noon, or by previous appointment.

Syllabus

Grading Policy

Reference Materials:

• There is no required textbook for this course.
• This course will be taught with materials provided to you during the semester. In addition, there are a number of books and papers that are worth reading about computing, its past, and its future. Some will be described or linked to this website.

Current Departmental Syllabus

Objectives

Outcomes

• An understanding of the big picture of computing
• Knowledge of milestone events in the history of computing and what the future of computing may look like
• Knowledge of some advanced directions in computing research
• A familiarity with career trends in computing

Notes

1. Slides on jobs and academic subdisciplines within computing used on 2015-08-25
2. Slides by Dr. Jason Bakos on the Infrastructure of Computing used on 2015-09-01
3. Slides used by Ms. Helen Powers of the USC Career Center (CEC Satellite Office) on 2015-09-08
4. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL)---Overview with Emphasis on Scientific Computing" Slides used by Dr. Mary K. Harris, Chief Information Office or Savannah River National Laboratory on 2015-09-22.
5. Computing from an Electric and Gas Utility Perspective, presentation used by Mr. Chris Pierson of SCANA Corp. on 2015-11-03.
6. Notes on the IBM Watson Computer System, used on 2015-11-17
7. Programming Language Paradigms, slides used on 15-11-24.
8. Computing Curricula at USC; slide 15 used on 2014-08-26.
9. The Value of Experiential Learning, slides used by Ms. Jennifer Whetstone-Jackson of the USC Career Center (CEC Satellite Office) on 2014-09-02.
10. Computer Science Career Prospects, poster used by Prof. Manton Matthews on 2014-09-02.
11. Data Science in Industry, presentation by Dr. Denise Gosnell of pokitdok on 2015-10-13.
12. Life as a Web Developer, slides used by Mr. Richard Baldwin of cyberwoven.com on 15-10-20.
13. Trends in Software Engineering slides used by Dr. Gregory Gay 15-10-27.
14. Computing from an Electric and Gas Utility Perspective, presentation used by Mr. Chris Pierson of SCANA Corp. on 2014-09-09.
15. Unsafe for any Ballot Count: South Carolina's voting machines and their analysis, slides used by Prof. Duncan Buell on 2014-09-16.
16. Life as a Web Developer, slides used by Mr. Richard Baldwin of cyberwoven.com on 14-09-23.
17. High Perfomance Computing and Research Infrastructure at the University of South Carolina, slides used by Mr. Paul Sagona and Mr. Ben Torkien of the University of South Carolina on 14-09-30.
18. Computing Careers in the real world, or, "I have my degree, now what?", slides used by Dr. Jerrold Heyman of EMC on 14-10-14.
19. Robotics: Enabling Autonomy in Challenging Environments, slides used by Dr. Ioannis Rekleitis on 14-10-21.
20. SRNL Scientific Computing---Where Have We Been and Where We Are Going!" Slides used by Dr. Mary K. Harris, Chief Information Office or Savannah River National Laboratory on 2014-11-11.
21. Programming Language Paradigms, slides used on 14-11-25.
22. Professor Judea Pearl, 2011 ACM A.M.Turing Award Winner, slides used on 14-12-02.

Homework and Projects

1. (HW1, due Tuesday, September 8, 2015) Write an essay about definitions of Computer Science. Search for several of them. Choose at least three of them. Write a 3-page essay, double-spaced, in 12-point font, in which you describe the definitions you chose, compare them, and conclude with an argument for one of the three definitions and, if you like, your own improvements to that definition. References must be listed after the conclusion and cited in the main text. Quote appropriately. Do not plagiarize!
2. (HW2, due Tuesday, October 6, 2015) Choose a company where you would like to apply for a position. Write:
   1. A one-page overview of the company
   2. A one-page overview of the position that you would apply for
   3. A one-page resume geared towards that position
   4. A half-page essay on what you need to learn or do to be competitive for the position
   5. Attend the SET Career Fair on Tuesday, September 22, and write a half-page essay describing your experience
   6. Register on Jobmate at the USC Career Center. Write a statement that you registered on the first page of your homework submission document.
   In total, your document should be four pages long.
   If you cannot attend the career fair because of a class conflict, you must:
   1. Do all parts of the assignment except for part (5)
   2. Attach a copy of your weekly class schedule for the week of September 21; this should show that you could not reasonably attend the SET Career Fair
   3. Do one of the following:
      1. Write a half-page essay describing your experience at another career fair
      2. Attend an activity sponsored by the career center, such as a resume-writing workshop, and write a half-page essay about it
      3. Attend an activity sponsored by a professional society in computing and write a half-page essay about it.

Lecture Log

The USC Blackboard has a site for this course.

Some Useful Links

1. In this class, we write dates according to ISO Standard 8601.
2. Tutoring Schedule for Fall 2015.
3. Association for Computing Machinery Student Group at USC
4. Carolina Gamers Club
5. Women in Computing (WiC) Group at USC facebook page
6. Society of Women Engineers at USC
7. National Center for Women and Information Technology
8. ACM-W
9. Prof. O'Kane's advisement page with many useful links
10. AP/IB Credit Table for the University of South Carolina
11. John Backus's Obituary from the New York Times, 2007-03-20.
12. An Interview with Maurice Wilkes, by David P. Anderson. Communications of the ACM, 52, 9 (September 2009), local copy. Maurice Wilkes, the designer and builder of the early stored-program computer EDSAC, passed away on Nov. 29, 2010, at age 97.
13. Obituary of Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, from the New York Times (February 7, 2011) (local copy).
14. John McCarthy's Obituary from the _New York Times_, 2011-10-25 (local copy).
15. Dennis Ritchie's Obituary from the _New York Times_, 2011-10-13 (local copy).
16. ACM Citation Style and Reference Format.
17. IEEE Citation Style Guide
18. Alan Turing's ``Computing Machinery and Intelligence,'' Mind, 49 (1950), pp.433-460 , in HTML format.
19. Amnon H. Eden. "Three Paradigms of Computer Science." Minds and Machines Special issue on the Philosophy of Computer Science, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Jul. 2007), pp. 135-167. London: Springer. DOI 10.1007/s11023-007-9060-8. ( Local copy)
20. Career-related links
    1. Career Center at CEC
    2. SET Career Fair, including a list of employees.
    3. Career Center at USC (main site)
    4. Resume Tim Sheet from USC Career Center
    5. ACM Career and Job Center
    6. ACM CareerNews
    7. ACM Computing Degrees and Careers Guide
21. The Gamecock Toastmasters Club web site. The club mission is to help students and other members of the USC community develop communication skills.
22. The IT-oLogy web site.
23. What is the Internet? A funny video from a 1994 NBC Today Show Episode.
24. Research Methodology Links
    1. Thomas Dietterich. "Editorial: Exploratory Research in Machine Learning." Machine Learning 5, 5-9, 1990 (local copy).
    2. Thomas G. Dietterich, Pedro Domingos, Lise Getoor, Stephen Muggleton, and Prasad Talelpalli. "Structured Machine Learning: the Next ten Years." Marchine Learning 73, 3-23, 2008 (local copy).
    3. Stephen Muggleton, Luc De Raedt, David Poole, Ivan Bratko, Peter Flach, Katsumi Inoue, and Ashwin Srinivasan. "ILP Turns 20: Biography and Future Challenges." Machine Learning 86, 3-23, 2012 (local copy).