Computer Science
Over the past few years, we've noticed increasing interest among our advisees in taking Computer Science courses. As an A&S student, you are free to take classes offered by the other colleges (Engineering, Peabody, Blair). You can even choose to add on a major or minor offered by one of the other schools.
For full information regarding adding a second major or a minor in Computer Science, visit the CS department's website.
The following is a guide specifically for A&S students to the introductory computer science courses offered by VUSE.
Importance of Computing
Computer programming is required for numerous upper-level courses in A&S, recommended or required for certain majors and minor in A&S, a prerequisite for many research experiences (for immersion and beyond), and a foundational skill in many future careers and areas of post-graduate education. Computation is used in nearly every A&S discipline in some way, in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences.
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CS / DS 1100 Applied Programming and Problem Solving with Python. Foundations of computing using Python. Programming fundamentals. Designing, debugging, running programs. Scalar, vector, and matrix computations for scientific computing and data science. Numeric and text processing. Basic data visualization techniques. Intended for students other than computer science and computer engineering majors. FALL, SPRING. [3]
Who is it for? CS / DS 1100 is designed as a one-semester introductory programming course in Python for students interested in data science (and possibly completing the Data Science minor). Students in A&S should enroll in DS 1100 (rather than CS 1100) if they want this course to count towards A&S credit hours. CS / DS 1100 is not recommended for students who may want to major or minor in Computer Science.
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CS 1101. Programming and Problem Solving. An intensive introduction to algorithm development and problem solving on the computer. Structured problem definition, top down and modular algorithm design. Running, debugging, and testing programs. Program documentation. FALL, SPRING. [3]
Who is it for? This course is intended for first years and sophomores who plan to minor or double-major in Computer Science. It is also appropriate for juniors and seniors who would like to take one or two programming courses before graduation. Through this course, students will learn the Java language and complete many programming assignments throughout the semester. CS 1101 teaches the fundamentals of coding in Java and helps prepare students for CS 2201, which is a data structures class taught in C++. No prior computing experience is expected.
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CS 1103. Introductory Programming for Engineers and Scientists. Problem solving on the computer. Intended for students other than computer science and computer engineering majors. Methods for designing programs to solve engineering and science problems using MATLAB. Generic programming concepts. FALL, SPRING. [3]
Who is it for? This course is NOT for students interested in taking more than one computer science course, majoring or minoring in Computer Science, minoring in Data Science, or minoring in Scientific Computing. Students interested in computationally-oriented coursework, research, and immersion in A&S are encouraged to take CS / DS 1100 or CS 1101. This course is taught in MATLAB, which is a numerical computing environment and programming language, typically used for expressing solutions in mathematical notation. No prior computing experience is expected.
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