SIGCSE

We have developed an application-based approach to introductory courses in computer science. This approach follows an apprenticeship model of learning, where students begin by reading, studying, and extending programs written by experienced and expert ...

Programming is traditionally taught using a bottom-up approach, where details of syntax and implementation of data structures are the predominant concepts. The top-down approach proposed focuses instead on understanding the abstractions represented by ...

Object-oriented languages such as C++ allow class definitions which eliminate the need for writing special-purpose simulators in many cases. Simulating digital logic components and computer architectures is one case where the simulation model can be ...

Data abstraction—a concept introduced at varying places in the CS1/CS2/CS7 sequence—separates the properties of a data type (its values and operations) from the implementation of that type. This separation of specification from implementation is ...

Although many data communications courses are taught with no programming content, courses designed for computer science majors should include programming. Many data communications courses with a programming component make use of serial ports on PCs ...

A student internship in a suitable business or organization can augment, reinforce, and embellish material learned in the classroom. Computer Science student interns can experience such things as real-world development environments, projects which ...

The introductory computer science at Stanford University have a combined annual enrollment of over 1000 students. Teaching introductory programming to a population of this size requires significant instructional support to ensure that students receive ...

We describe a one-quarter seminar required of first-time teaching assistants in computer science. The seminar acclimates TAs to teaching undergraduates in the university, to departmental policies and to special problems and issues in teaching computer ...

Dynamic programming is one of important techniques in algorithm design. The permutation graph is a special type of graphs with theoretical significance and practical applications. Many graph problems such as the domination, and independent set problems ...

In this write-up, we describe series parallel graphs, a simple class of general graphs, and show how to compute their minimum spanning tree or shortest path. The problem is intended to be used as an assignment in an undergraduate course on Data ...

One of the basic principles taught in a data structures course is that an application program should be independent of the implementation of any particular data structure it uses. This policy breaks down when binary trees are introduced, because the ...

For the effective use of a laboratory for teaching parallel processing, it is desirable to have parallel systems that can implement various parallel structures at hardware or software level. Such systems developed in our laboratories are described in ...

In the context of our overall goal to bring the concepts of parallel computing into the undergraduate curriculum, we set out to find a parallel-programming language for student use. To make it accessible to students at all levels, and to be independent ...

XDP is a simplified interface to the DP distributed programming library. I describe its use in a course on workstation programming, a pragmatic course whose mission is to cover concurrent programming, graphical user interfaces and event driven ...

One of the more difficult portions of learning to program is memorizing and understanding the syntactic and semantic rules associated with a language. This paper discusses how to simplify this task as well as presents a case study of a simplified ...

This paper discusses the implementation and evolution over a five-year period of a breadth-first introductory computer science course which has both lectures and structured, closed laboratory sessions. This course significantly increased both the ...

This paper presents a new approach to computer science education by proposing a model curriculum that presents computer science fundamentals and software engineering concepts in the context of an application domain. This domain-centered model is ...

In teaching of Parallel Algorithms, emphasis is usually placed on algorithms that are based on parallel random access machine (PRAM) model, but those algorithms may or may not be efficiently implementable on real parallel machines. In this paper we ...

One objective in establishing our NSF ILI funded parallel computation laboratory was to use closed, formal laboratory assignments to introduce parallelism throughout the core computer science curriculum. We discuss laboratory assignments developed for ...