copyright Jim Martin 2006 Emerging Scholars Computer Science Session Summer 2006 Dr. Jim Martin Rising Seniors Session

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Session Overview Week 1: What is computer science ? Algorithms and programs Week 2: The Internet Week 3: Internet security Broadband access

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Expectations Your respect to me and to classmates Your highest level of effort You will get a grade: Your participation (10%) Your conduct (10%) homework (3) (40%) quiz (2) (40%)

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Computer Science 101…….from wikipedia Despite its relatively short history as a formal academic discipline, computer science has made a number of fundamental contributions to science and society. These include: A formal definition of computation and computability, and proof that there are computationally unsolvable and intractable problems.computationcomputabilityunsolvableintractable The concept of a programming language, a tool for the precise expression of methodological information at various levels of abstraction.programming language Revolutionary technologies such as general-purpose computers, the Internet, digital signatures, electronic commerce, and search engines.computers Internetdigital signatureselectronic commercesearch engines The enabling of new types of scientific research, such as computational physics and computational chemistry.

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Computer Science 101 Algorithms are essential to the way computers process information, because a computer program is essentially an algorithm that tells the computer what specific steps to perform (in what specific order) in order to carry out a specified task, such as calculating employees’ paychecks or printing students’ report cards.computerscomputer program Thus, an algorithm can be considered to be any sequence of operations which can be performed by a computer. Typically, when an algorithm is associated with processing information, data is read from an input source or device, written to an output sink or device, and/or stored for further processing. Stored data is regarded as part of the internal state of the entity performing the algorithm. In practice, the state is stored in a data structure.data structure

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Computer Science 101 One of the simplest algorithms is to find the largest number in an (unsorted) list of numbers. The solution necessarily requires looking at every number in the list, but only once at each. From this follows a simple algorithm, which can be stated in English as:English Let us assume the first item is largest. Look at each of the remaining items in the list and make the following adjustment. a. If it is larger than the largest item we gathered so far, make a note of it. The latest noted item is the largest in the list when the process is complete.

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Algorithm #1 Here is a simple algorithm to determine if a given number n is even or odd. Input: the number n Output: prints a message indicating if n is even or odd Algorithm: 1. BEGIN 2. Read the value of n. 3. Divide n by 2 and store the remainder in rem. 4. If rem is 0, go to step Print "n is an odd number". 6. Go to step Print "n is an even number". 8. END

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Homework: Algorithm #2 Change the previous algorithm to determine if the number n is odd AND if the number is less than the number x. Input: the number n and the number x Output: prints one message that indicates if n is odd or even AND if n is less than x (or not less than x). Algorithm:

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Computer Science Careers College courses: math and basic sciences Other helpful skills: creativity, ability to solve problems, communications skills. What would you do: Create things (products, systems, validate conceptual ideas before the real thing is created) Job titles: software engineer, programmer, IT analyst Analyze things Job titles: analyst, architect, consultant Test things: software quality assurance Support/fix things: customer service Sell things: customer support engineer, sales support

copyright Jim Martin 2006 Computer Science Careers Software Engineer was voted the best job by Money magazine (2006): Based on salary, stress level, and future outlook. Why it's great Software engineers are needed in virtually every part of the economy, making this one of the fastest-growing job titles in the U.S. Even so, it's not for everybody. Designing, developing and testing computer programs requires some pretty advanced math skills and creative problem-solving ability. If you've got them, though, you can work and live where you want: Telecommuting is quickly becoming widespread. 5 of the 10 hottest jobs between now and 2014 involve computer science: