Course Syllabus

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COMS W1005 - Fall 2016

Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in MATLAB

General Course Information
Fall 2016, Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:10pm to 2:25pm, Room 486 CSB

Course Description
A general introduction to computer science and programming primarily for engineering students. Covers fundamental concepts of computer science, algorithmic problem-solving capabilities, and introductory MATLAB programming skills. Assumes no prior programming background.

Instructor:

Paul Blaer (pblaer@cs.columbia.edu)
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:00pm to 4:00pm, or by appointment
Location: 703 CEPSR

Teaching Assistants:

All TA office hours are held in the room 122 Mudd (the Computer Science Department TA Room).

TA contact information and office hours will be posted on Courseworks at the start of the semester.

Recommended Textbook

Duane Hanselman and Bruce Littlefield, Mastering MATLAB, Prentice Hall. ISBN: 9780136013303.

Grading
Your course grade will be based on 6 homework assignments with the lowest score dropped (50%), a midterm exam (20%) and a final exam (30%).

Course topics

  • Introduction to Computer Science
  • Introduction to MATLAB
  • Variables and Operators
  • Arrays and Array operations
  • Logical operators and Control Flow
  • Algorithms
  • Introduction Complexity
  • Scripts and Functions
  • Binary representations of numbers
  • Data types
  • Structures and Cell arrays
  • Reading and writing text files
  • Computer Organization
  • Object oriented programming
  • Graphical User Interfaces

Homework Policy
You will have approximately two weeks to complete each homework assignment. No late homework is accepted without permission from the instructor before the original deadline.

All homework must be done individually. Please review the Computer Science Department's policy on academic honesty.

Course Summary:

Date Details Due