Thinking, Speaking, and Writing in Computer Science

COSC 1172 Thinking, Speaking, and Writing in Computer Science Fall 2006

INSTRUCTOR: DR. LAWRENCE OSBORNE OFFICE: 201 MAES OFFICE HOURS: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. MTW, 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. TR, and by appointment.

Class Website: http://cs.lamar.edu/faculty/osborne/COSC1172/1172.htm.

TEXTBOOKS: Dennis Shasha and Cathy Lazere: Out of their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists, Springer-Verlag, 1998.

Cliff Stoll, The Cuckoo’s Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage, Simon & Schuster, 1990.

Martin Davis, The Universal Computer, The Road from Leibniz to Turing, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000.

GRADING: Attendance and Participation: 20 % Writing and Discussion Assignments: 40 % Presentation: 20 % Research Paper: 20 % A weighted average of your total points based on this grading scheme will determine your final grade. Generally, the grading scale is based on cluster points in the distribution of total points. There are no examinations in this class.

Essays and answers to discussion questions on assignments must be coherent, succinct, readable, and grammatically correct English prose. Part of the grading for such questions reflects this.

CO-REQUISITE: COSC 1336

The objective of the course is to give an introduction to the field of computer science. Students learn to express themselves and to think in terms of concepts basic to the field. Students work in a group of two to four students to make a presentation of about 30 minutes on a topic in computer science based on their own research. A paper of approximately ten pages written in a scholarly form with a bibliography is required to accompany the presentation. The class discusses and critiques material from a variety of books and papers in a manner that motivates thinking, speaking, and writing in computer science.

Outline of Topics

I. Procedures and Student Policies for the Computer Science Program at Lamar II. What is Computer Science? III. History of Computing IV. Writing Skills (1 lectures) V. Critiques of Professional Papers VI. Discussion of The Cuckoo’s Egg VII. Biographies of Great Computer Scientists VIII. How to Present a Paper in Computer Science (1 lecture) IX. Current Economic, Social and Ethical Issues in Computer Science X. Working in Teams XI. Presentations by Students

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Please notify the Professor during the first week of class regarding accommodations needed for the course. Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to be unavailable. Students needing accommodations must first have them approved through the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities, Wimberley Room 101A. The phone number for the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities is 409-880-8026.

Learning Outcomes: The student at the end of the course will be able to: ● to think critically about ideas in the computer science field ● to discover and investigate relevant information in order to gain knowledge and solve problems ● to analyze information and ideas using appropriate methods ● to generate his/her own ideas and express them effectively ● to deliver a point of view and develop it with awareness of alternatives

Plagiarism and Policy on Academic Integrity: All assignments except for the final project are to be done individually. Duplicate assignments will receive a negative grade with the same absolute numerical value that the program would have received had it been done by you alone. Those who allow others to copy from them will receive the same negative grade as those who do the copying.

It is considered an act of plagiarism if sources used for written assignments are not acknowledged within the written text. This means that sources must be cited within the text and collected in a bibliography at the end of the paper. Quotations must be located within quotation marks. Any instance of plagiarism will result in a negative grade the first time and a course grade of “F” the second time. Academic dishonesty is an egregious offense against the entire class and will not be tolerated.

Policies on cheating, plagiarism, incomplete grades, attendance, discrimination, sexual harassment, and student grievances are described in the Student Handbook and in the Departmental Honesty Policy ( on http://cs.lamar.edu). Students are responsible for all the information in these documents.

Late Assignments: Due dates for assignments will be enforced. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Waiting for the printer to print an assignment is not an acceptable reason for coming to class late with an assignment. Homework or projects submitted late will be penalized depending on the length of the delay and the difficulty level of the assignment. Assignments more than 1 day late will be penalized at least 50 %. No assignment will be accepted more than than 48 hours from the time at which the assignment was due.

If an assignment is missed, a makeup assignment will only be given in the case of a documented illness or death in the family. The fact that your car does not run, relatives have arrived, or that you wish to be with your girlfriend/boyfriend at the hospital are examples of excuses that will not be accepted. It is the responsibility of the student to find out what assignments have been missed after returning from an illness or other emergency. If you are sick, go to a doctor and ask the doctor to write a note for you stating that you should not attend class for the appropriate period of time.