Computer Science Curricula 2013 Ironman Draft (Version 1.0) February 2013 The Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula Association for Computing Machinery IEEE-Computer Society CS2013 Steering Committee ACM Delegation IEEE-CS Delegation Mehran Sahami, Chair (Stanford University) Steve Roach, Chair (Univ. of Texas, El Paso) Andrea Danyluk (Williams College) Ernesto Cuadros-Vargas (Univ. Catolica San Pablo) Sally Fincher (University of Kent) Ronald Dodge (US Military Academy) Kathleen Fisher (Tufts University) Robert France (Colorado State University) Dan Grossman (University of Washington) Amruth Kumar (Ramapo Coll. of New Jersey) Beth Hawthorne (Union County College) Brian Robinson (ABB Corporation) Randy Katz (UC Berkeley) Remzi Seker (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.) Rich LeBlanc (Seattle University) Alfred Thompson (Microsoft, retired) Dave Reed (Creighton University) - 2 - Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 6 Overview of the CS2013 Process ............................................................................................... 7 Survey Input ................................................................................................................................ 8 High-level Themes ...................................................................................................................... 9 Knowledge Areas ...................................................................................................................... 10 Professional Practice ................................................................................................................. 11 Exemplars of Curricula and Courses ........................................................................................ 12 Timeline .................................................................................................................................... 12 Opportunities for Involvement .................................................................................................. 13 References ................................................................................................................................. 13 Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2: Principles ..................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 3: Characteristics of Graduates ....................................................................................... 20 Chapter 4: Introduction to the Body of Knowledge...................................................................... 24 Knowledge Areas are Not Necessarily Courses (and Important Examples Thereof) ............... 25 Core Tier-1, Core Tier-2, Elective: What These Terms Mean, What is Required ................... 26 Further Considerations in Designing a Curriculum .................................................................. 29 Organization of the Body of Knowledge .................................................................................. 29 Curricular Hours ....................................................................................................................... 29 - 3 - Courses ...................................................................................................................................... 30 Guidance on Learning Outcomes .............................................................................................. 30 Overview of New Knowledge Areas ........................................................................................ 31 Chapter 5: Introductory Courses ................................................................................................... 36 Design Dimensions ................................................................................................................... 36 Mapping to the Body of Knowledge ......................................................................................... 41 Chapter 6: Institutional Challenges ............................................................................................... 43 Localizing CS2013.................................................................................................................... 43 Actively Promoting Computer Science .................................................................................... 43 Broadening Participation .......................................................................................................... 44 Computer Science Across Campus ........................................................................................... 45 Computer Science Minors......................................................................................................... 45 Computing Resources ............................................................................................................... 46 Maintaining a Flexible and Healthy Faculty ............................................................................. 46 Teaching Faculty ....................................................................................................................... 47 Undergraduate Teaching Assistants .......................................................................................... 48 Online Education ...................................................................................................................... 48 References ................................................................................................................................. 49 Appendix A: The Body of Knowledge ......................................................................................... 50 Algorithms and Complexity (AL) ............................................................................................. 50 Architecture and Organization (AR) ......................................................................................... 57 Computational Science (CN) .................................................................................................... 63 Discrete Structures (DS) ........................................................................................................... 70 Graphics and Visualization (GV).............................................................................................. 76 - 4 - Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)......................................................................................... 83 Information Assurance and Security (IAS)............................................................................... 91 Information Management (IM) ............................................................................................... 106 Intelligent Systems (IS)........................................................................................................... 115 Networking and Communication (NC) ................................................................................... 125 Operating Systems (OS) ......................................................................................................... 130 Platform-Based Development (PBD) ..................................................................................... 137 Parallel and Distributed Computing (PD) ............................................................................... 140 Programming Languages (PL) ................................................................................................ 151 Software Development Fundamentals (SDF) ......................................................................... 162 Software Engineering (SE) ..................................................................................................... 167 Systems Fundamentals (SF) .................................................................................................... 181 Social Issues and Professional Practice (SP) .......................................................................... 188 Appendix B: Migrating to CS2013 ............................................................................................. 200 Core Comparison .................................................................................................................... 200 General Observations .............................................................................................................. 204 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 205 Appendix C: Course Exemplars.................................................................................................. 220 - 5 - 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 2 ACM and IEEE-Computer Society have a long history of sponsoring efforts to establish 3 international curricular guidelines for undergraduate programs in computing on roughly a ten- 4 year cycle, starting with the publication of Curriculum 68 [1] over 40 years ago. This volume is 5 the latest in this series of curricular guidelines. As the field of computing has grown and 6 diversified, so too have the curricular recommendations, and there are now curricular volumes 7 for Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, and Software 8 Engineering in addition to Computer Science [3]. These volumes are updated regularly with the 9 aim of