CSSE Seminar Series (CSSESS)
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Seminar
CS1001.py: a topic-based introduction to computer science
Speaker
Benny Chor
Institute
Tel Aviv University
Time & Place
3pm, Fri., 22 Mar., in 031, Erskine Building
All are welcome
Abstract
We describe the curriculum, initial experience, and preliminary evaluation of an introductory CS course for students taking CS as their single or double major. The course is taught during the first or second semester of the first year of studies. It is centered around eleven to thirteen topics, offering a wide cover of major CS subjects. Many of these topics are not covered in "traditional" introductory CS courses, and some of them are not even covered through the standard undergraduate curricula. Examples: digital image representation and processing, error correction and detection codes, hashing (including Cuckoo hashing), and text compression.
The programming language used in the course is Python. The students are exposed to all standard programming language constructs (commands, assignments, functions, conditionals, iterations, recursion, etc.) and basic data types (e.g. integers, floating-point numbers, lists, dictionaries, and sets), as well as less basic constructs, like higher order functions, lambda expressions, classes and methods, and iterators.
We have set a dual learning outcome: the students are expected to acquire a good knowledge and proficiency of programming and understanding short programs. We also expect them to get a broad view of central subjects in Computer Science.
Biography
Benny Chor received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in mathematics at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science at MIT, in 1980,
1981, and 1985, respectively. His Ph.D. thesis, titled "two issues in public
key cryptography", completed under the supervision of Professor Ron Rivest,
was selected for an ACM distinguished dissertation award.
In 1985-1987 he was post-doctoral fellow at MIT and at Harvard University.
He was a faculty member with the Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion
during the years 1987-2001. From 2001, he is a faculty member with the
School of Computer Science at Tel-Aviv University.
Benny Chor has supervised 7 Ph.D. students and 20 M.Sc. students.
His research interests spanned cryptography, distributed computing,
computational biology, and Computer Science and Mathematics education.
In 2012 he served as the program chair of the RECOMB (Research in
Computational Molecular Biology) conference.
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