CS 197 Freshman Honors Seminar

Computer Science: The Canon

Meets Wednesday, 4:30-5:20 pm in REC 315


Tony Hosking

Email: hosking@cs.purdue.edu
Office: CS 228
Office Hours: by appointment

Course Description

This will be a great works lecture-and-discussion course, focusing on readings drawn from the historical core of computer science. Authors may include Türing, Von Neumann, Gödel, Lovelace, Babbage, Boole, Leibniz, and Shannon; we will also look at more recent works by Karp, Wiener, Brooks, Papert, and Feynman, among others. These readings will be wide-ranging, and a high level of academic curiosity and mathematical fearlessness will be assumed. Students will also have the chance to suggest their own candidates for "classic" status. You should think of this course as an opportunity to encounter, think about, and discuss the ideas that have collectively formed the tradition in your chosen field of study.


Readings: password required