A foundation course in computer science

The discipline of computer science has matured to the extent that now it has become necessary to define a foundation course primarily designed for majors in computer science. Such a course will include an introduction to the basic areas to which these students are later on exposed at their junior and senior years. In particular, the syllabus may consist of five core areas: problem solving including algorithm design, development and testing; data structures including representation and implementation of arrays, stacks, queues, trees, lists and files; computer systems including traditional hardware and software concepts; program design and development including modern programming methodology, debugging and documentation; and finally the syntax and semantics of one or two programming languages. The duration of the course will be one full academic year for a total of 12 quarter or 8 semester credits of work. The course will assume an entry level equivalent to college algebra, computer literacy and collegiate maturity measured by completion of a total of about 32 quarter or an equivalent amount of semester credits of college level work.