Link to major requirements

Undergrade CS Major Site

Comparison to and Differences from ACM Core

• Many course descriptions appear to go beyond ACM requirements, but coverage isn't clear.
• 7 significant courses plus a set of language courses (up to 3 language courses).
  • Equivalent to 8 3-hr courses for 10 week terms. I.e. <240 hours of content contact time. Short of ACM recommendations (279-308).
• No major departures, but core appears to be more focused on theory/algorithms than ACM curriculum.
• There are several areas that are not clearly addressed by course descriptions:
  • Parallel & Distributed (PD)
  • Social Issues and Professional Practice (SP)
  • Intelligent Systems (IS)
  • Security / Info Management (IAS, IM)

Brief summary of Core CS courses / description:

• CS1: (3-4-1) Introduction to Computer Programming
  • Uses Python; Basic CS 1 types of "intro to programming" topics. Covers OOP.
  • Course link: No public site
  • Likely ACM Knowledge Area (KA) codes: PL, SDF, SE, CN
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE131?
• CS2: (2-6-1) Introduction to Programming Methods
  • Basic Data Structures and Algorithms
  • Uses a compiled language
  • Course link: http://courses.cms.caltech.edu/cs2/19wi/
    • Uses Java
  • Likely ACM Knowledge Area (KA) codes: PL, SDF, SE, CN
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE131, 332?, and 247?
• CS4: (4-4-2) Fundamentals of Computer Programming
  • Also Basic Data Structures / Analysis; Appears to be more theory-oriented
  • Course link: Some resources at: https://csman.cms.caltech.edu/?all=1
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE131 and 247?
• CS11: (0-3-0) Computer Language Shop
  • A "learn a new language" lab type course.
  • Course link: http://courses.cms.caltech.edu/cs11/; Some resources at: https://csman.cms.caltech.edu/?all=1
• CS21: (3-0-6) Decidability and Tractability.
  • Theory course (NP, Automata, etc.)
  • Course link: http://users.cms.caltech.edu/~umans/cs21/
  • WUSTL Comparable: Not required? Or maybe 347?
• CS24: (3-3-3) Introduction to Computing Systems
  • Basic Systems (Hardware-software interface, Architecture, O.S., etc)
  • Course link: http://courses.cms.caltech.edu/cs24/19sp/
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE132 and CSE361?
• CS38: (3-0-6) Algorithms
  • Design and analysis of algorithms (also covers NP completeness)
  • Course link: http://users.cms.caltech.edu/~umans/cs38/index.html (Dated version)
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE347?
• CS6a: (3-0-6) Introduction to Discrete Mathematics
  • Enumeration, Counting, Graphs, sets (not FOL or Prop. Logic/Calculus???; Weird)
  • Course link: http://www.math.caltech.edu/~2016-17/1term/ma006a/
  • WUSTL Comparable: CSE240?

Notes of interest

• The course descriptions cover everything. I'm skeptical that they are all an accurate reflection of actual implementation.
• Courses units are described in 3 parts: (X-Y-Z) X is class hours, Y is lab hours, and Z is out-of-class work expectations per week.
  • They typically add to 9; It looks like 3 is roughly equivalent to 1 course hour in most systems.
• Terms are ~10 weeks
• "Fundamentals Courses" (CS 1,2,4, 11)+6A address much of ACM Tier-1
• Advice for TAs is great: https://www.countablethoughts.com/documents/TAAdvice.pdf

(Optional) Notes of program requirements beyond core courses (breadth/depth requirements)

• Requires either a sequence of courses in a Track, or a Undergrad Thesis, or a Mentored Project.
  • Tracks: Databases, Graphics, Learning & Vision, Networking & Distributed Systems, Quantum & Molecular Computing, Robotics
• 72 additional units (~8 courses over core)
• Misc. other courses
  • Several math courses (2/102, 3/103, 121). Not sure on content.
  • Several general science/lab courses
  • General breadth
  • Communication course