CS101O. Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming

Prerequisites: No programming or computer science experience is required. Students should have sufficient facility with high-school mathematics to solve simple linear equations and to appreciate the use of mathematical notation and formalism.

Syllabus:

• Introduction to the history of computer science
• Ethics and responsibility of computer professionals
• Introduction to computer systems and environments
• Introduction to object-oriented paradigm: Abstraction; objects; classes; methods; parameter passing; encapsulation; inheritance; polymorphism
• Fundamental programming constructs: Basic syntax and semantics of a higher-level language; variables, types, expressions, and assignment; simple I/O; conditional and iterative control structures; structured decomposition
• Fundamental data structures: Primitive types; arrays; records; strings and string processing
• Introduction to programming languages
• Algorithms and problem-solving: Problem-solving strategies; the role of algorithms in the problem-solving process; implementation strategies for algorithms; debugging strategies; the concept and properties of algorithms

Units covered:

PF1	Fundamental programming constructs	9	core hours
PF2	Algorithms and problem-solving	3	core hours (of 6)
PF3	Fundamental data structures	3	core hours (of 14)
AL3	Fundamental computing algorithms	1	core hour (of 12)
AL5	Basic computability	1	core hour (of 6)
AR2	Machine level representation of data	2	core hours (of 3)
PL1	Overview of programming languages	2	core hours
PL4	Declarations and types	2	core hours (of 3)
PL6	Object-oriented programming	7	core hours (of 10)
PL8	Language translation systems	1	hour
SP1	History of computing	1	core hour
SP4	Professional and ethical responsibilities	1	core hour (of 3)
SP5	Risks and liabilities of computer-based systems	1	core hour (of 2)
SE3	Software tools and environments	1	core hour (of 3)
SE6	Software validation	1	core hour (of 3)
	Elective topics	4	hours

Notes:
This course is part of an alternative implementation of the objects-first introductory track that covers the fundamental programming concepts in three semesters rather than two. In terms of the curriculum, students should be able to move on to more advanced courses after taking either the sequence CS101O-102O-103O or the two-semester sequence sequence CS111O-112O, which covers the same material in a more concentrated fashion. Although covering programming fundamentals in two semesters has long been standard in computer science education, more and more programming topics can legitimately be identified as fundamental, making it more difficult to provide a complete introduction to this material in a single year. The CC2001 Task Force anticipates that three-semester introductory sequences will become increasingly common over the next decade and encourages departments and individual faculty to experiment with models along these lines.

What differentiates this course from the imperative-first implementation in CS101I-102I-103I is the early emphasis on objects. In this course, the discussion of classes, subclasses, and inheritance typically precedes even such basic concepts as conditional and iterative control statements.

Online resources for CS101O