CS 161 - Introduction to Computer Science

3 credit hours
General Education Course
An introduction to computational thinking, problem solving and the fundamental ideas of computer science through programming in a scripting language (Python, Ruby, etc.). Topics include algorithms, abstraction and modeling the syntax and semantics of high-level language; fundamental concepts and data structures, including simple containers (arrays, lists, strings and dictionaries); basic software development methods and tools; documentation and style; introduction to object-oriented programming; exceptions and error handling; graphical user interfaces and even driven programming; recursion; introduction to algorithm analysis and run-time efficiency. Prerequisite(s): MATH 131 or Mathematics ACT minimum subscore of 20 or SAT minimum subscore of 444.