Why is computer science interesting

Of necessity, faculty members who teaching huge computer science courses around the world have had to find ways to get the job done that are more effective and efficient than traditional methods. In recent years, it has been exciting to see scalable approaches to teaching computing on all fronts.

We can replace inefficient and ineffective large live lectures with curated online videos, use modern tools to create new and better textbooks and associated online content, and develop web services to streamline assessments.

Like textbooks, these materials can be shared among educational institutions, further leveraging their effectiveness. Curated videos and web services developed at one institution can be used to improve the educational experience for students at another, in the same way as textbooks. Such developments have enabled computer science professors to reach huge numbers of students more efficiently and effectively than ever before. Should computer science be required of all students?

But the first step for any college or university is to commit to providing access to at least a full year of computer science for each and every student. That is what their students want and need. Modern technology can help give it to them. Robert Sedgewick is the William O. He is the recipient of the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award from the Association for Computing Machinery for textbooks and online materials that have educated generations of computer science students worldwide.

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Should Computer Science Be Required? By Robert Sedgewick. October 28, Courses for Every Student Whatever major they might eventually choose, students nowadays know that computer science is pervasive and that they need to learn as much as they can about it.

Bio Robert Sedgewick is the William O. What was so great about my time at Lyft was my mentoring group and the duality of my task. My mentor and manager were so chill and bright, I was able to joke around and get to business within the same meeting and when my internship was over it was hard to come to terms that I wouldn't be seeing them every morning cheesy I know. My project was also super cool because I was able to work both the front and back end components of the project; being able to connect systems together, setting up a webpage, and making them all talk to each other helped me not only learn a lot about how big companies store and manage data but also led me to find my love for front-end work.

What was most contagious however was the knowledge all the employees had and how casual they were about it; their big brain energy was contagious and encouraged me to learn more about the company, my project and staff. I remember thinking, after my intro CS course, how in the world were all the upperclassmen were surviving those high-level CS classes—I couldn't imagine myself in their shoes because I never thought I would get past the intro levels.

Here I am now doing what I thought I couldn't do, CS is not easy, but it is a new field of study that gives you so many spaces and areas to find and reinvent yourself. There are still moments of doubt, just like what I encountered my first year, but you will find yourself continuing to work and learn within those moments and before you know it, they turn into memories.

Something unique to Pomona and a CS department among colleges across the country these days is a smaller, tight knit community of faculty and students. I've developed a relationship with every professor I have ever had, notably had dinner with a couple CS profs at their house and gone on walks with my econ professor about career advice and the current market.

All the anecdotes you hear throughout the admissions process are true: students get lunches and dinners with professors, meet and babysit their kids, work on short-term and long-term research projects together, and keep in touch way after graduation. By far the most important and rewarding part of academics here.

A few of my friends convinced me to take an intro CS class with them and I ended up really enjoying it. Thank you, friends. I really like the way CS makes me think of problems as giant puzzles. I enjoy design and music production as well, and I feel that the line of structured thinking between all three overlap in pretty similar ways. When I arrived on campus at Pomona, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, much less which discipline to focus my education on.

Surrounded by engaging professors and brilliant peers, the constant flux of exciting ideas from psychology, economics, philosophy, mathematics and more, left me bouncing from one subject to the next, unwilling and unable to settle on just one.

Of course, recognizing the practical use of being able to code, I made sure to include a few computer science courses in my schedule. Even so, I dreaded the thought of becoming just another programmer monotonously coding all day and playing the dismal role of just another cog in the machine—surely that was not the reason I had come to Pomona.

As I delved deeper into the subject, I realized computer science was much more than I had previously anticipated; it was problem solving, discovery and the opportunity to redefine what is possible.

Rather than a standalone discipline operating strictly within a vacuum, the burgeoning field impacts the lives of the masses, and hence is interwoven with numerous other areas of study. This ties in nicely with the liberal arts education at Pomona, which offers diverse perspectives to weigh the ramifications of software developments and amalgamates varying dimensions to complement the technical side of studying computer science—key ingredients often lacking at engineering schools.

Furthermore, the professors of the department are always supportive and go out of their way to make time for their students' questions. They are always receptive of feedback and they do everything they can to meet the individual needs of their students.

So far, I have had a wonderful experience studying computer science at Pomona. I have enjoyed working as a teaching assistant and serving as a department student liaison—both unique opportunities for an undergraduate student that have given me a chance to build community while strengthening my own understanding of the material.

The classes prepared me for a summer internship at a large tech company and I am currently working as a research assistant for Professor Anthony Clark on transferring robot learning from high fidelity simulation environments.

Conducting research has been an exciting challenge and has allowed me to extend upon my technical skills while formulating thoughtful solutions to difficult problems. The experiences I have had studying CS at Pomona have been transformative and have fed into my curiosity—the joy of learning such exciting concepts never ceases. Thanks to the professors and students in the department, I have discovered my passion for CS and feel eager and well prepared to pursue a Ph. Coding was a fun pastime I decided to explore without much reason in middle school.

I thoroughly enjoyed this even though many of the concepts I tried to learn flew right over my head. I decided to explore CS further in high school and realized that I actually had a passion for coding and computers in general. I decided to major in CS to be able to see what specific areas of the broad field of computer science I am actually interested in and whether this is a path I am willing to take beyond college.

I love how open the professors are about the work they do in the field of CS apart from the classes they teach. Even though the classes are good, and I learn a lot of foundational skills from them, I think that learning how these professors apply their knowledge in the real world through research and projects solidifies most of what I learn from the classes. Seeing what they do and having open conversations about their work lives helps me to see what some of the possibilities are when I think about my own career in CS.

This was my first internship-like experience and having taken only the second class in the CS intro sequence, I came in not knowing much about anything. I learnt basically all the technical know-how needed for this project on the job.

Professor Osborn had a lot of patience in explaining what the project was about and mentoring me as the summer progressed he had to explain it about 23 times before I finally got it.

By the end of the summer, after successfully creating and testing a workable version of the bot, I felt much more confident in Python, flask, shell, how to read and write documentation, version control among other skills. I highlight this experience because I believe it was a very formative time for me and also because, the skills I learnt put me in a good position to eventually intern at Google the next summer.

Fortunate accidents. I took the intro course the second semester of my first year in order to complete the math requirement and because some of my friends encouraged me to give it a shot.

The Association for Computing Machinery ACM , which is the professional organization for computer scientists and information professionals, lists the following 10 reasons to major in computing read more details :. The opportunities for computer scientists continue to grow and broaden. The ACM lists the following categories of work that are characteristic of computer scientists read more details :.

Why Study Computer Science? The Association for Computing Machinery ACM , which is the professional organization for computer scientists and information professionals, lists the following 10 reasons to major in computing read more details : Computing is part of everything we do! Expertise in computing enables you to solve complex, challenging problems. Computing enables you to make a positive difference in the world.

Specialist computer science modules are numerous and ever-expanding in range, from artificial intelligence to web development to ethical hacking, and even web science. Some courses may include an optional year spent working within the industry, which is invaluable in developing key skills and building contacts.

It is also recommended that students maintain a portfolio of personal projects, for example, proof of having built a website or online moderation. This can be work done as a favour or for free, but it shows the initiative and passion that is required to be successful in the computational industry. Most computer scientists focus in a specific industry and go on to pursure careers in their focus. Some common industries include: artificial intelligence, operating systems, computer programming and software, web development, robotics and even web science.

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