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History of Computer Science 2016 Lecture 1

History of Computer Science 2016 Lecture 1

Lecture 1 of the course on History of Computer Science.

Key points:

- Establish the rules of the course and outline the grading policy
- Explain what the presentations are about
- Provide an example of how to address a topic from the presentations (like should we teach C or Python as a first programming language)
- Describe how can the extra credits be obtained

Nicu Barbaros

August 31, 2016
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Transcript

  1. Speak • You’ll have to prepare presentations • Speak at

    conferences & meetups • Organize conferences & meetups
  2. Write • Write an in-depth research blog post • Help

    other people online • Help open source projects
  3. Engagement • 50% is being in class • > 10

    minutes late = not being in class • 50% is debating things
  4. Speaking • Group presentations • 2 students: ◦ 40 minutes

    presentation ◦ 20 minute debate/discussion with the class ◦ Self report the involvment in the presentation • You will be graded separately based on the reported input
  5. Writing • Blog post > 1000 words as a follow-up

    for your research • Each blog post is independent work and is graded separately • Poste on our common platform (toCheck)
  6. Due dates • Presentation & Debate: Thursday 11PM (on week

    before the presentation) • Blog post: Tuesday 11PM of the next week • Blog post topics should be announced at the end of the presentation
  7. Time investment • Prepare the presentation: 5 hours • Blog

    post: 3 hours • Debate preparation: 1 hour • Total invested: 9 hours
  8. Not doing things on time • 2 presentations • 2

    blog posts • Very rigorous acceptance criteria • Many more hours invested
  9. Extra credit • Speaking / organizing a meetup = 50%

    score on speaking • StackOverflow 5k points = 50% score on writing • Open Source documentation contributions = 50% score on writing (1k words)
  10. Topic selection • Randomisation will be done later today •

    If you want to select teams, you should be presenting first • Topics will be announced during the week
  11. First week topics • The impact of the second world

    war on the evolution of Computer Science • Fortran and Lisp - from mathematical foundations to practical implementations
  12. Ideas for Topic 1 • A history of the Enigma

    machine • How did the Manhattan project impact modern CS • The rise of the Information Theory • Movies or books inspired by the life and work of Alan Turing (and what’s wrong with them)
  13. Ideas for Topic 2 • Overview of the original Lisp

    & Fortran papers • Early uses of both languages • The history of the Lisp Machine • Why and where is Fortran used today? • How did the work of John Backus inspire modern higher level programming languages
  14. Due dates • Presentation - September 15th • Blog post

    - September 20th - 11 PM • Send a .markdown file to my email address • A late assignment is a failed assignment
  15. Sources • Wikipedia(with references) • TED • Publications - Ars

    Technica, Wired, Linux Journal • Formus - Reddit, Quora, YCombinator news • Influential people in the industry ◦ Personal blogs, Twitter feeds • Educational blogs & YouTube channels - Computerphile, KhanAcademy