While these areas explain the subject matter of computing, it is the way in which they are studied, bringing together elements of mathematics, science, and engineering, that defines computer science. In order to be a computer scientist, you have to be a good programmer. The freshman year of our curriculum therefore focuses on developing essential basic and advanced programming skills. For courses beyond the freshman year, the focus is on the area of application, not on programming. However, you will be expected to be able to write programs as part of your course studies.
Programming is an important activity in all the areas described above.
Programming occurs in all nine subject areas in the discipline of computing. It is part of the design process, it is used to implement the models that occur in the abstraction process, and it even occurs sometimes in the process of proving a theoretical result. Computer Science is a science, and students are required to take foundation courses in mathematics and science. Students are required to take at least 25 quarter hours of science courses chosen from a carefully designed set of options which allow them to specialize in either biology, chemistry, or physics, with appropriate laboratory components. Computer science courses taken by majors include required core courses and advanced elective sequences.