Abstract
Over the last several years since the introduction of B3 (Discrete Structures) into the undergraduate computer science curriculum, the course has been the subject of continuing controversy. The major difficulties later found in implementing the course were easy to foresee from the most casual reading of its original description in Curriculum '68 [1]. The necessary placement of the course in the sophomore year, the relative sophistication of the intended subject matter, and the lack of sufficient preparation of most beginning students in these areas and in appropriate computer science areas of application, all have contributed to problems in the implementation of the ACM Curriculum Committee recommendations.
We will discuss each of these problems in turn, and hope to provide new insights toward achieving a satisfactory solution.
- 1 ACM Curriculum Committee on Computer Science, Curriculum '68: Recommendations for Academic Programs in Computer Science Comm. ACM, 11 (March 1968), 151-197 Google Scholar
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- 2 Engel, G.L. and N.D. Jones, Discrete Structures in the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum, SIGCSE Bulletin, 5 (Feb 1973), 56-59. Google Scholar
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- 3 Yeh, R.T., D.I. Good, and D.R. Musser New Directions in Teaching the Fundamentals of Computer Science - Discrete Structures and Computational Analysis, SIGCSE Bulletin, 5 (Feb 1973), 60-65. Google Scholar
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- 4 Tremblay, J.P. and R. Manohar, A First Course in Discrete Structures with Applications to Computer Science, SIGCSE Bulletin, 6 (Feb 1974), 155-160. Google Scholar
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- 5 Waxman, J., Reflections on B3, Discrete Structures, SIGCSE Bulletin, 7 (June 1975) 51-54. Google Scholar
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- 6 Gries, D., What Should we Teach in an Introductory Programming Course?, SIGCSE Bulletin, 6 (Feb 1974), 81-89. Google Scholar
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- 7 Prather, R.E., Discrete Mathematical Structures for Computer Science, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass., 1976 Google Scholar
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Index Terms
Another look at the discrete structures course
Recommendations
Another look at the discrete structures course
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