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Another look at the discrete structures course

Published:01 February 1976Publication History
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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.

References

  1. 1 ACM Curriculum Committee on Computer Science, Curriculum '68: Recommendations for Academic Programs in Computer Science Comm. ACM, 11 (March 1968), 151-197 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. 2 Engel, G.L. and N.D. Jones, Discrete Structures in the Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum, SIGCSE Bulletin, 5 (Feb 1973), 56-59. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. 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 ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. 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 ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. 5 Waxman, J., Reflections on B3, Discrete Structures, SIGCSE Bulletin, 7 (June 1975) 51-54. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  6. 6 Gries, D., What Should we Teach in an Introductory Programming Course?, SIGCSE Bulletin, 6 (Feb 1974), 81-89. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. 7 Prather, R.E., Discrete Mathematical Structures for Computer Science, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass., 1976 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library

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      • Published in

        cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
        ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 8, Issue 1
        Proceedings of the SIGCSE-SIGCUE joint symposium on Computer science education
        February 1976
        399 pages
        ISSN:0097-8418
        DOI:10.1145/952989
        Issue’s Table of Contents
        • cover image ACM Conferences
          SIGCSE '76: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCSE-SIGCUE technical symposium on Computer science and education
          February 1976
          403 pages
          ISBN:9781450374125
          DOI:10.1145/800107

        Copyright © 1976 ACM

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        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 1 February 1976

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