THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 2594S Date of Senate Approval 3/10/94 Signature of Senate Chair ___________________________ Date _________________ Action of Vice Chancellor: Approval __________________________________ Date ____________________ Denied __________________________________ Date ____________________ Reasons for denial and suggested modifications: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: APC Document #26: Changes in Computer Science course descriptions Effective date: Fall 1994 The proposed changes to the Computer Science course descriptions are not as extensive as the length of this document might indicate. Most of the updated course descriptions are needed to bring the catalog in conformance with our present practices. The obsolescence of CSCI course descriptions has occurred for two reasons: first, the technology within our field changes rapidly; and, second, many of our present descriptions reference specific hardware and software systems that are no longer used to study CSCI at UNCA. One of our goals in this update is to eliminate all mention of specific technology that will undoubtedly be replaced every two or three years. This should give our course descriptions a longer lifetime. We are also proposing to eliminate from the catalog several courses which have not be offered in several years. Changes to course titles and descriptions Delete CSCI 143 Computer Programming I (COBOL) Impact There will be no impact on staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale This course has not been offered for several years. Students interested in programming in COBOL may take CSCI 241. Change Title and Description for CSCI 241 Change title from Applications Programming I (COBOL) to Applications Programming in COBOL. Delete from the course description ``(Credit will not be allowed for both 143 and 241.)'' Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale With elimination of CSCI 341, the ``I'' in the title is unnecessary. With elimination of CSCI 143, the restriction of credit to only one of CSCI 143 and 241 is irrelevant. Delete CSCI 243 Computer Programming II (PASCAL) Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale This course duplicates material taught in CSCI 201. During the last two years, the 2+2 program and the Mathematics departments recommended this course for their students, but now their students take CSCI 201. Change Title and Description for CSCI 252 Change title from C Programming Language to Programming in C. Change description from Fundamentals of the high level C programming language with applications. Implementations of this language on VMS, UNIX and IBM PC's are included. Prerequisite: CSCI 202, or 243, or permission of instructor. Course offered on demand. to Fundamentals of the C programming language with emphasis on personal computer and workstation applications. Prerequisite: CSCI 201. Course offered on demand. Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale The proposed course description is an accurate description of course content and removes references to particular computer systems which may change every few years. Change Title and Description for CSCI 254 Change title from Introduction to Computer Systems to Computer Organization Change description from Computer systems, computer structures, machine language, assembly language, addressing techniques, and input/output. Includes a formal laboratory section using a microprocessor-based single board computer system. Prerequisite: CSCI 201. Course offered every semester. to Organization of digital computers including data representation, logic design, and architectural features needed to support high level languages. Prerequisite: CSCI 201. Course offered every semester. Impact statement There will be no impact on staffing needs. Although the previous course description called for a ``formal laboratory,'' the staffing of the lab has not approved by the VCAA. Rationale The title and description have been modified to conform with the Computer Organization courses of most CSCI departments. The description has also been modified to avoid mention of equipment we no longer use. Change Title and Description for CSCI 320 Change title from Introduction to Computer Organization to Computer Architecture. Change description from A continuation of CSCI 254, starting with coding of device drivers in assembler, and introducing C programming language and the Unix programming environment. Includes a formal laboratory section using a microprocessor-based single board computer system. Prerequisites: CSCI 202 and 254. Course offered every spring semester. to Architectural features of modern computer architectures, including instruction set design, pipelining, memory management, and bus structures. Quantitative analysis of computer design choices. Prerequisite: CSCI 202 and 254. Course offered every spring semester. Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing needs. Although the present course description mentions a ``formal laboratory section,'' staffing of the lab has not been approved by VCAA. Rationale The present course title is misleading because the course content does not match the Computer Organization courses of most Computer Science department. Some of the topics of the course, e. g., C and Unix, are now introduced to students in earlier CSCI courses, so their inclusion in this course is no longer necessary. The new course will drop these topics and emphasize computer architecture. Change Title and Description for CSCI 331 Change title from Operating Systems and Computer Architecture I to Operating Systems Change description from A study of the theory and practice of modern operating system design and implementation. Includes a formal laboratory section using a microprocessor- based single board computer system. Prerequisite: CSCI 320. Course offered every spring semester. to Concepts of operating systems: processes, synchronization, memory management, file systems, and security. Prerequisite: CSCI 202 and 254. Course offered every spring semester. Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing needs. Although the present course description mentions a ``formal laboratory section,'' staffing of this lab has not been approved by VCAA. Rationale Old title is too long and contains the phrase ``and Computer Architecture I'' which does not fit the course content. Course prerequisite is changed to make the course accessible to a broader group of students. Change Title and Prerequisites for CSCI 333 Change title from Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis to Data Structures Change prerequisites from ``CSCI 330 or 341'' to ``CSCI 202 and MATH 251.'' Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing requirements in Computer Science. The change in prerequisites may generate some demand for MATH 251. MATH 251 will be listed as a cognate requirement for the Computer Systems program of Computer Science if the curriculum changes proposed later in this document are approved. Rationale Data Structures is the usual title for the third programming course. ``Algorithm Analysis'' is generally reserved for more theoretical senior and introductory graduate courses. The prerequisites are changed to require the Mathematic's departments new Discrete Mathematics course. Delete CSCI 341 Applications Programming II (COBOL) Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing requirements. If the curricular changes to the Information Systems program in Computer Science proposed in this documented are approved, this course will no longer be required by any program. Rationale In the last few years, the importance of COBOL in the commercial programming has decreased significantly. It is no longer appropriate to require students to complete two semesters of COBOL. Change Description and Prerequisites for CSCI 342 Systems Analysis and Design Methods Change description and prerequisites from Study of the concepts and theory of structured systems analysis and design, with emphasis on the Systems Development Life Cycle. Includes Data Flow Diagrams, Process Descriptions, Data Dictionary, Systems Flowcharts, and Program Specifications. Prerequisite: CSCI 241; co-requisite: CSCI 341. Course offered every fall semester. to Study of the concepts and techniques utilized in the analysis and design of an information system throughout the system development cycles. Prerequisite: CSCI 241. Course offered every fall semester. Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing needs or curricular requirements. Rationale The old description was too detailed in its listing of several specific techniques for System Development. Since 341 is being eliminated, it can no longer be a co- requisite. Change of Description for CSCI 346 Change description from The standard ACM `graphics core' set of routines studied and implemented in PASCAL; two and three dimensional images; hidden surface and animation methods. Prerequisites: CSCI 202 and 254. Course offered every spring semester. to Programming techniques for the display of two and three dimensional objects. Rotations, translation, and scaling. Hidden line and surface elimination. Raster methods. Color theory. Animation. Prerequisites: CSCI 202 and 254. Course offered every spring semester. Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale We wish to remove reference to a specific programming language (PASCAL) from the course description. We also want to emphasize that this is a programming course so that students interested in presentation graphics will not mistakenly enroll. Change of prerequisites for CSCI 351 Change prerequisites from ``CSCI 341, or 330, or permission of instructor'' to ``CSCI 202.'' Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale We are proposing the elimination of CSCI 330 and 341 in this document. Delete CSCI 440 Computer Architecture II Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing or curricular requirements because this course has not been offered for several years. Rationale Course has not been offered for several years. Remove CSCI 443 Database Management Systems Impact statement This course and CSCI 330 will be merged into CSCI 343. Staffing needs should be reduced by one course per year. Rationale See CSCI 343. Change Description and Prerequisites for CSCI 446 System Analysis and Design Project Change description for Advanced study of the skills and techniques of structured system analysis and design through the completion of major project. Prerequisite: CSCI 342; co- requisite: CSCI 443. Course offered every spring semester. to Experience in designing, developing, documenting, testing and implementing a significant project in a teamwork environment. Prerequisite: CSCI 342; co- requisite: CSCI 343. Course offered every spring semester. Impact Statement There will be no change in staffing needs or curricular requirements. Rationale Description has been modified to emphasize the ``hands-on'' nature of the course. Prerequisite has been changed to reflect our new course number for the database management systems course. Change Description and Prerequisites for CSCI 448 Change description Experience with developing, documenting, testing and implementing a real computer with application in a Fourth Generation/Database Environment. Emphasis on structured development techniques and teamwork. Prerequisites: CSCI 443 and 446. Course offered every fall semester. to Study of the development of various systems. Guest lectures, readings, research, and class discussions will integrate computer science theory with current technologies and system development issues. Prerequisites: senior level standing in computer science. Course offered every fall semester. Impact Statement There will be no impact on staffing needs. This course does change the content of one course required by the Information Systems track of Computer Science. Rationale In the past, this course had been the last of a three course sequence (CSCI 443, 446, and 448) in mainframe-centered system design. Due to changes in industry practice, we now wish to de-emphasize this approach to system development and present our students with a broader prospective of current system development practices. Change Description of CSCI 460 Change description from Design of Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. Microelectronic circuits used in computers are designed using CAD software tools on high-quality color workstations. Adders, multipliers, and memory systems are examples of circuits discussed. Some student projects will be manufactured into testable chips. Prerequisite: junior level standing in Computer Science or permission of instructor. Course offered every fall semester. to Design of Very Large Scale Integrated circuits. Microelectronic circuits designed using CAD software tools. Prerequisite: junior level standing in Computer Science or permission of instructor. Course offered every fall semester. Impact statement There will be no change in staffing or curricular requirements. Rationale VLSI design is a rapidly changing field. We need a more ``generic'' course description that will not need updating every three or four years.