Elements of Computing
Elaine Rich
Bill Young
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~ear/ElementsProgram2009.ppt
We Live in a Knowledge-Based
World
Knowledge-Based Public Relations
http://www.ebayholiday.com/black-friday
Knowledge-Based Politics
http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html
Knowledge-Based Corporations
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
It’s Exploding
Computers Connected to the Internet
Moore’s Law
What Does It Mean?
But Fast Isn’t Always Good Enough
Traveling Salesman Problem
But Fast Isn’t Always Good Enough
Paths among 50 cities:
For start:
50 choices
For next:
49 choices
For next:
48 choices
and so forth
So the total number of paths to consider is:
50  49  48  47 … = 50!
But Fast Isn’t Always Good Enough
But Fast Isn’t Always Good Enough
50!
How Is All That Computing Power Being
Used?
The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the
top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google,
Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.
Every second:
• $3,076 is being spent on pornography
• 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography
• 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms into
search engines
How Is All That Computing Power Being
Used?
How Is All That Computing Power Being
Used?
It is estimated that:
• 94% of all email sent is spam
• spam costs industry over $100 billion a year.
How Is All That Computing Power Being
Used?
An estimated 9.9 million US adults will fall victim to identity
fraud in 2009, up 1.8 million from 2007, at a cost of $48
billion.
• 71% of the time, attacks began within a week of the theft.
• Women were 26% more likely to be victims than men.
• Low tech methods (lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks,
credit cards) were still prevalent (43% of attacks).
Where the Jobs Are
Where the Jobs Are
Motivations for the Elements Program
• Computational thinking is a key skill.
• The threshold to attaining that skill is not so high
that students should shy away from considering
acquiring it.
Multiple Paths through the Program
• Big picture track: the fundamental technology
and how it impacts our lives.
• Logical track: develop fundamental reasoning
skills.
• Programming track: acquire a useful and
marketable skill.
Levels of Involvement
• One course: gain some basic computer literacy,
explore an area of personal interest
• Two courses: learn some useful programming
skills
• Four courses: get a certificate from the CS
department
• Six courses: recognition on UT official transcript
Courses
• CS 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
Courses
• CS 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
A Sample LSAT Question
Physician: The continued use of this drug to treat patients with a certain disease
cannot be adequately supported by the proposition that any drug that treats the
disease is more effective than no treatment at all. What must also be taken into
account is that this drug is very expensive and has notable side effects.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the
physician’s argument?
(A) The drug is more effective than no treatment at all.
(B) The drug is more effective than other forms of treatment for the disease.
(C) The drug is more expensive than other forms of treatment for the disease.
(D) The drug should not be used to treat the disease unless it is either effective
or inexpensive.
(E) The drug’s possible effectiveness in treating the disease is not sufficient
justification for using it.
Courses
• CS 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
• CS 302
Computer Fluency
• CS 329E Elements of Computing in Society
Courses
• CS 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
• CS 302
Computer Fluency
• CS 329E Elements of Computing in Society
The case of Tanya Rider
Courses
• CS 301K Foundations of Logical Thought
• CS 302
Computer Fluency
• CS 329E Elements of Computing in Society
• Writing Flag
• Ethics and Leadership Flag
Courses - Programming
• CS 303E Elements of Computers and Programming
• CS 313E Elements of Software Design
• CS 320N Computers from the Ground Up
• CS 320N Visual Programming
Courses - Topics
• CS 323E Elements of Scientific Computing
• CS 324E Elements of Graphics and Visualization
• CS 326E Elements of Networking
• CS 327E Elements of Databases
• CS 329E Elements of Navigating Cyberspace
• CS 329E Elements of Web Programming
• CS 329E Elements of Modeling Biological Data
Fulfilling Requirements
• CS 302 meets the Natural Sciences Part II
requirement.
• More ways to use Elements classes to satisfy
core requirements are being pursued.
• Elements certificate can satisfy a 12-hour minor
requirement.
From Our Alumni
Before I decided to join this program, I would have considered myself familiar with
how to use computers and most of the programs on them. But that familiarity was
very surface level, and I wanted to know more. …
Th[e] certificate has impacted me in so many ways I never thought possible. For
one, I've got the elements program listed on my resume, which always inspires
people interviewing or reading over my resume to ask me questions about it. In
grad school right now, I feel that I am at a complete advantage over my peers
when we are dealing with our statistical programs like R, SAS, and SPSS. Also,
very recently, I got my first new smartphone. I love the it, but there were just some
annoying quirks about it that I didn't like, and there was no option on the user
interface to get rid of them. So I actually went into the registry, into the files related
to the annoyances, and changed the programming in them to suit what I wanted.
What amazed me about all of this, was how comfortable and completely at ease I
was, which is due to the elements program.
- Audrey Leroux
Jason Sears – an Elements Alumnus