Major Concentration Computer Science (36 credits)

Offered by: Computer Science     Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Program Requirements

This Major concentration represents an in-depth introduction to computer science and its sub-areas. Students that are interested in further study in Computer Science can combine the Major Concentration Computer Science with the Supplementary Minor in Computer Science to constitute a program very close to the Major Computer Science offered by the Faculty of Science. For further information, please consult the Program Adviser.

Students with two programs in the same department/unit must have a third program in a different department/unit to be eligible to graduate. Please refer to the Faculty of Arts regulations for "Faculty Degree Requirements," "About Program Requirements," and "Departmental Programs" for the Multi-track System options.

Required Courses (18 credits)

MATH 133, MATH 140, and MATH 141 (or their equivalents) should be completed prior to taking courses in this program.

Notes for the list below:

* Students who have sufficient knowledge in programming do not need to take COMP 202 and should replace it with an additional computer science complementary course.

  • COMP 202 Foundations of Programming (3 credits) *

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Introduction to computer programming in a high level language: variables, expressions, primitive types, methods, conditionals, loops. Introduction to algorithms, data structures (arrays, strings), modular software design, libraries, file input/output, debugging, exception handling. Selected topics.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Summer 2024

    Instructors: M'hiri, Faten (Fall) M'hiri, Faten (Winter) Parekh, Deven (Summer)

    • 3 hours

    • Prerequisite: a CEGEP level mathematics course

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken or are taking COMP 204, COMP 208, or GEOG 333; not open to students who have taken or are taking COMP 206 or COMP 250.

    • COMP 202 is intended as a general introductory course, while COMP 204 is intended for students in life sciences, and COMP 208 is intended for students in physical sciences and engineering.

  • COMP 206 Introduction to Software Systems (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Comprehensive overview of programming in C, use of system calls and libraries, debugging and testing of code; use of developmental tools like make, version control systems.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Vybihal, Joseph P; Bérubé-Vallières, Mathieu (Fall) Vybihal, Joseph P; Errington, Jacob (Winter)

  • COMP 250 Introduction to Computer Science (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Mathematical tools (binary numbers, induction, recurrence relations, asymptotic complexity, establishing correctness of programs), Data structures (arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, binary trees, binary search trees, heaps, hash tables), Recursive and non-recursive algorithms (searching and sorting, tree and graph traversal). Abstract data types, inheritance. Selected topics.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Alberini, Giulia (Fall) Alberini, Giulia (Winter)

    • 3 hours

    • Prerequisites: Familiarity with a high level programming language and CEGEP level Math.

    • Students with limited programming experience should take COMP 202 or equivalent before COMP 250. See COMP 202 Course Description for a list of topics.

  • COMP 251 Algorithms and Data Structures (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Introduction to algorithm design and analysis. Graph algorithms, greedy algorithms, data structures, dynamic programming, maximum flows.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Alberini, Giulia; Waldispuhl, Jérôme (Fall) Becerra, David (Winter)

    • 3 hours

    • Prerequisites: COMP 250; MATH 235 or MATH 240

    • COMP 251 uses mathematical proof techniques that are taught in the corequisite course(s). If possible, students should take the corequisite course prior to COMP 251.

    • COMP 251 uses basic counting techniques (permutations and combinations) that are covered in MATH 240 but not in MATH 235. These techniques will be reviewed for the benefit of MATH 235 students.

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken or are taking COMP 252.

  • COMP 273 Introduction to Computer Systems (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Number representations, combinational and sequential digital circuits, MIPS instructions and architecture datapath and control, caches, virtual memory, interrupts and exceptions, pipelining.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Elsaadawy, Mona (Fall) Vybihal, Joseph P (Winter)

  • MATH 240 Discrete Structures (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Introduction to discrete mathematics and applications. Logical reasoning and methods of proof. Elementary number theory and cryptography: prime numbers, modular equations, RSA encryption. Combinatorics: basic enumeration, combinatorial methods, recurrence equations. Graph theory: trees, cycles, planar graphs.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Fortier, Jérôme; Macdonald, Jeremy (Fall) Macdonald, Jeremy; Lee, Kiwon (Winter)

    • Fall and Winter

    • Corequisite: MATH 133.

    • Restriction: For students in any Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Software Engineering programs. Others only with the instructor's permission. Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 235.

Complementary Courses (18 credits)

18 credits selected as follows:

3 credits from each of the groups A, B, C, and D:

Group A:

  • MATH 222 Calculus 3 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Taylor series, Taylor's theorem in one and several variables. Review of vector geometry. Partial differentiation, directional derivative. Extreme of functions of 2 or 3 variables. Parametric curves and arc length. Polar and spherical coordinates. Multiple integrals.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Summer 2024

    Instructors: Sabok, Marcin; Allen, Patrick (Fall) Trudeau, Sidney (Winter)

  • MATH 323 Probability (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sample space, events, conditional probability, independence of events, Bayes' Theorem. Basic combinatorial probability, random variables, discrete and continuous univariate and multivariate distributions. Independence of random variables. Inequalities, weak law of large numbers, central limit theorem.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Summer 2024

    Instructors: Sajjad, Alia; Nadarajah, Tharshanna (Fall) Sajjad, Alia; Nadarajah, Tharshanna (Winter)

    • Prerequisites: MATH 141 or equivalent.

    • Restriction: Intended for students in Science, Engineering and related disciplines, who have had differential and integral calculus

    • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 356

  • MATH 324 Statistics (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sampling distributions, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, contingency tables, nonparametric inference, regression, Bayesian inference.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Nadarajah, Tharshanna (Fall) Russell, Oliver (Winter)

    • Fall and Winter

    • Prerequisite: MATH 323 or equivalent

    • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking MATH 357

    • You may not be able to receive credit for this course and other statistic courses. Be sure to check the Course Overlap section under Faculty Degree Requirements in the Arts or Science section of the Calendar.

Group B:

  • MATH 223 Linear Algebra (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of matrix algebra, determinants and systems of linear equations. Vector spaces, linear operators and their matrix representations, orthogonality. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, diagonalization of Hermitian matrices. Applications.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Kelome, Djivede; Pichot, Mikael (Fall) Pichot, Mikael (Winter)

    • Fall and Winter

    • Prerequisite: MATH 133 or equivalent

    • Restriction: Not open to students in Mathematics programs nor to students who have taken or are taking MATH 236, MATH 247 or MATH 251. It is open to students in Faculty Programs

  • MATH 318 Mathematical Logic (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Propositional logic: truth-tables, formal proof systems, completeness and compactness theorems, Boolean algebras; first-order logic: formal proofs, Gödel's completeness theorem; axiomatic theories; set theory; Cantor's theorem, axiom of choice and Zorn's lemma, Peano arithmetic; Gödel's incompleteness theorem.

    Terms: Fall 2023

    Instructors: Tserunyan, Anush (Fall)

  • MATH 340 Discrete Mathematics (3 credits)

    Offered by: Mathematics and Statistics (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Discrete Mathematics and applications. Graph Theory: matchings, planarity, and colouring. Discrete probability. Combinatorics: enumeration, combinatorial techniques and proofs.

    Terms: Winter 2024

    Instructors: Norin, Sergey (Winter)

Group C:

  • COMP 330 Theory of Computation (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Finite automata, regular languages, context-free languages, push-down automata, models of computation, computability theory, undecidability, reduction techniques.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Spinoso-Di Piano, Cesare; Crépeau, Claude (Fall) Crépeau, Claude; Dellas, John (Winter)

  • COMP 350 Numerical Computing (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Computer representation of numbers, IEEE Standard for Floating Point Representation, computer arithmetic and rounding errors. Numerical stability. Matrix computations and software systems. Polynomial interpolation. Least-squares approximation. Iterative methods for solving a nonlinear equation. Discretization methods for integration and differential equations.

    Terms: Fall 2023

    Instructors: Chang, Xiao-Wen (Fall)

  • COMP 360 Algorithm Design (3 credits)

    Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)

    Overview

    Computer Science (Sci) : Advanced algorithm design and analysis. Linear programming, complexity and NP-completeness, advanced algorithmic techniques.

    Terms: Fall 2023, Winter 2024

    Instructors: Robere, Robert (Fall) Hatami, Hamed (Winter)

Group D:

An additional 3 credits may be selected from Group A or B.

The remaining complementary credits must be selected from COMP 230 and COMP courses at the 300 level or above (except COMP 364, COMP 396).

Faculty of Arts—2023-2024 (last updated Aug. 31, 2023) (disclaimer)
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