Welcome to the Computer and Information Technology program http www cis upenn edu matuszek cit591 2007 Jan 14 2019 Who am I David Matuszek muh TOOZ ik I prefer Dave or Dr Dave I m the director of the MCIT program I m here to teach not to do research My most important courses are CIT 591 Introductory programming and CIT 594 Data structures and algorithms 2 Who are you Most of you are in the new MCIT program You are here because You are extremely bright You do not have a BA or BS in computer science The rest of you are in other programs You have a very wide range of backgrounds 3 What is this course This is a beginning programming course The primary audience is MCIT students The language we are using is Java 6 This is one of six required MCIT courses The sequel to this course CIT594 also uses Java CIT591 is also a service course for other students who need to learn to program However there is only a limited amount of room for nonMCIT students 4 Why are you here There are two good reasons for getting into computer science The job market is usually very good Computer programming can be extremely satisfying and enjoyable Which of these is more important Money is a necessity Being rich isn t a necessity but it sure is nice You spend about 1 4 of your adult life working It s important to find work that you enjoy 5 What are you getting yourself into Programming is intellectually challenging It can be tremendous fun if you like that sort of thing Lifelong learning is essential The technology is constantly changing We cannot teach you all you need to know We can point you in the right direction and give you a good hard push but the rest is up to you 6 Programming can be fun Programming is puzzle solving Very little is mechanical routine work You always have to be thinking If you like solving puzzles there s a good chance you will like programming Some puzzles are hard You need a tolerance for frustration Solving hard puzzles can be very satisfying 7 Computer Science Computer science is the study of what we can do with computers how we can best do it If we really understand how to do something we can write a program to do it We do a lot of things without really understanding how we do them Walk upright Recognize faces Talk and understand someone else s speech Computer science is all about how to do things Programming is about how to make the computer do the things that we ourselves know how to do Computer science is about figuring out how to do additional things 8 CIT 591 is a programming course Programming is teaching the computer how to do something Programming like woodworking is a craft To master a craft you need both knowledge and experience Even a poor woodworker can produce a useable chair A master craftsman can produce a chair that is strong comfortable and beautiful 9 Beauty in computer science Programs can be beautiful or ugly I am not speaking metaphorically Usually Blind people can t appreciate fine paintings Deaf people can t appreciate good music Non mathematicians can t appreciate elegant proofs Non programmers can t appreciate the beauty in programs but can often feel the lack of it 10 Basic esthetics People have different tastes in music but A two year old pounding on a piano is not making music Very few musicians disagree on what notes make up a chord or a chord progression People have different tastes in programming but many values are held in common Programming is an art as well as a craft 11 Elegance Powerful software can do everything you want to do for example Microsoft Word Complex software is hard to learn and hard to use for example Microsoft Word More power usually means more complexity Elegant software somehow manages to be both simple and powerful 12 Beauty in programming Outer beauty in programs consists of Doing a job the way the user wants it done Providing a simple intuitive set of controls Working reliably without crashes or glitches Inner beauty in programs consists of Simple elegant efficient solutions to problems Code that is easy to read understand and modify Good commenting and coding style 13 What CIT 591 and 594 are about You need to learn the craft of programming In CIT 591 we study programming How to design and write programs that work How to write clear code and documentation This is a skill and it requires a lot of practice You learn a language Java and some basic skills You learn how to use the language to tell the computer how to do things In CIT 594 we concentrate more on computer science Remember what I said If you really understand how to do something you can write a program to do it Computer science is all about how to do things 14 Out with the old in with the new Geometry is about 2300 years old It s all based on straight lines and circles These were viewed as idealizations of nature There are no straight lines or circles in nature Didn t anybody notice Benoit Mandelbrot developed fractal geometry starting in about 1977 Even in a 2300 year old subject things change 15 Fractals are everywhere 16 Changes in computer science Computer science is only about 60 years old It s changing much faster than geometry Java was first introduced in 1995 We will be covering Java features that didn t exist this time last year Change is rapid and accelerating Dominant language of the 1990s C Dominant language of early 2000s Java Dominant company IBM to Microsoft to First GUI Macintosh 1984 First web browser Mosaic 1992 Web pages HTML to DHTML to XML 17 Versions of Java Oak Designed for embedded devices Java Original not very good version but it had applets Java 1 1 Adds inner classes and a completely new event handling model Java 1 2 Includes Swing but no new syntax Java 1 3 Additional methods and packages but no new syntax Java 1 Java 2 Java 1 4 More additions and the assert statement Java 1 5 Generics enums new for loop Java 5 0 and other new syntax Java 6 A few new features mostly at the advanced level 18 What s ahead Half life of CS knowledge about 5 years Typical length of career about 40 years What does this tell you Nobody expected personal computers graphical user interfaces the mouse the World Wide Web the popularity of Java the ascendance of XML etc There is only one safe prediction You will be taken by surprise 19 Maybe you should learn accounting instead What can we possibly teach you that will do you any good five years from now Many underlying programming concepts and mathematical foundations don t change Programming paradigms change slowly
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