Computer Science: A Complete Study Guide

Introduction

• The Role of Algorithms
• The History of Computing
• An Outline of Our Study
• The Overarching Themes of Computer Science

Data Storage

• Bits and Their Storage
• Main Memory
• Mass Storage
• Representing Information as Bit Patterns
• The Binary System
• Storing Integers
• Storing Fractions
• Data and Programming
• Data Compression
• Communication Errors

Data Manipulation

• Computer Architecture
• Machine Language
• Program Execution
• Arithmetic/Logic Instructions
• Communicating with Other Devices
• Programming Data Manipulation
• Other Architectures

Operating Systems

• The History of Operating Systems
• Operating System Architecture
• Coordinating the Machine’s Activities
• Handling Competition Among Processes
• Security

Networking and the Internet

• Network Fundamentals
• The Internet
• The World Wide Web
• Internet Protocols
• Simple Client Server
• Cybersecurity

Algorithms

• The Concept of an Algorithm
• Algorithm Representation
• Algorithm Discovery
• Iterative Structures
• Recursive Structures
• Efficiency and Correctness

Programming Languages

• Historical Perspective
• Traditional Programming Concepts
• Procedural Units
• Language Implementation
• Object-Oriented Programming
• Programming Concurrent Activities
• Declarative Programming

Software Engineering

• The Software Engineering Discipline
• The Software Life Cycle
• Software Engineering Methodologies
• Modularity
• Tools of the Trade
• Quality Assurance
• Documentation
• The Human-Machine Interface
• Software Ownership and Liability

Data Abstractions

• Basic Data Structures
• Related Concepts
• Implementing Data Structures
• A Short Case Study
• Customized Data Types
• Classes and Objects
• Pointers in Machine Language

Database Systems

• Database Fundamentals
• The Relational Model
• Object-Oriented Databases
• Maintaining Database Integrity
• Traditional File Structures
• Data Mining
• Social Impact of Database Technology

Computer Graphics

• The Scope of Computer Graphics
• Overview of 3D Graphics
• Modeling
• Rendering
• Dealing with Global Lighting
• Animation

Artificial Intelligence

• Intelligence and Machines
• Perception
• Reasoning
• Additional Areas of Research
• Artificial Neural Networks
• Robotics
• Considering the Consequences

Theory of Computation

• Functions and Their Computation
• Turing Machines
• Universal Programming Languages
• A Noncomputable Function
• Complexity of Problems
• Public-Key Cryptography

Appendix A: ASCII

Appendix B: Circuits to Manipulate Two’s Complement Representations

Appendix C: Vole: A Simple Machine Language

• The Vole Architecture1
• The Vole’s Machine Language

Appendix D: High-Level Programming Languages

• Ada
• C
• C++
• C#
• Fortran
• Java

Appendix E: The Equivalence of Iterative and Recursive Structures