 Hello, I'm Chris Mayfield from James Madison University, and I'd like to tell you about our new CS 101 course. In contrast to many intro computer science courses out there that focus mainly on programming, CS 101 is a survey course. We want to introduce you to the field of computer science and highlight the exciting opportunities that are available in today's world. 101 is designed to be the first course our incoming CS majors take, but it's open to anyone, and we don't require you to have any background knowledge or experience. In fact, most people don't really know what computer science is, depending on whom you ask you might hear things like computer programming or information technology or web design, but computer science is much more than these things. Here are some of the active areas of research in computer science. What's neat about these subfields is that they push the limits of what computers can and cannot do. Computer scientists have a unique way of viewing the world, and our goal for this course is to help you learn to think like a computer scientist. Each week includes a fun, hands-on lab activity that allows you to engage with real computer science content. To give you a sense of what the course is like, here is one of our learning objectives. Use abstraction and decomposition when reasoning about complex systems and problems. For example, in Lab 1, we use LightBot to learn how to break down algorithms into multiple parts. You'll notice in this example, there's an F1 command for the robot to walk along the entire side of the puzzle. When we talk about computer architecture, you'll get to design your own digital circuits. This one is called the full adder, and it's used to add binary numbers. What's interesting is the use of two half adders, represented by the square boxes. At this level of abstraction, we don't really need to worry about the internal composition of the half adders. Computers themselves are built using many kinds of digital circuits, and what makes them special is that they can be programmed. At the lowest level, computers only see ones and zeros, and you'll get the opportunity to interact with computers this way. These binary instructions provide a layer of abstraction on top of the underlying digital circuits. Now the point of all this is not to become an expert LightBot programmer, or be able to understand, or even design complex digital circuits, or program a machine and machine code. Really what we're trying to do is help you learn how to think like a computer scientist, and also sample what you'll see in future computer science courses. Also if you take this course, you'll come away with additional computing skills like Python and Linux, and all of these things will help you no matter what you study or what you do in your career. We'll be using a textbook by Brookshire and Brylo called Computer Science and Overview. It's currently in its 12th edition, and you can click on the link on this slide to get more information about the book. The course is organized into two main units. So the first half of the semester, we'll take a look at the hardware and system sides of computer science. We'll talk about how the internet is organized and how computers work under the hood, different security issues that arise at each level, and you'll also have the opportunity at the end of this unit to complete your own exploration project where you can write and do an oral presentation about a computing innovation of your choice. The second half of the semester will focus on the software and information side of computer science. So we'll take a look at algorithms and programming languages, and even get into fields like databases and artificial intelligence. The final project for the course will include developing a program of your choice and applying all these different areas however you see fit. Now one of the most fun things about the course is we have a bunch of equipment like Finch Robots. Here's an example from last year's course, trying to get through an off-school course by programming these robots to look at the different walls and drawing different directions depending on what situation they were in. Another interesting aspect of CS 101 is that it aligns with the brand new APCS Principles course under development by the College Board. The curriculum framework for CS Principles talks about 7 big ideas of computer science, and we're going to revisit these ideas throughout the semester and all that we do. The first big idea is that computing is a creative process. You'll have the opportunity to be creative a few times this semester as you work on your projects, but you'll also be able to see how different computer scientists have come up with creative solutions to hard problems. Distraction is another idea that we'll revisit again and again, and we've talked a little bit about it in this video already. The basic concept is to reduce information, to focus on the relevant details. For example, in a school crossing sign, notice how the people don't have hair or hands or feet. I've always found that a little bit funny. The third big idea is data information, and how they facilitate the creation of new knowledge. We'll look at data at multiple levels throughout the course, whether it's the ones and zeros on a computer processor or all of the tables in a data warehouse. The fourth big idea is that of algorithms, and how algorithms express solutions to computational problems. We have an entire unit on algorithms, but there's also algorithms throughout the course in all the other units. Big idea number five is programming, and how that not only enables us to solve problems, but also express ourselves and create new knowledge. Some of the programs you'll write will be able to draw on things that you're interested in. Big idea number six is the internet, and that it pervades modern computing. The internet is everywhere. It's getting on all of our devices, from our phones to our toasters, and it's going to be interesting to see where the world goes as we become more and more connected across the world. Speaking of which, big idea number seven is that of global impact, and it's amazing how computing has changed everything in our lives from the way we work to the way we play to the way we live. And being part of this field is a great opportunity to have a tremendous impact on the world. So like I said, this is CS101, and it's a great course, and you should take it. We'll see you this fall.