Computer Science Minor Concentration (B.A.) (18 credits)
Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)
Degree: Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Arts and Science
Program credit weight: 18
Program Description
The Minor Concentration Computer Science is designed for students who want to gain a basic understanding of computer science principles and may be taken in conjunction with any program in the Faculty of Arts.
Students are strongly encouraged to talk to an adviser of the School before choosing their complementary courses to ensure they follow an approved course sequence.
MATH 133 Linear Algebra and Geometry., MATH 140 Calculus 1., and MATH 141 Calculus 2. (or their equivalents) should be completed prior to taking courses in this program.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| COMP 202 | Foundations of Programming. 1 | 3 |
Foundations of Programming. Terms offered: Summer 2025 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. | ||
| COMP 206 | Introduction to Software Systems. | 3 |
Introduction to Software Systems. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||
| COMP 250 | Introduction to Computer Science. | 3 |
Introduction to Computer Science. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Mathematical tools (binary numbers, induction,recurrence relations, asymptotic complexity,establishing correctness of programs). Datastructures (arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists,trees, binary trees, binary search trees, heaps,hash tables). Recursive and non-recursivealgorithms (searching and sorting, tree andgraph traversal). Abstract data types. Objectoriented programming in Java (classes andobjects, interfaces, inheritance). Selected topics. | ||
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Students who have sufficient knowledge of programming should not take COMP 202 Foundations of Programming., and instead should replace it with an additional Computer Science complementary course.
Complementary Courses (9 credits)
9 credits selected from the following list or from Computer Science (COMP) courses at the 300 level or above excluding COMP 364 Computer Tools for Life Sciences. and COMP 396 Undergraduate Research Project..
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| COMP 230 | Logic and Computability. | 3 |
Logic and Computability. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Propositional Logic, predicate calculus, proof systems, computability Turing machines, Church-Turing thesis, unsolvable problems, completeness, incompleteness, Tarski semantics, uses and misuses of Gödel's theorem. | ||
| COMP 251 | Algorithms and Data Structures. | 3 |
Algorithms and Data Structures. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Data Structures: priority queues, balanced binary search trees, hash tables, graphs. Algorithms: topological sort, connected components, shortest paths, minimum spanning trees, bipartite matching, network flows. Algorithm design: greedy, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, randomization. Mathematicaltools: proofs of asymptotic complexity and program correctness, Master theorem. | ||
| COMP 273 | Introduction to Computer Systems. | 3 |
Introduction to Computer Systems. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Number representations, combinational and sequential digital circuits, MIPS instructions and architecture datapath and control, caches, virtual memory, interrupts and exceptions, pipelining. | ||
| COMP 280 | History and Philosophy of Computing. | 3 |
History and Philosophy of Computing. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A history of early mathematical computation. Symbolic logic and computation. Modern computer systems and networks. The rise of the internet. | ||
| MATH 240 | Discrete Structures. | 3 |
Discrete Structures. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. 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. | ||