Computer Science Minor (B.Sc.) (24 credits)
Offered by: Computer Science (Faculty of Science)
Degree: Bachelor of Science; Bachelor of Arts and Science
Program credit weight: 24
Program Description
Students must obtain approval from their main program adviser, and are also strongly encouraged to speak with a School of Computer Science adviser before choosing complementary courses. A particular course selection must be approved before the student registers for their final term of studies.
Students should note that COMP 251 Algorithms and Data Structures. is a prerequisite for many upper level COMP courses. Upper level COMP courses may have prerequisites that are not part of the Minor such as MATH 222 Calculus 3., MATH 223 Linear Algebra., or MATH 323 Probability.. Students will not get credit for these courses toward the Minor.
Students may receive up to 6 credits toward the Minor by taking certain approved courses outside the School of Computer Science. These courses must have a high computer science content and must be approved by the School of Computer Science in advance. If a student's Major program requires Computer Science courses, up to 6 credits of Computer Science courses may be used to fulfill both Major and Minor requirements.
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. | ||
- 1
Students who have sufficient knowledge of computer programming do not need to take COMP 202 Foundations of Programming., but it must be replaced with an additional computer science complementary course.
Complementary Courses (15 credits)
15 credits selected from the courses below and computer science courses at the 300 level or above (except COMP 364 Computer Tools for Life Sciences. and COMP 396 Undergraduate Research Project.).
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | ||
| 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. | ||