webber@aramis.rutgers.edu (Bob Webber) (07/04/88)
In article <1019@ndsuvax.UUCP>, ncmagel@ndsuvax.UUCP (ken magel) writes: > > What should the role of student-owned computers be in Computer >Science undergraduate education? SOme schools require all students or >at least all CS majors to purchase microcomputers usaully at special >prices. IS this what we should all be doing? WHy or why not? How >about software? As OS/2 and other more sophisticated micro operating >systems increase in costs and machine hardware requirements, how can >we provide students with these as well for their own machines? What >of the need or desire to update software every few months? Is a >diversity of machines and software among students desireable, >acceptable, or too difficult to handle? Well, the first thing to say is that there is nothing that ``we should all be doing.'' There are many ways to solve these problems and alot of it has to do with just what you think the problems are. A reasonable computer science curricula could run along the following lines: Start with basic computer architecture. Supplement it with finite automata theory and formal logic/computability. Have students put together kit 68000-based micro using IBM-PC bus (as discussed in recent issues of Radio&Electronics). [The reason for the IBM-PC bus is for cheap i/o -- the reason for the 68000 (or 68008) depends on what you think about about the usability of the 80826 (or 8086).] Bring up MINIX on it [some minor patching for your specific architecture.] and your favourite ``free'' interpretor and editor. A version of Scheme would make a nice base from which to introduce programming. Move on to assembler and C to open up the possibility of reasonable system-level fiddling under MINIX. C++ would also be interesting, but might take a bit of work to make it compatible with the amount of memory you can put cheaply on a system. Fill in rest of curriculum to taste. [With a bit of fiddling, the total computing cost per student for 4 years would be $1k (including hardware and software) or $125 per student per semester (assuming 2 semester year). If you figure $300 of that $1000 is for hard drive, then it could be reduced to $86 per student by having the school supply central file service. Centralized file service also makes email and bboards easier (both of which are a great help in class interaction). Other economies are possible depending on how much hardware you want to expose them to.] ---- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)