CISC105: General Computer Science is an introductory computer programming course designed for the following groups of students:

1. Mathematically-oriented non-CISC majors
2. CISC or potential CISC minors/majors (also CPEG, ELEG, MATH) without significant programming experience.

CISC105 assumes no prior programming knowledge. The following are good reasons to take CISC105:

• You are a CISC major without significant prior computer programming experience which is prerequisite for CISC 181: Intro to Computer Science.
• You are thinking of becoming a CISC minor/major and need CISC105 and CISC181 before your Change of Minor/Major Request will be considered by the CISC Department.
• You want to learn about:
• Design and implementation of small to medium sized programs in C, including compilation, testing, debugging and execution of these programs.
• Principles of software engineering including naming conventions, program structure, and methodology.
• Familiarity with the Unix Operating System for a variety of purposes including the creation, editing, transfer and printing of files.
• Use of the “X” window-based user interface.
• Use of local network and Internet resources.
• Basic ideas of computer science including program and data structures, file management, computer hardware components, and algorithm development and analysis.

The following are bad reasons to take CISC105:

• You could not get into CISC101. (Try ACCT160, FREC135.)
• You need a group D requirement, and want to learn about computers.
• You need a course that will not require much time outside of class.

CISC105 is not a course in word processing. CISC105 is not a course that teaches canned commercial software packages, such as EXCEL spreadsheets, ACCESS databases, and POWERPOINT presentations. General computing concepts, terminology, and popular office software is covered in CISC101: Computers and Information Systems. CISC105 emphasizes programming. Programming can be a challenging, sometimes difficult and time-consuming task.