Courses Taught

FCPS: Fundamentals of Computer Science

Location: Kaneohe, HI; Lancaster, PA; Saratoga Springs, NY
Terms: Summer 2003 – 2009
Class size: ~ 30 students/term

FCPS is an introductory computer science course offered by Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, a program serving talented & gifted teenagers. Students in FCPS study algorithms, Turing Machines, programming, recursion, data representation, digital copyright, digital ethics, artificial intelligence, and game design.

Reading Materials

  • Bush, V. (1945). As We May Think. The Atlantic Monthly, 176(1), 101-108.
  • Denning, P. J. (2009). Beyond computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 52(6), 28-30.
  • Columbus, C. (Writer) (1999). Bicentennial man. United States: Columbia Tristar Film Distributors International.
  • Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33-35.
  • Yehezkel, C., Ben-Ari, M., & Dreyfus, T. (2005). Computer architecture and mental models. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 36th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education.
  • Buckley, M. (2009, April). Computing as Social Science. Communications of the ACM, 52.
  • Denning, P. J. (2007). Computing is a natural science. Communications of the ACM, 50(7), 13-18.
  • Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Journal of the Mind Association, 59(236), 433-460.
  • Moore, G. E. (1965, April 19). Cramming more components onto integrated circuits Electronics, 38.
  • Hamming, R. W. (1998). Digital filters. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.
  • Krakovsky, M. (2007, March/April). The Effort Effect. Stanford Magazine.
  • Wing, J. M. (2008). Five deep questions in computing. Communications of the ACM, 51(1), 58-60.
  • Forouzan, B. A., & Mosharraf, F. (2008). Foundations of Computer Science (2nd ed.). London, UK: Thomson Learning.
  • Stone Zander, R., & Zander, B. (2000). Giving an A. In The Art of Possibility. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
  • Bronson, P. (2007, February 12). How Not to Talk to Your Kids. New York Magazine.
  • Fletcher, G. H. L., & Lu, J. J. (2009). Human computing skills: rethinking the K-12 experience. Communications of the ACM, 52(2), 23-25.
  • Kassan, P. A.I. Gone Awry: The Futile Quest for Artificial Intelligence. Skeptic, 12.
  • Berners-Lee, T. (1989). Information Management: A Proposal. Unpublished Proposal. CERN.
  • Doctorow, C. (2008). Little Brother. from http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
  • Intel. (2009). Making of a Chip.
  • Shannon, C. E. (2001). A mathematical theory of communication. ACM SIGMOBILE, 5(1), 3-55.
  • Searle, J. R. (1980). Minds, Brains, and Programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(3), 417-457.
  • Clarke, A. C. (1953). The Nine Billion Names of God [Electronic Version], from https://urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
  • Guzdial, M. (2008). Paving the way for computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 51(8), 25-27.
  • Hayes, B. (2002). Terabyte Territory. American Scientist, 90(3), 212-216.
  • Lynch, P. J., & Horton, S. (2008). Web Style Guide: basic design principles for creating Web sites.  3rd. Retrieved January 1, 2010, from http://webstyleguide.com/
  • James, C. (2008). Windows is Shutting Down. In C. James (Ed.), Opal Sunset: Selected Poems, 1958-2008: W.W. Norton & Company.