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Mike Eisenberg
CSCI 7000-003, #25028
CSCI 4830-004, #25027
DLC 170, W 4:30-7:00 p.m.

This will be a "great works" lecture-and-discussion course, focusing on readings that constitute the historical core of computer science. Authors will include Turing, Von Neumann, Godel, Lovelace, Babbage, Boole, Leibniz, and Shannon; we will also look at more recent works by Karp, Wiener, Brooks, Papert, and Feynman, among others. These readings will be wide-ranging, and a high level of academic curiosity and mathematical fearlessness will be assumed. Students will also have the chance to suggest their own candidates for "classic" status. You should think of this course as an opportunity to encounter, think about, and discuss the ideas that have collectively formed the tradition in which you are working.

Prerequisites:
For CSCI 7000: Graduate standing
For CSCI 4830: Permission of instructor

Reading assignment for Wednesday, February 8:

(1) Turing, Computing Machinery and Intelligence
(2) Turing, On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem

schedule

readings (password required)