Cornell Blog: An unofficial blog about Cornell University

Computer Science at Cornell University is somewhat ill-defined, but the department page notes:

Computer Science majors take core courses in algorithms, data structures, logic, programming languages, scientific computing, systems, and theory. The program for Computer Science majors is broad and rigorous, but it is structured in a way that supports in-depth study of outside areas.

Information Science has a better description:

Information Science (IS) is an interdisciplinary field that studies the design and use of information systems in a social context. The field studies the creation, representation, organization, application, and analysis of information in digital form.

Both programs have a basis in computers, so you might imagine Information Science to be an extension of Computer Science where undergraduates, having completed the same core of courses, focus their studies in Information Systems. Unfortunately, this is not true, and Information Science at Cornell is simply the easier alternative to Computer Science. CS and IS:IS undergraduates should be able to consider each other peers, but the poorly-structured IS program makes this impossible by watering down rather than supplementing the CS curriculum.

Disclaimer: I am biased. I am a CS major. I graduated.

Core Competencies

An undergraduate in Computer Science is required to take a bevy of courses:

• A 4-course calculus sequence, learning calculus, multivariate calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra (MATH 121, 122, 221, and 222)
• A course in statistics or higher math (ENGRD 270 or MATH 300+)
• A 3-course sequence of introductory programming (CS 100, 211, and 212)
• A 7-course CS core in Discrete mathematics, datastructures, functional programming, hardware design, operating systems, numerical computation, theory of computing, and analysis of algorithms (CS 280, 312, 314, 414, 421, 381, 482)

An undergraduate in Information Science is required to take a smaller selection of courses:

• A 3-course mathematics sequence, learning introductory calculus, discrete mathematics, and linear algebra (MATH 121, 221, INFO 295)
• A course in statistics (ENGRD 270 or others)
• A 2-course series in psychology (INFO 214, 245)
• A 2-course series in web-design (INFO 130, 230)
• A single programming course (CS 211)
• A 2-course series in econ and computer culture

After this, CS majors are required to take 2 400+ level courses and a 2-course 400+ level project couple, another 6 credits in courses technical in nature, and and three 300+ courses in another field of study. IS majors are required to take 4 courses in one area of IS study and 3 courses in their secondary area. So, after the core of each program, the requirements are quite similar, except that the CS major is less restrictive in allowing you choose your outside area of study. For me, mine was English, but for an IS major they must pick from a list of three areas.

The IS Fundamentals Lack

You’ll note that the IS major is missing a few things in their core present in the CS core. First, CS has 15 courses in its core; IS only contains 11. Here’s a breakdown by competency:

• Mathematics: CS majors take Calculus II and multivariate calculus and differential equations (MATH 122, 222).
• Computation: While CS and IS majors both take their flavours of discrete math, CS majors also take a course in numerical computation (CS 421).
• Datastructures and Algorithms: CS majors take courses in data structures and the analysis of algorithms (CS 312, 482).
• Theory of Computing: CS majors take CS 381, the theory of computing.
• Low-level Computing: CS majors take CS 314 and 414, a pair of courses that teach you to build a processor from gates and write an operating system.

The IS Information Systems track does not offer any of these courses which every CS major takes. Thus, the two programs are not at parity.

Update: Here is an interesting article called six degrees of computer science which tries to explain how CS relates to other fields of engineering.

This hilarious reply to an MIT acceptance letter is worthy of an award of the highest imitative literature.

Apparently the Cornell University students still at Cornell collectively have decided that I am gay:

(9:04:30 PM) Friend: btw, everyone seems to know that you are my gay friend now.
(9:04:31 PM) Friend: hehe
(9:04:46 PM) Friend: remember the guy we saw at time square the other day?
(9:04:47 PM) Elliott Brook: wait I am your gay friend?
(9:04:59 PM) Elliott Brook: o_O
(9:05:08 PM) Friend: He was like who were you with that day.
(9:05:18 PM) Friend: I told him that I was with an old friend.
(9:05:26 PM) Friend: and he was like oh, your gay friend elliott
(9:05:36 PM) Elliott Brook: This is an interesting development.
(9:06:12 PM) Elliott Brook: On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is “so gay I’ve got two boys in my bed” and 1 is “why did those men hug each other -.- ” I’m only a 3

It’s nothing bad to be gay–after all, Perez Hilton is doing a great job as a gay blogger–but since I’m not gay I am baffled as to how this came about. Perhaps I need to stop posting extremely artsy facebook photos…