Page 87 of Boston College 2004-2005 Catalog by Boston College University

ARTS AND SCIENCES The Boston College Catalog 2004-2005 85 include: cameras and image formation; linear filtering; feature extraction; shape from stereopsis and motion; texture; clustering and image segmentation; and object recognition. The course will also cover those aspects of human vision relevant to machine vision, as well as the philosophical roots of vision science. David Martin CS 345 Machine Learning (: 3) Prerequisite: CS 101 and either CS 245 or MT 202 or permission of instructor This course provides an introduction to the field of machine learning. Specific learning paradigms to be covered include decision trees, neural networks, genetic algorithms, probabilistic models, and instance-based learning. General concepts include supervised and unsupervised adaptation, inductive bias, generalization, and fundamental tradeoffs. Applications to areas such as human-machine interaction, machine vision, bioinformatics, and computational science will be discussed. Sergio Alvarez CS 353 Object-Oriented Design (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 102 Students will learn the ideas behind object-oriented languages and the corresponding programming techniques. Topics include design patterns, database access through Java, and server-side programming. Ed Sciore CS 355 Software Engineering (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 102 This course covers industrial system development using objectoriented techniques. You will learn how to use object-orientation throughout the software life cycle to design, implement, test and evolve Java applications. We will work in teams to develop applications, experiencing the different roles that are required on projects in industry. Brian Bernier Ed Sciore CS 357 Database Systems Implementation (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 102 This course will not cover the use of commercial database systems; students interested in that topic should consider taking CS 257 An introduction to the internals of client-server database systems. A database system is large and sophisticated; by studying its components, one also learns techniques that apply to numerous other large systems. Topics include JDBC drivers, disk and memory management, transaction processing, and efficient query execution. This course will involve substantial programming in Java. Ed Sciore CS 359 Distributed Systems (Fall: 3) Prerequisite: CS 271 or permission of instructor Students will learn the major paradigms of distributed computing including client-server and peer-to-peer models. Topics studied in these models include communication, synchronization, performance, fault-tolerance and security. Students will learn how to analyze the correctness of distributed protocols and will be required to build distributed applications. Elizabeth Borowsky CS 362 Operating Systems (Fall: 3) Prerequisite: CS 271 This course will provide a broad introduction to software systems with emphasis on operating system design and implementation. Its objective is to introduce students to operating system, with main focus on resource management and interfacing issues with hardware layers. Particular emphasis will be given to process management (processes, threads, CPU scheduling, synchronization, and deadlock), (virtual) memory management (segmentation, paging, swapping, caching) with focus on the interplay between architectural components and software layers. If there is time, we will investigate and discuss these same issues for distributed systems. The course programming assignments will be in Java/C. Robert Signorile CS 363 Computer Networks (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 271 This course studies problems encountered in designing data communication networks and techniques for solving them. Topics include computer communication network structure, resource sharing, computer traffic characteristics, network delay and analysis, network design methodologies, routing and flow control, network measurements, capacity assignments, and network simulation. Coursework involves a significant amount of Java/C programming. Robert Signorile CS 366 Principles of Programming Languages (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 245 and CS 271 Strong programming skills are required. Starting with a simple language of expressions, the course develops a sequence of progressively more expressive programming languages keeping in mind the conflicting constraints between the expressiveness of the language and the requirement that it be reliably and efficiently implemented. The course focuses on these essential concepts and the run-time behavior of programs. Type systems play an essential role. By understanding the concepts the student will be able to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a language for a given application. Robert Muller CS 367 Compilers (Fall: 3) Prerequisite: CS 271 and CS 272. CS 366 is recommended. Compilers are programs that implement high level programming languages by translating programs in such languages into machine code or some other easy to process representation. This course deals with the principles and techniques used in the design of compilers. Topics include static analysis, translation, memory management and code optimization. Robert Muller CS 372 Computer Architecture (Fall: 3) Prerequisite: CS 272 In this course we investigate how computer hardware works and what considerations go into the design of a computer. Topics considered include instruction programming and control, computer arithmetic, memory structures, and input/output. Kate Lowrie CS 381 Cryptography (Spring: 3) Prerequisite: CS 102 and CS 245 How can Alice ensure that the message she sends to Bob can be read only by Bob, even if the message is intercepted by an eavesdropper? How can Bob ensure that the message he receives really did come from Alice? How can a server verify a clients password without storing sensitive password information? This course studies both the theoretical foundations and implementation of algorithms for private- and public-key cryptography, digital signatures, cryptographic hash-codes and authentication schemes. We will consider real-world protocols and practices (e.g., SSL and public key certificates)as well as more speculative protocols and methods (electronic elections, quantum cryptography). Howard Straubing

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