I am going to do a post-mortem on the syllabus that I studied under CUSAT. This is applicable to almost every university, not just CUSAT. Im calling this a post-mortem, because Im already through with this. Post-mortem is done only on dead bodies. The Word itself means, ‘after death’.
Lets rewind 7 years. There are 60 of us who joined for the Computer Science course. Only a very few had a proper exposure to computers before, but all have come together to learn computer science, trusting the university, its syllabus and the staff. Now this is what we get in semesters 1 and 2.
Engineering Mathematics 1 & 2
People tend to give mathematics an unquestionable authority. “Learning maths is never a waste. Ive heard this sentence many times from many people. Actually learning anything is never a waste. But learning something out of the context on the expense of relevant subjects is stupid. Thats what these 2 papers does in the first year. These mathematics papers are tailor made for the old engineering disciplines, not for computer science students.
Engineering Physics, Engineering Chemistry, Engineering Mechanics
These subjects are relevant to the old branches of engineering. Civil, mechanical, chemical etc can use this. But what are we as computer science engineers going to do with this ? Once in a discussion about this, I got a funny answer. “You computer box is made using mechanics principles and the nuts and screws are prevented from rusting using knowledge derived from learning chemistry”. I dont have any counter arguments.
Engineering Graphics
The same theory is used for computer graphics. But the subject is taught using a gun shaped instrument and all that we learn is some tricks on how to draw various stuff. It has got 3 hours of lab every week, and those 3 hours is a wresting with pencil, the gun and the paper. Why not do it on a computer ?
Fundamentals of Engineering 1 and 2
Fundamentals of engineering includes civil, mechanical, electrical, Electronics. An argument that supports these subjects. “An engineer should learn the basics of all engineering disciplines”. Ya ofcourse, I should know the exact concrete mix needed for a dam, I should know the energy cycle graph of 2 stroke and 4 stroke engines.
Computer Fundamentals
Rain in the Desert. This involves a little bit of C programming.
Humanities.
I have got nothing to say about this subject. Humanities hours were really peaceful times where almost everyone can sleep. The subject had a touch of moral science and no one really cared about it.
Computer programming lab
The only enjoyable and useful subject we learned in the first year.
Workshops.
This substituted for the Gym workouts. Carpentry, sheet metal work, Electrical wiring, filing etc. These required a lot of manual effort. There are subjects that should be taught in schools, not in engineering colleges.
The core of the problem
This is not a computer science syllabus. This is an old civil, mechanical, electrical syllabus, slightly modified. Old engineering disciplines and new engineering disciplines have nothing in common. We are different and we need a different semester 1&2 syllabus. We dont want a common first year. Here are some better alternatives we could have studied, some things that we missed.
- Computer hardware overview, assembling a PC.
- Operating system choices, installation, configuration and maintenance
- Useful software tools, document editor, spreadsheet, presentations
- Proper use of the keyboard (typing)
- Useful internet tools, develop an internet culture
- Computer science history, software licences, philosophies.
The result
Wasted 90% of the s1, s2 time. Caused a lot of frustration and depression. Wasted money, effort and time in other semesters writing supplementary exams. Wasted money on text books, lab equipments and salaries. Over all confusion and lost focus.
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