CS 1371 - Computing for Engineers

CS 1371, formally known as Computing for Engineers, is a 3-credit Computer Science class taken as a core requirement for College of Engineering majors. It provides an overview computing principles useful in the context of engineering by means of the MATLAB language. It serves as a prerequisite for the various numerical computing classes in the College of Engineering.

Workload

Like most 1000-level CS classes, CS 1371 has weekly homework and a set of exams.

Homework assignments are somewhat practical programming exercises that emphasize the basics and allow the student to vary the difficulty of the problems they attempt. Extra credit is available on every homework assignment.

Exams test knowledge of MATLAB syntax through multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and free response coding questions.

Topics List

1. Basics
   1. MATLAB IDE
   2. Variables
   3. Data Types
   4. Scripts
   5. Functions
2. Vectors and Arrays
   1. Vectors of Numbers, Strings
   2. Masking
   3. Numerical and Logical Indexing
   4. Arrays
3. Conditionals/Iterations
   1. If Statements
   2. Switch Statements
   3. While Loops
   4. For Loops
4. Cell Arrays
5. Structures
6. File I/O
   1. Low Level (text documents)
   2. High Level (.csv, Excel)
7. Images
8. Plotting and Numerical Methods

Prerequisite Knowledge

Since this class is built for beginners, no prerequisite knowledge, other than basic algebra, is required!

Future Outlook

CS 1371 is a somewhat critical class for all Engineering Majors, as it serves as a prerequisite for all of their future engineering computing classes. However, since most of these classes are junior or senior level classes, it is not pressing. Nevertheless, as it is one of the few engineering classes that have very few prerequisites, it's still recommended to take CS 1371 as early as possible.

Current Registration Info

CS 1371 is NOT a linked course. You thus only need to register for a lecture section (e.g. A, B, C).

However, there exists an optional second component: Recitation. You have the option (although its strongly recommended) to register for a corresponding recitation section with the same section but with the 1371R course number (e.g. lecture section: 1371 A will have recitation section 1371R A01, A02, etc.). The recitation is optional, but since attendance is voluntary, it is recommended that you sign up for it.

Prerequisites

None!

Resources

• https://cs1371.gatech.edu/videos/ provides a set of videos for CS 1371.