Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• CAS CS 460: Introduction to Database Systems
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS112) - Introduction to database management systems. Examines entity-relationship, relational, and object-oriented data models; commercial query languages: SQL, relational algebra, relational calculus, and QBE; file organization, indexing and hashing, query optimization, transaction processing, concurrency control and recovery,integrity, and security.
• CAS CS 480: Introduction to Computer Graphics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS112 & CASCS132) - Introduction to computer graphics algorithms, programming methods, and applications. Focus on fundamentals of two- and three-dimensional raster graphics: scan-conversion, clipping, geometric transformations, and camera modeling. Introduces concepts in computational geometry, computer-human interfaces, animation, and visual realism. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Digital/Multimedia Expression.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• CAS CS 491: Directed Study
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore or higher standing, consent of instructor, and a completed D irected Study Application form. - Independent study in Computer Science under the guidance of a faculty member. Student and supervising faculty member arrange and document expectations and requirements. Examples include internship opportunities for academic credit, in-depth study of a special topic, or independent research project.
• CAS CS 492: Directed Study
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: sophomore or higher standing, consent of instructor, and a completed D irected Study Application form. - Independent study in Computer Science under the guidance of a faculty member. Student and supervising faculty member arrange and document expectations and requirements. Examples include internship opportunities for academic credit, in-depth study of a special topic, or independent research project.
• CAS CS 501: Computer Science Practicum
  Various applications of computer science that vary semester to semester. Please contact the CAS Computer Science Department for detailed descriptions.
• CAS CS 505: Introduction to Natural Language Processing
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASCS 365 OR (CASCS 440 and CASMA 225) - Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of AI which aims to equip computers with the ability to intelligently process natural (human) language. This course explores statistical and machine learning techniques for the automatic analysis of natural language data.
• CAS CS 506: Data Science Tools and Applications
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS CS 108 or CAS CS 111; CAS CS 132 or CAS MA 242 or CAS MA 442. CAS CS 112 is recommended. - Covers practical skills in working with data and introduces a wide range of techniques that are commonly used in the analysis of data, such as clustering, classification, regression, and network analysis. Emphasizes hands-on application of methods via programming. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Research and Information Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS CS 511: Formal Methods 1
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS320 OR CASCS330 OR CASCS350) - Introduction to formal specification, analysis, and verification of computer system behavior. Topics include formal logical reasoning about computer programs and systems, automated and semi-automated verification, and algorithmic methodologies for ascertaining that a software system satisfies its formally specified properties. Cannot be taken for credit in addition to the course with the same number formerly entitled "Object-Oriented Software Principles."
• CAS CS 512: Formal Methods 2
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS320 OR CASCS330 OR CASCS350) - Introduction to formal specification, analysis, and verification of computer system behavior. Topics include formal logical reasoning about computer programs and systems, automated and semi-automated verification, and algorithmic methodologies for ascertaining that a computing system satisfies its formally specified properties.
• CAS CS 516: Software Foundations via Formal Languages
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS320 & CASCS330) or equivalent courses approved by the instructor. - Study of the hierarchy of formal languages with a focus on algorithms on the formalisms. Experimentation with these algorithms using a computer toolset. Applications of these algorithms to compiler construction, implementation of finite-state control devices, and formal methods.
• CAS CS 519: Spark! Software Engineering X-Lab Practicum
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS 411 OR CDSDS 310) or equivalent experience in software development and consent of instructor. - Consent provided upon successful completion of pass/fail diagnostic test that assesses student readiness to take the course. This course offers students in computing disciplines the opportunity to apply their programming and system development skills by working on real-world projects provided from partnering organizations within and outside of BU, which are curated by Spark! The course offers a range of project options where students can improve their technical skills, while also gaining the soft skills necessary to deliver projects aligned to the partner's goals. These include teamwork and communications skills and software development processes. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• CAS CS 521: Programming Language Foundations for Concurrency
  Prerequisites: Undergraduate prerequisite: CASCS 320, CASCS 210 is recommended. Graduate prerequisite: a course in programming languages at the level of CASCS 320. - This course explores the complexities of concurrency in software systems, addressing challenges like arbitrary process execution and failures. It provides foundational knowledge and tools to help students design robust concurrent software using advanced programming language techniques and tools.
• CAS CS 523: Deep Learning
  Prerequisites: CASCS 541 or CASCS 542 - Mathematical and machine learning background for deep learning. Feed-forward networks., Backpropagation. Training strategies for deep networks. Architectures such as convolutional, recurrent, transformer networks. Deep reinforcement and unsupervised learning. Exposure to modern programming tools and libraries. Other recent topics, time permitting.
• CAS CS 525: Compiler Design Theory
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS 320) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: (CASCS 320 OR CASCS 332) - Covers the basic mathematical theory underlying the design of compilers and other language processors and shows how to use that theory in practical design situations. Topics may include lexical analysis, parsing, syntax-directed translation, code optimization, and code generation.
• CAS CS 528: Cloud Computing
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASCS 210. - CASCS 350 or CASCS 351 are recommended. Fundamentals of cloud computing covering IaaS platforms, OpenStack, key Big Data platforms, and data center scale systems. Examines influential publications in cloud computing. Culminates in a group project supervised by a mentor from industry or academia.
• CAS CS 530: Advanced Algorithms
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS330) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: (CASCS330) or consent of instructor. - Studies the design and efficiency of algorithms in several areas of computer science. Topics are chosen from graph algorithms, sorting and searching, NP-complete problems, pattern matching, parallel algorithms, and dynamic programming.
• CAS CS 531: Advanced Optimization Algorithms
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: CAS MA 123 & 124, or equivalent and CAS CS 132 or equivalent; or conse nt of instructor. - Optimization algorithms, highlighting the fruitful interactions between discrete and continuous. Intended audience is advanced master students and doctoral students. Topics include gradient descent algorithms, online optimization, linear and semidefinite programming, duality, network optimization, submodular optimization, approximation algorithms via continuous relaxations.
• CAS CS 535: Complexity Theory
  Prerequisites: Prerequisites: CS330. - CASCS 332 is recommended. Covers topics of current interest in the theory of computation chosen from computational models, games and hierarchies of problems, abstract complexity theory, informational complexity theory, time-space trade-offs, probabilistic computation, and recent work on particular combinatorial problems.
• CAS CS 536: Quantum Computing
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS330 OR CASPY354) or equivalent. - Quantum physics as a powerful computational paradigm. Quantum bits (qubits), qubit operations and quantum gates, computation, and algorithms. Computational complexity classes, and efficiency of classical vs. quantum computers. Quantum Fourier transform and Shor's factorization algorithm. Physical implementation of quantum computation. Also offered as CAS PY 536.
• CAS CS 537: Randomness in Computing
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCS 330 OR CASCS 530). CASCS 535 is recommended or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: CASCS 330 or CASCS 530 is recommended. - Survey of probabilistic ideas of the theory of computation. Topics may include Monte Carlo and Las Vegas probabilistic computations; average case complexity and analysis; random and pseudorandom strings; games and cryptographic protocol; information; inductive inference; reliability; others. (Offered alternate years.)