unofficial guide to cs at harvard 1.3

8/6/2019 Unofficial Guide to CS at Harvard 1.3

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The Unoicial GUide To

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ComputEr

SCIENCE

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Wt s cS?We like to say that CS teaches you how to thinkmore methodically and how to solve problems moreeectively. As such, its lessons are applicable wellbeyond the boundaries o CS itsel.

But CS is also, more generally, the study o inormation.

How do you represent it? With what methods (akaalgorithms) can you process it?

Perhaps the most liberal answer, though, is that CS hasno exclusive domain o its own, and that its importancecomes rom the problems to which it is applied. Andtherein lies the excitement. CS empowers you withtools and ideas that can be applied to practically anydomain o interest to you, both in college and beyond.

Wt s cS t?Contrary to popular belie, CS is not really aboutprogramming, even though you do learn how toprogram. Programming languages are tools thatComputer Scientists use or create in order to solveproblems o interest to them.

hw i gt sry cS?ake any our courses numbered 50 or higher. See page9 or popular study cards. See Computer Science under

Secondary Fields in the Handbook for Students.

hw i trt cS?ake at least two o CS50, CS51, and CS61; take CS121and another theory course; take our technical electives

and take Math 21a and Math 21b. Plus take any oMath 1a, Math 1b, and CS20 as needed or backgroundSee page 8 or popular study cards. See Computer Science

under Fields o Concentration in the Handbook forStudents.

c i g my trt t cS?Yes, so long as you still have time to satisy the requirementsEven David J. Malan 99, who now teaches CS50, didnttake his rst CS course until his sophomore year, when he

switched rom Government to CS.

ds cS rqur tss?No, not or non-Honors or Honors, but or High Honors andHighest Honors, its expected. See Computer Science under

Fields o Concentration in the Handbook for Students.

is tss just bg prgrm?No, a thesis is a research paper. You might end up writingprograms in order to evaluate your ideas, but those programsare ordinarily means to an end, not an end in themselves.

Photograph by Eliza Grinnel

UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO CS @ HARVARD2


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UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO CS @ HARVARD 3

hw i grut wt hrs cS?

ake six technical electives instead o our and have aconcentration GPA in the top hal o your class. SeeComputer Science under Fields o Concentration inthe Handbook for Students.

hw i grut wt hg hrs cS?High Honors are decided by aculty vote. You mustordinarily write an excellent thesis to be considered.See Computer Science under Fields o Concentrationin the Handbook for Students.

hw i grut wt hgst hrs cS?

Highest Honors are decided by aculty vote. You mustordinarily write an outstanding thesis to be considered.See Computer Science under Fields o Concentration

in the Handbook for Students.

is cS prt M, Br, Bvr?

Yes! See Computer Science under Fields oConcentration in the Handbook for Students.

d y cS urss ut r G e?

Yes! o satisy Empirical & Mathematical Reasoning,take CS1, CS20, CS50, or CS171. (Note that CS1does not count toward a concentration or secondaryin CS.) o satisy Culture & Belie, take CS105.

Su i stuy cS v i t wt t b

prgrmmr?

Yes! CS concentrators head o in all sorts o directionsaer graduation. See Figure 1 or titles that alumnisince 1984 now hold. See Figure 2 or elds in whichalumni since 1984 can now be ound.

Su i tvt av Stg

gt urt-yr mstrs gr cS?

Maybe! I you are eligible or Advanced Standing andthink you could handle eight (mostly) 200-level CScourses, its a great opportunity. Your bachelors degreedoesnt even need to be in CS, so long as you can stillsatisy the prerequisites or the 200-level courses. SeeOther Academic Opportunities in the Handbook forStudents.

c i jt trt btw cS

tr f?

Yes, but you probably shouldnt. Joint concentrationsare really or students who want to write a thesis onsome research problem in the intersection o two eldsI you simply want to study both elds, its generallybest to get a secondary or simply take courses in CS orthe other eld.

Figure 1: itles that alumni since 1984 now hold.


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Su i trt r mr cS v

i t wt t wrk t?Yes! CS empowers you to solve problems in all sortso domains. Heres where alumni since 1984 can be

ound:

Figure 2: Fields in which alumni since 1984 can now be ound.

033 Asset Management 2Wire Inc. AAA NorthernCaliornia, Nevada, Utah Ab Initio SowareCorporation Acccenture Accel Partners Accenture Access Global Partners Action Verb LLC ActiveEndpoints, Inc. Acumen Fund AdNectar AdobeSystems Aegon Agile Communications, Inc Agilexechnologies AIG Akamai echnologies AllianceGrowth Equities Alverno College Amazon.com Amdocs American Express Andera, Inc. Angelo,Gordon Apple, Inc. AQR Capital Management Aravo Solutions AristoDigital Asprova Corporation A Kearney Inc Athenahealth, Inc. Authoria, Inc. Autodesk Inc Autonomy Bain Capital BainwoodHuang & Associates Barclays Capital BBNechnologies Beaver Lakeront Resort, Inc. BeeNorth, LLC Bellevue Hospital Center Bessemer

Venture Partners Big ent Design BinghamMcCutchen Blackhorse Asset Management Bloomberg, LP Blue Cross Blue Shield o NorthCarolina BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd BoozAllen Hamilton Boston Consulting Group BostonHarbor Ship Yard and Marina #F3 Boston UniversityBriar Rose LLC Bridgewater Associates BrontoSoware, Inc Building Educated Leaders or LieCA, Inc. Caliornia State University - HaywardCaltech Cambridge Semantics Cardozo School oLaw Carnegie Mellon University Children's Hospita Ciplex.com Citigroup ClearNow, Inc. CleverMachine Cli Island Soware CNA Insurance CoBuechnology Code Red Cognex Corp Coloradoechnical University - Kansas City ColumbiaPresbyterian Hospital Columbia University/HarlemHospital Center CommonMind LLC ComputationaModels Inc Computer Partners Inc CongregationB'nai orah Contra Costa Community CollegeDistrict Council on Spiritual Practices Credit SuisseCredit Suisse First Boston Crossech Group CB/McGraw-Hill Cuil D. E. Shaw & Co. Daiwa SecuritiesAmerica Dangermarc Studios Daniel's Jewelers



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Danoo, Inc. Dartmouth Medical School DataDeletives Davis Polk & Wardwell DE Shaw & Co. Deloitte & ouche Department o Justice DeSalesUniversity Deutsche Bank Diamond Management &echnology Consultants Dimagi Inc. Dixie StateCollege DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration

DoubleClick Inc. DoubleDyno, Inc. Dowling &Partners Securities, LLC Draper Fisher Jurvetson Eastport Analytics Inc Eastwan Kodak Co Eci LLC Electroactive Inc Ellington Management Group EMC Corporation EMC*2 Corp. Endeca echnologies Entelos, Inc. etrials Worldwide, Inc Evans Griths& Hart, Inc Facebook FAS Computer Services FeithSystems & Soware, Inc. Feldman Gale, P.A. FidelityInvestments First Potomac Realty rust Fish &Richardson P. C. Five Oaks echnologies, Inc. Flixster,Inc. Fluidnet Flybridge Capital Partners Fore

Research and Management Forest View ElementarySchool Franklin W Olin College o Engineering FredHutchinson Cancer Research Center rog design Gao

Hua Securities Limited Gartner, Inc Genentech, Inc. Goldman Sachs Google Goose Networks, Inc.Greater Greater Washington GreenRoad echnologiesInc Greenwich Capital Guardian echnologiesInternational, Inc. Guidewire Soware HarvardBusiness School Harvard College Harvard University

Hasbro, Inc. Highland Financial Holdings GroupHLCSo Holland & Davis LLC Horizon AssetInternational Limited Howard Rice NemerovskCanady Falk & Rabkin Hyperion Solutions Idiomechnologies IL2000 iLike Imagen Incorporated IMakeNews, Inc. Immunity, Inc. Index VenturesIndustry Aspect LLC Inormation Builders IncIngeeni Studios, Inc. Integrative Bodywork InteCorporation Intel Semiconductor Ltd InteractiveFactory InteraceTis International Air ransporAssociation International Business Machines Intuit

ISI iSkoot, Inc. JP Morgan J2 Interactive LLC Jamison Group Janus Capital Group JeeriesInternational Limited Jones Day Joy Health &

Photograph by Dan Armendariz


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Wellness, LLC Juniper Networks KANORManagement Consultants Katzenbach Partners LLC Keane, Inc Khosla Ventures Kiva Microunds Knesset o Israel Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP Kowintec, Inc Krauss Dermatology La Quinta HighSchool Legacy Investments, Inc Legg Mason Linden

Lab LinkedIn Liquid Machines Lithium LonelyPlanet Lontra LookSmart LucidEra Mack ScoginMerrill Elam Architects Mage Sports, LLC MarathonAsset Management Marin Academy Marin Soware MarketMind echnologies Marsh Cro PropertyGroup, LLC Masergy Communications MassachusettsGeneral Hospital Match.com Maveron McKinsey &Company McKinsey & Company, Israel McMaster-Carr Supply Company MDCIV, Inc. MD Advisers Medtronic Mercatus LLC Mercer ManagementConsulting Metacapital Management Metaphor

Computer Micro Ofce Solutions Microso Microso Research Mindworks Soware LLC MI MI Computer Science and AI Lab MI LincolnLaboratory MLB Advanced Media Mobiech 3000LLC Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, P.C. MozillaCorporation MySpace Nassau University MedicalCenter National Institute o Standards andechnology National Institute on Aging NationalInstitutes o Health Network Appliance NetworkAppliance, Inc. Neueld Scheck & Brustin, LLP New

Enterprise Associates New Mountain Capital LLC New York Law School nextstop.com NFL Nintendoechnology Development, Inc. Northeast OrthopaedicSpecialists, PC Northeastern University NumericInvestors LLC Ocala Eye Olympian Gaming, LLC OPNE echnologies Opnet echnology Optaros Inc Oracle / BEA Systems / Plumtree Soware OracleCorporation Orange Academy Orion I Services Outbound Light Group Outcome Sciences, Inc Parums Christian Dior Passport echnologies Patterson Harkavy LLP Paulson & Co., Inc. PDI/

Dreamworks Animation Peerspin, Inc. PhiladelphiaVA Medical Center Phillips & Nelson Media PictureCode Pittsburg Unied School District PivotInc. Pivotal Labs Pixar Animation Studios PlecoSoware Pluralsight PopCap Games, Inc. PositiveEnergy Princeton University Procter & Gamble Project Einstein, Inc. Protea Systems PublishersCirculation Fulllment, Inc. Pyramid Research Qualcomm Flarion echnologies Quia QuorumFederal Credit Union QV Financial LP RandomWalk Computing Raytheon RBC Capital Markets

Corporation Reach Network Rembrandt IPManagement, LLC Renaissance echnologiesReservoir Labs Resource Capital Group RichlandDistrict wo Robbins Russell Englert OrseckUntereiner & Sauber LLP Round wo, Inc. Salt RiverProject Samasource.org Sears Holdings, Inc.

Seaweed Systems Inc ServiceMaster ChesapeakeSevanta Systems Sharpcast Shaw Systems AssociatesInc Shelfink Inc Shumway Capital SiBEAM, IncSienna Ventures Skyward Mobile Slide SmalBusiness Administration SmartDraw.com Smarturn SNiP Solid Concepts Company SRI International St. Catharine's College St. Luke's Roosevelt HospitaCenter State Street Associates State Street GlobaAdvisors Stentor Inc Strake Jesuit College PreparatorySchool Suburban Radiologists, S.C. Sun Microsystems SunGard Higher Education Sunrust Symantec

Corporation andberg echcelerator ellmeNetworks eradyne Inc Te Cutler Group Te InvusGroup LLC Te Walt Disney Company Tird Sky Inc IBCO Soware Inc icketmaster Inc om StoneGallery opix.net rafcBroker reehouseEnterprises ripAdvisor Inc I-C udor Investment us University ulane Law School wo SigmaInvestments ykhe Capital LLC U.S. FederalGovernment UBS Financial Services UCSF UnionCollege Univ. o Southern Caliornia University oAuckland University o Caliornia, Berkeley

University o Maryland University o MarylandCollege Park University o Michigan University oMinnesota University o New Hampshire Universityo Pennsylvania University o Washington US Agencyor International Development US Foodservice USSecret Service Vanderbilt University VanderbiltUniversity Medical Center Venrock VidaechIncorporated Viewlogic Systems ViPS VirginHealthMiles, Inc. VistaPrint Visto Corp VMwareInc VMware, Inc. Washington State 8th DistrictWeight Watchers International Weill Cornell Medical

College Windward Mark Interactive WirelessGeneration WorldChain Inc Xara ManagementLLC Xaverian Brothers High School Yahoo! YaleUniversity Yam's Electronics Fty Ltd Yieldex ZantazInc. Zappos.com, Inc. zeo Capital Advisors, Inc.Zyaso LLC



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c i rsr cS?

Yes! Many CS courses oer opportunities or research,particularly 200-level courses. And you can takeCS91r to work one-on-one with aculty. Students andaculty do research in all sorts o areas, including, butnot limited to:

Articial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics Computation and Economics

Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging Human-Computer Interaction Inormation, Systems, and Networks Intelligent Systems and Computer Vision Languages, Compilers, and Operating Systems Multi-Agent Systems Privacy and Security Teory o Computation

W vry cS kw mr t m?

No! Contrary to popular belie, not every ComputerScientist has been programming since childhood! Inact, 77% o the students who took CS50 in Fall 2010 hadnever taken a CS course beore. Only 17% had takenone, and only 6% had taken two or more, per Figure 3.

Photograph by Titus Jahng

Figure 3: CS50 is most students very rst course in CS. 77% othe students who took CS50 in Fall 2010 had never taken a CScourse beore; 17% had taken one; and 6% had taken two or more

None77%

One17%

wo ormore 6%


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Ppur Stuy crs r

Cncenas

Plenty o other combinations are possible.Graduate-level (200-level) courses are also allowed!

For late converts to CS

AM21b: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences CS20: Discrete Mathematics or Computer Scientists CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS61: Systems Programming and Machine

Organization CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and

Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS141: Computing Hardware CS171: Visualization CS179: Design o Usable Interactive Systems CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans Math 1a: Introduction to Calculus Math 1b: Calculus, Series, and Dierential Equations

For those without prior college-level math,interested in human-computer interaction

AM21a: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences AM21b: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences CS20: Discrete Mathematics or Computer Scientists CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS61: Systems Programming and Machine

Organization CS105: Privacy and echnology CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and

Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS171: Visualization CS179: Design o Usable Interactive Systems CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans Math 1a: Introduction to Calculus Math 1b: Calculus, Series, and Dierential Equations

For those with stronger math backgrounds,interested in hard-core systems

AM21a: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences AM21b: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS61: Systems Programming and Machine Organization CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and

Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS141: Computing Hardware CS143: Computer Networks CS152: Programming Languages CS161: Operating Systems CS165: Inormation Management CS175: Computer Graphics

For budding theorists writing theses AM106: Applied Algebra AM107: Graph Teory and Combinatorics CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS91r: Supervised Reading and Research CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and

Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS141: Computing Hardware CS152: Programming Languages

CS175: Computer Graphics CS222: Algorithms at the Ends o the Wire Math 25a: Honors Linear Algebra and Real Analysis I Math 25b: Honors Linear Algebra and Real Analysis II

For those interested in machine intelligence

AM21a: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences AM21b: Mathematical Methods in the Sciences CS20: Discrete Mathematics or Computer Scientists CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II

CS61: Systems Programming and Machine Organization CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and

Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS141: Computing Hardware CS165: Inormation Management CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans CS187: Computational Linguistics CS189r: Autonomous Multi-Robot Systems


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Ppur Stuy crs r

Secndaies

Plenty o other combinations are possible.Graduate-level (200-level) courses are also allowed!

For those less comortable

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS105: Privacy and echnology CS171: Visualization CS179: Design o Usable Interactive Systems

For those more comortable

CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS61: Systems Programming and Machine Organization CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation CS161: Operating Systems

For those interested in data

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS165: Inormation Management CS171: Visualization

For those interested in economics

CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans CS186: Economics and Computation

For those interested in eciency

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms

For those interested in graphics

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS171: Visualization CS175: Computer Graphics

For those interested in hardware

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS61: Systems Programming and Machine Organization CS141: Computing Hardware CS148: Design o VLSI Circuits and Systems

For those interested in lie sciences

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS171: Visualization

For those interested in management CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS105: Privacy and echnology CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms CS165: Inormation Management

For those interested in math

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation CS124: Data Structures and Algorithms

For those interested in networks

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS143: Computer Networks CS144r: Networks Design Projects

For those interested in programming languages

CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS61: Systems Programming and Machine Organization CS152: Programming Languages CS153: Compilers

For those interested in robotics

CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS121: Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans CS189r: Autonomous Multi-Robot Systems

For those interested in speech recognition

CS50: Introduction to Computer Science I CS51: Introduction to Computer Science II CS182: Intelligent Machines: Reasoning, Actions, and

Plans CS187: Computational Linguistics



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l tr 50You can head o in all sorts o directions aer CS50, but here are some popular routes. See Computer Science inthe Courses of Instruction or prerequisites.

CS50Introduction to

Computer Science I

CS171

Visualization

CS20Discrete Mathematics

or Computer Scientists

CS51

Introduction toComputer Science II

CS181

Intelligent Machines:Perception, Learning,

and Uncertainty

CS152

ProgrammingLanguages

CS175

Computer Graphics

CS165

InormationManagement

CS143

Computer Networks

CS187

ComputationalLinguistics

CS182

Intelligent Machines:Reasoning, Actions,

and Plans

CS153

Compilers

CS161

Operating Systems

CS105Privacy andechnology

CS124Data Structuresand Algorithms

CS141

ComputingHardware

CS148Design o VLSI

Circuits and Systems

CS179

Design o UsableInteractive Systems

CS61

System Programming &Machine Organization

FALL

SprING

CS121Introduction to FormalSystems & Computation

CS186

Economics andComputation

CS189

AutonomousMulti-Robot Systems

CS144

Networks DesignProjects


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