Adding some spice to CS1 curricula

Abstract

CS1 curricula that focus primarily on teaching programming skills may fail to give students a sense of the breadth of topics to which a knowledge of computability might apply. We attempt to correct for this by adding a survey of computing concepts into our introductory course. Sophisticated topics usually reserved for senior level courses are presented in a popular science manner, and given equal time alongside the essential introductory programming material. By exposing students to a broad range of specific computational problems we endeavour to make their first course more interesting and enjoyable, and instil in them a sense of vision for areas they might specialise in as computing majors.