This new edition of Invitation to Computer Science follows the breadth-first guidelines recommended by CC2001 to teach computer science topics from the ground up. The authors begin by showing that computer science is the study of algorithms, the central theme of the book, then move up the next five levels of the hierarchy: hardware, virtual machine, software, applications, and ethics. Utilizing rich pedagogy and a consistently engaging writing style, Schneider and Gersting provide students with a solid grounding in theoretical concepts, as well as important applications of computing and information technology. A laboratory manual and accompanying software is available as an optional bundle with this text.
I am a professor of computer science. I taught at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for 8 years and Macalester College in St. Paul for 25 years before retiring in 2007. Currently I am a Visiting Professor at Columbia University in New York where I live for six months of the year with my wife Ruth. The other six months I reside in the Twin Cities.
My wife, children, and I had the good fortune to live and work overseas fourteen times-Australia to Zimbabwe, Mauritius to Mongolia-for periods of 1 to 8 months. We have gazed at Everest, ridden camels in the Gobi, walked with elephants in the Serengeti, visited the indigenous tribes in Borneo, and lived on a tropical island paradise, all without ever reaching into my own wallet and without ever once giving up my regular day job.
