About the Course
CS 1120: Media Computation provides an introduction to computation, algorithmic thinking, data transformation and processing, and programming in the context of media such as images, sound, and video (course description from the university catalog).
This course has two primary goals. First, you will study digital media and some of the techniques that are used to digitally represent photo, sound, and text files. Second, the course aims to teach you a bit about how to write computer programs. We hope that you leave this course with a sense of what programs can do and how you can write programs to express ideas.
Media computation is the primary theme in this course. Computing with images, sound, and text offers a rich body of problems to solve that will bring us into contact with many of the fundamental ideas of computer science: representing and transforming data; design, analysis, and experimentation; and the thrill of solving problems in any domain of human thought.
Tentative Schedule
| Date | Readings | Topics | Labs | Homework |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/12 | no class | |||
| 01/14 | Ch.1 | no class | ||
| 01/19 | Session 1: Introduction to computer science and digital media | Homework 1 | ||
| 01/21 | Session 2: Introduction to programming | Lab 0 | ||
| 01/26 | Ch.2 | Session 3: Introduction to programming (cont.) | ||
| 01/28 | Session 4: Lab (Getting started with JES) | Lab 1 / responses | ||
| 02/02 | Session 5: Introduction to functions | |||
| 02/04 | snow day | |||
| 02/09 | Ch.3 | Session 6: Text processing | ||
| 02/11 | Session 7: Text processing (cont.) | Lab 2 | ||
| 02/16 | Ch.4 | Session 8: Manipulating images with loops | Lab 3 Part 1 / responses | Homework 2 |
| 02/18 | Session 9: Manipulating images with loops (cont.) | Lab 3 Part 2 / responses | ||
| 02/23 | Ch.5 | Session 10: Manipulating images with loops (cont.) | ||
| 02/25 | Session 11: Working with ranges of pixels | Lab 4 / responses | ||
| 03/01 | Session 12: Image effects with selection | Lab 5 / source image | Homework 3 | |
| 03/03 | Ch.6 (sections 1-2-3) | Session 13: Selection statements; comparison and logical operators | Lab 6 / source image | |
| 03/08 | Session 14: Generalizing a function | Lab 7 / image1 image2 image3 image4 | Homework 4 | |
| 03/10 | Exam 1 | |||
| 03/15 | SPRING BREAK | |||
| 03/17 | SPRING BREAK | |||
| 03/22 | Session 15: Introduction to digitizing sound | |||
| 03/24 | Session 16: Digitizing sound (cont.) | Lab 8 | ||
| 03/29 | Session 17: Splicing sound | |||
| 03/31 | Session 18: Lab | Lab 9 / quote wav file | ||
| 04/05 | Session 19: Review / exam prep | Homework 5 | ||
| 04/07 | Exam 2 | |||
| 04/12 | Session 20: Exam review | |||
| 04/14 | Session 21 | Lab 10 | ||
| 04/19 | Session 22: Blending sounds | Homework 6 | ||
| 04/21 | Session 23: Blending sound (cont.) | |||
| 04/26 | Session 24: More sound effects | |||
| 04/28 | Session 25: Moving data between media. Steganography | encoded picture | encoded text | ||
| 05/04 | Final Exam |
