A First Course in Computer Science for Small Four Year CS Programs

The paper is a contribution to the ongoing debate over the content of CS1. Instead of opting for either the depth first or breadth-first approach, we have built a course using some of the strongest elements of each. This course does not replace CS1 in our department. Rather, we use it to give beginning computer science students a more balanced view of the discipline than CS1 does. We also use it to teach in one place much of the redundant material found in the standard computer science curriculum. We find this makes for more sophisticated students and lets us use our small faculty more efficiently.