Computers in Our World
Computers, computing, and many things enabled by them are all around us. Some of this is highly visible, like personal computers and the Internet; much is invisible, like the computers in gadgets, appliances, and cars, or the programs that fly planes and keep telephones, power systems, and medical equipment working, or the myriad systems that quietly collect and share personal data about us.
How does this affect the world we live in? Even though most people are not involved in creating such systems, everyone is strongly affected by them. “Computers in Our World” (EGR 109, COS 109) provides a broad understanding of how computer hardware, software, networks, and systems operate. The course also touches on fundamental ideas from computer science, and some of the inherent limitations of computers. Topics in the course are motivated by current issues and events, and include discussion of how computers work; what program- ming is and why it is hard; how the Internet and the Web operate; and how all of these affect security, privacy, property, and other issues.
The course is taught by Brian Kernighan, a professor of computer science who joined the Princeton faculty in 2000 following a distinguished career at Bell Labs, where he was a member of the group who developed the Unix operating system and the C programming language. In 1999 he held Princeton’s 250th William R. Kenan Jr. Visiting Professorship for Distinguished Teaching, and since then has earned a reputation among Princeton students as a gifted teacher and mentor.
The course is meant for students in the humanities and social sciences. No prior experience with computers is assumed, and there are no prerequisites. The course also satisfies the Quantitative Reasoning requirement. The labs are complementary to the classroom work, and are intended to reinforce the basic ideas. They cover a spectrum of practical applications, and two of the labs introduce programming in Javascript.
"I always tell people that this course is the most fun thing I do at Princeton," said Kernighan. "It’s hard to beat talking about things that are interesting and important."