Oberlin College Computer Science

Computer Science encompasses both the theoretical and the practical aspects of the study of computers and algorithmic processes. Students majoring in computer science at Oberlin are prepared both for further graduate studies in the discipline and also for careers in the industries and businesses that actively recruit computer scientists with a liberal arts background. Computer Science at Oberlin is taught within the context of a liberal arts degree, with emphasis on the lasting principles of the discipline rather than on specific training in particular tools and techniques. The CS Department stresses the fundamentals of computer science while maintaining a highly current and relevant curriculum utilizing state-of-the-art methodologies and tools. More detailed information about the Computer Science major and minor and a complete list of courses can be found in the course catalog.

The computer science department is looking to fill a one-year, full-time visiting assistant professor/instructor position for the 2012-2013 academic year.  Applicants can specialize in any area of computer science.  For full consideration, applications should be received by February 17, 2012.

For additional information and application details, please see the official job posting: Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science.

Aaron Kanter – Location Security in Android Smartphones

Advisor: Bob Geitz, Computer Science and Thomas Sperl, Double Bass  Mentor: Benjamin Kuperman, Computer Science

If an Android smartphone user is concerned about the permissions requested by an application (e.g. contact list, GPS location), his only option is not to install the app.  By researching the Android framework and modifying the Android operating system, we have demonstrated success in giving fake information to user-specified applications requesting GPS location data through an intuitive interface. This is the first step in a larger project to provide greater security for Android smartphones.

Claire Nelson – Automatic Generation of Shakespearean Sonnets

Advisor: Bob Geitz, Computer Science; Sylvia Watanabe, Creative Writing  Mentor:  John Donaldson, Computer Science

Computers can not inherently understand human language, so the task of generating coherent and meaningful language is a major topic of interest in the field of computer science. The task at hand is to build a system of computation that automatically generates Shakespearean sonnets, by extending the common statistical models of the English language to include constraints on syntax, semantics and syllable counts.

Aaron and Claire will present at the Senior Symposium Friday, April 27 @ 2:45  Science Center

They will give their Honor Presentations on Friday, May 4 at Noon in King 221

Join us Tuesday, April 24 12:15-1:15 in King 239 for PIZZA and an informational meeting about Grad Schools.

Applying to grad schools * Is graduate school right for you? * What is CSCI research like? *How to obtain good recommendation letters and more….

Sign up in the CSCI office King 223 to attend.

Scott Meyer, OC alum 1986, will give a talk on Tuesday April 10 at 12:15 p.m. in King 239

Escape from the Tar Pit?

Why is our dominant systems programming language, C, forty
years old?  New programming languages typically introduce themselves
with a “Hello world.” example, or an implementation of fib.  I propose
the cancellation problem (roughly “Stop the world I want to get off.”)
as the  ”hello world” example for any new systems programming
language.  More formally, “cancellation” is “aborting the execution of
a long-running request.”  If you’ve ever given up on loading a page
from a website, you have requested cancellation, one that was probably
due to the server failing to cancel abandoned requests promptly.

Join us for refreshments at noon in King 223.

David Binkley from Loyola University Maryland, will give a talk Monday, April 9 4:30  King 221

Vocabulary Normalization

Effective software engineers use a variety of tools. One area of recent interest in tool development exploits the natural language information found in source code.  Vocabulary normalization aligns the vocabulary found in the source code with that found in other software artifacts.

Join us for refreshments at 4:00 in the CS office King 223

This past weekend, 2 teams of Oberlin students competed in the 23rd annual Denison University Programming Contest. They won 3rd and 7th place out of 18 teams from Denison, Baldwin-Walace, Oberlin, Muskingum, Ohio Wesleyan, U of Toledo/LCCC, Wittenberg, and U of Akron. Teams of students competed to be the fastest (and most accurate) at solving 6 problems during the 4-hour contest.

Emma Conner, Alex Amlie-Wolf, Alvaro Atienza, Joaquin Ruales, and Zach Levine

Unleash the power of computing!

There will be a student run Intro to Unix session on Thursday, February 23 at 9pm in the downstairs lab (King 135). Learn how to use the command line, copy files from your laptop, and other tricks to help you get your CS labs done faster.

Cookies might be provided.

Junior CSCI majors are invited to apply for 2012-13 Honors. The deadline for project proposals is Monday, April 9.

Contact your advisor for more information and to see if you meet the requirements.