Peter Mowry
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/* These links are relevant to the school I attend.  Click on the links to visit the described site.  The jpg logos are from the pages they link to.*/
Rochester Institute of Technology Links:
 

RIT Rochester Institute of Technology - I go to school at RIT.  Almost all of my classes have been enjoyable and useful (or have at least taught me interesting stuff).  My program also requires 4 quarters of Cooperative Education.


RITs New CCIS RIT's new College of Computing and Information Sciences  - The newest (and 8th) college at RIT brings together the Software Engineering, Computer Science, and Information Technology departments into the new College of Computing and Information Sciences. When I started attending RIT: SE was in the College of Engineering, CS was in the College of Science, and IT was in the College of Applied Science and Technology. The new Golisano building has since been built, the departments have moved, the labs have moved, and the RIT's College of Computing is formed. Definately a good move.


CS at RITComputer Science at RIT - "We see Computer Science as a field for inventors of new software products, algorithms, languages, tools, component libraries, and so on. Programming skill is central to this mission, but much more is required. Practitioners need background in hardware, computer science theory, data communications, and operating systems. They also need to understand the process used to build, extend, and maintain software as well as general design principles." The CS BS program includes the following aspects: 47-credits CS Required, 24-credits CS electives, 24-credits Math, 20-credits Science, 54-credits Liberal Arts, 16-credits Non-CS Concentartion, 8-credits elecives, 0 credits activities.

I am at RIT to get a CS BS and a CS MS. You can find more about the CS department through their web site. I, of course, take many courses from the CS department. CS courses include lots of programming labs/projects.  Most of this course work for my CS courses is done (or at least submitted) through my UNIX (Solaris) lab account. I access this account sometimes working remotely through SSH, sometimes working at home and uploading files through ftp, and sometimes directly on the lab computers. Thanks to networking, I almost always copy work I on my home computer to the account remotely. Though I do go to the labs for other reasons, including the following: to test certain types of programs (mainly Computer Graphics programs that can't be tested remotely), to meet with CS project team, to do work while I'm on campus and in between classes.


SE at RIT Software Engineering at RIT - RIT offers the first Bachelor of Science Degree in Software Engineering.  SE is similar to Computer Science, especially for the first 1/2 of the curriculum. But then SE focuses almost soley on the design of software and software development process (from a more engineering-style approach). The SE BS is in many ways similar to a CS focus in Software Engineering and SE-style courses.

I started out as Software Engineering, but switched to Computer Science. I still like RIT's SE BS, but decided I like the CS BS more. Also, it's good for me (and other CS students) to have a good SE department from which I can take some SE electives. And (largely because I started SE) my CS BS has a significant focus in the SE concentration area. This is good because SE is applicapale to the type of work I will do as a CS. For more on why I switched and generally how I have focused more in SE than most CS majors (without really giving up any CS stuff): SE to CS


AndyWorld Games Programming Concentration at RIT - I am also doing my "non-CS" concentration in Computer Games.  This link tells a little about it. Andrew Phelps (his full page: AndyWorld ) is the man behind this concentration. He teaches two sections of the Games Programming 2D and Games Programming 3D courses. He plans to add a 3rd course to this concentration (which I will most likely take). One set of sections is the MS IT version. The other set of sections are for BS concentrations, which is mostly taken by CS Non-CS concentrators (though there are a few undergrad SEs and ITs). Game development is a great place for the application of CS, especially in the areas of Graphics and AI.


IT at RIT Information Technology at RIT - IT is less like CS than SE is like CS. SE and CS are clearly related: SE BS majors take many CS courses, and CS BS majors take “Software Engineering” and can concentrate further in SE using CS electives. Meanwhile, IT majors take no CS or SE courses; SE BS majors take no IT courses; and CS majors are not required to take IT any courses. SE courses can be used as possible CS electives; IT courses are currently often used as Non-CS concentrations. Also, typical CS vs. IT jobs overlap less than typical CS vs. SE jobs. IT concentrations include: web site dev, sys admin, networking, learning performance technology, multimedia, database, windows programming, and games programming. Some of these concentrations (the last 3) clearly relate to CS more than others (the first 5). Finally, CS and SE (and not so much IT) share a lot with other engineering, science, and mathematics fields.

But IT does relate to CS. My Games Programming Concentration is through the IT department. And I mention IT not only because they house the new games programming courses. But also because I plan to take some IT courses (in addition to my games programming concentration) as overloaded electives for extra experience and technical skills. Current canidates are: OS Scripting, VB for Programmers, or Windows Programming.


Philosophy at RIT RIT Philosophy Department - I'm going to get a minor in Philosophy while at RIT.  I am very value driven, and thus have a strong interest in philosophy.  One of my biggest hobbies is to learn and read about philosophical theories.  Philosophy is important for everyone, because all human action is at it roots driven by philosophical values (good or bad - including apathy, stupidity, and terror; including reason, good ethics, and productivity).  I am certainly not excluded, and I have a personal interest in the field.
Also, some of philosophy relates more directly to CS than many would at first think.  Examples: In one class I wrote a paper largely on the building of ideas and technology (general ideas of black/white box modules) in one course; I will take a course or two in Philosophy of the Mind that relate to AI; I took two philosophy courses in Logic and may take a third (strongly logic is strongly related to discrete math - a very important math component of CS);