Course Descriptions

NOTE: FSU graduate students may take any computer science graduate courses by permission of instructor.

COSC 510 Data and Computer Communication 3 cr.
Fundamentals of data communications. Transmission media characteristics, data encoding, and multiplexing. Causes of transmission errors and data link control. Circuit switching, message packing, and packet switching. Local area networks, introduction to terrestrial and satellite networks, ISDN, and future trends. Prerequisite: COSC 365 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 520 Robotics and Computer Control 3 cr.
Introduction to field of robotics: applications, safety, sensors, Robotics Languages Model for Computer-Aided Design (CAD), speech recognition and generation. Integration of robots with artificial intelligence. Prerequisites: PHYS 215 or PHYS 261, COSC core courses or permission of the instructor.

COSC 530 Computer Education 3 cr.
A practical study of contemporary topics for students with a computing background. Emphasis on development and use of training/teaching materials. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

COSC 550 Programming Language Structures 3 cr.
Features of existing programming languages and underlying concepts. Syntax and semantics, simple statements, grouping of statements, scopes and storage allocations, subroutines. List processing and string manipulation languages. Prerequisites: COSC 310 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 555 Artificial Intelligence 3 cr.
An introduction to knowledge representation and inference: topics include logic, semantic networks, frames and rule-based reasoning. Natural language processing; topics include pattern recognition, pattern association and computer vision. Prerequisite: COSC 310 or permission of instructor.

COSC 560 Operating Systems Concepts 3 cr.
Detailed study of operating systems concepts. Process management, scheduling, time slicing, concurrency, mutual exclusion, semaphores, resource management, memory mapping, virtual systems, mass storage, file systems. Case studies of operating systems. Prerequisites: COSC 201 and COSC 365 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 565 Computer Systems Architecture 3 cr.
Architecture of large computing systems. Instruction set architecture and RISC. Design of high-speed arithmetic units, I/O subsystems, DMA, and channels. Interrupt structures. Horizontal vs. vertical microprogramming. Memory system hierarchy with emphasis on cache, virtual memory, and interleaving. Introduction to parallel processing and advanced architectural trends. Prerequisite: COSC 365 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 570 Compiler Designs and Constructions 3 cr.
Detailed study of the concepts and techniques used in design and construction of a compiler. Topics include: lexical analysis, syntactic and semantic analysis, intermediate code generation, final code generation, and optimization techniques. Each student will be required to design and implement a functional compiler or interpreter for a given language. Prerequisites: COSC 310 and COSC 365 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 575 Interactive Computer Graphics 3 cr.
Concepts of computer graphics. Terminology and programming primitives, raster vs. vector hardware, interaction devices, software packages, geometrical transformations, two- and three-dimensional viewing, hidden line and surface removal, object hierarchy. Prerequisites: COSC 310 and COSC 350 or permission of the instructor.

COSC 580 Knowledge Based Information Systems 3 cr.
Concepts of knowledge-based systems with an emphasis on expert systems. Topics include production systems, building of knowledge-based systems and future trends with expert systems. Prerequisite: COSC 380 or permission of instructor.

COSC 585 Theory of Computation 3 cr.
Basic theoretical principles embodied in formal languages, automata, computability, and computational complexity. Emphasis is placed on developing formal description of computers and computational processes, and practical implications of theoretical results. Prerequisites: COSC 310 or permission of instructor.

COSC 591 Seminar in Computer Science 3 cr.
Group study of advanced topics under faculty supervision. Departmental approval is required. Prerequisite: department approval.

COSC 599 Individual Problems in Computer Science 3 cr.
Independent study of advanced topics under faculty supervision. Departmental approval is required. Prerequisite: department approval.

COSC 600 Computer Programming Concepts 3 cr.
Object oriented programming and programming design; sequential, selection and iteration statements; objects and relationship among objects, abstraction, encapsulation, and hierarchy. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

COSC 601 Digital Logic & Computer Design 3 cr.
Basic switching theory. Design and analysis of combinational logic circuits and synchronous sequential systems. Minimization of techniques. Programmable logic and basic computer architecture. Register transfer language. Memory decoding, microprogramming, and bus structure operation. Detailed study of an actual simple minicomputer or microcomputer system. Students are required to implement a project. Prerequisite: Admission to the Applied Computer Science Master’s Program.

COSC 610 Advanced Object-Oriented Data Structures
and File Organization 3 cr.
Object-oriented data structures such as linear data structures recursions, trees, graphs, searching and sorting algorithms, and file organizations using object-oriented programming language. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 620 Security In Computing 3 cr .
Principles and practices of computer security in various computing environments, with the focus on computational methods providing secure computing and Internet communication. Topics include: security threats in communication systems and information systems; cryptography technologies including conventional substitution/transposition codes; block ciphers and advanced encryption standards; distribution of secret key over the Internet; principles of public-key cryptography; authentication and digital signature; network security such as IPSec, SSH, Web and Email security; system security such as firewall; OS security and hardware security. Prerequisites: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 625 Advanced Software Engineering 3 cr.
Design and implementation of software using a formal specification language. Topics include management implications, software cost estimation, defect testing, software engineering environments. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 630 Web Development and Programming I 3 cr.
Fundamentals of web programming and web technologies. Topics include web design and implementation using JavaScript, Java Beans, and XML. Developing interactive, secure, and powerful projects for the web. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 631 Web Development and Programming II 3 cr.
Advanced web programming and web technologies concepts. Topics include Perl programming, server installation and configuration, PHP, secure sockets layer, and web services. Offered once every year and a half. Prerequisites: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 630.

COSC 635 Network and Data Communications I 3 cr.
Basic elements of modern computer and telecommunications networks. A hybrid five-layer reference model resembling the popular TCP/IP model will be discussed. In each layer, the state-of-the-art hardware and software technologies are introduced. These include, for example, network programming in the Application Layer; TCP/UDP in the Transport Layer; Unicast and Multicast protocols in the Network Layer; and Ethernet/TDM/WDM in the Data Link Layer; fiber-optic and Mobile/Cellular in the Physical Layer. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 636 Network and Data Communications II 3 cr.
Advanced topics, enabling technologies of networks and data communications. Introduction to important topics including distributed networks, IPV6 and advanced routing protocols, network reliability, network security, and converged network management. Enabling technologies for typical modern networks, including wireless/mobile networks, multimedia networking, and optical networks will also be covered. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 635.

COSC 640 Database Management Systems I 3 cr.
Database design and implementation, data models, database programming using relational database management systems as well as objectoriented databases. An implementation of a comprehensive project using a commercial DBMS. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 641 Database Management Systems II 3 cr.
The function of database administration. Data recovery, security, concurrency, and integrity. Database storage, and advance database programming. A project implementation is required. Prerequisite: COSC 640 and admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 645 Data Mining 3 cr.
Overview of data mining and its application in business. Topics include data mining models such as decision trees, genetic algorithms, neural nets, agent network technology; data mining process and discussion of practical available data mining tools. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 646 Data Warehousing 3 cr.
A hands-on approach to the major issues facing data warehouse developers. Discussion of analysis design and management of data warehousing. Application of data warehouse in a business environment using one or more data warehouse systems. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program.

COSC 647 Database Security 3 cr.
A comprehensive, in-depth discussion of the database security, including models, systems architectures, and standards. Security in objectoriented databases and in statistical databases and auditing. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 641.

COSC 649 Database Administration 3 cr.
Discussion of the database administration issues. Topics include installation, migration, upgrades, networking, security, backup and recovery, performance tuning, capacity planning and GUI development tools. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 641.

COSC 690 Special Topics in Database Management Systems 3 cr.
Study and discussion of the most recently developed topics in Database Management Systems. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 640.

COSC 691 Special Topics in Data Mining & Data Warehousing 3 cr.
A study and discussion of topics in the latest development in data mining and data warehousing. Students are required to write a paper or implement a project related to the topic. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 645 and COSC 646.

COSC 700 Master Research Paper or Project 3-9 cr.
Independent research paper or project related to the area of concentration. The topic of the paper or project description must be approved by the department graduate committee prior to registration. Every semester. Prerequisite: admission to Applied Computer Science master’s program and COSC 610, COSC 620, and COSC 625.