CS 110 — Programming Fundamentals

Computation & Intelligent Systems · 4 units · Semester 1 · Required core — everyone takes it

Overview

Code is the most literal language ever invented — the machine does exactly what you say, which is how you find out what you actually said. This course is your first sustained conversation with that very fast, very literal apprentice: variables, control flow, functions, data, debugging — the moves every program is made of.

Taught AI-native from the first hour. The tools stay open on the table — instrumented, critiqued, never hidden — because pretending they don’t exist would be training you for a world that’s gone. The skill this course actually grades is direction and verification: telling the machine precisely what you want, and proving to yourself that what came back is right. That second skill is the one that survives every model release.

One day a week, about ten minutes a sitting, hands on the keys from Day 1, building toward a small program that does something you genuinely wanted done.

The Two Registers

• Catalog register: Introduction to programming — variables, control flow, functions, data structures, debugging. Transfer-legible CS1.
• Teaching frame: Speaking to Machines — AI tools open, instrumented, and critiqued from day one. The graded skill is direction and verification.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you can:

1. Write, run, and debug programs using variables, control flow, functions, and basic data structures. → Craft
2. Decompose a real problem into steps a machine can execute, and explain the decomposition. → Judgment
3. Direct AI tools to produce code — and verify, test, and correct what comes back. → Command of Intelligence
4. Explain any line of your program, unassisted, out loud or in writing. → Articulation · Command of Intelligence
5. Ship a small working program and document what it does and why. → Craft

Each outcome maps to the five institutional outcomes (Judgment, Command of Intelligence, Craft, Articulation, Breadth of Mind) — the assessment spine of the degree and its accreditation evidence file.

The Made Thing

A small working program that does something you actually wanted done — written with AI in the loop and verified without it, shipped with a short write-up of what it does and how you know it works.

How You’re Assessed

• Weekly builds — small programs, graded on whether they work and whether you can explain them.
• The shipped program, demonstrated and defended.
• Unassisted examinations in code — reading, writing, and debugging with the tools closed. The institution certifies the human.
• Everything lands in your portfolio, reviewed against the five outcomes at the end-of-year gate.

The Daily Path

One session per course day — each one built to look easy and pull you in: one thing to experience, one idea, one question to carry. The schedule below is generated from the course’s own day files.

Day 01 — The Very Fast, Very Literal Apprentice

Ten minutes. One machine made of junk, one idea, one question. You will not install anything today.

Begin Day 01 →

Day 02 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 2. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 03 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 3. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 04 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 4. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 05 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 5. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 06 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 6. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 07 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 7. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 08 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 8. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 09 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 9. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 10 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 10. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 11 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 11. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 12 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 12. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 13 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 13. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 14 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 14. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Day 15 — coming soon

Being written — publishes with Week 15. All five courses advance together, week by week.

Every course here is built to one standard: it ends in a made thing you can show, and it ships day by day.