CMSI 182
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SC I E N C E
Fall 2008
Assignment 0909
While the main, credit portion of this assignment is due on September 9, accomplishing the intermediate
tasks by the given dates will allow you to get the most out of these first few weeks (and keep you from
cramming near the deadline!).
Not for Submission
By August 28
1. Read the “History of computer science” article
in Wikipedia, as well as one or more related
articles that are linked to it. Look at the arti-
cles’ history to see if you can spot likely in-
stances of vandalism.
By September 2
2. Read Chapter 0 of the textbook.
3. Look up and learn about the “Towers of Ha-
noi” game/puzzle.
4. Think about a mouse placed within a grid-
based maze, in search of a piece of cheese.
What instructions would you give that mouse
so that it can find the cheese every time, re-
gardless of the maze? Can you also accommo-
date the possibility that the cheese might not
be reachable at all?
By September 4
5. Have a draft of the “for submission” exercise
portion of this assignment ready — having one
will save you some time for a planned class ac-
tivity on that day.
By September 9
6. Look up and learn how to do the following:
•Determining the ranking with an Olympic
gymnastics competition
•Determining an Olympic platform diver’s
final score based on individual judges and
degree of difficulty
•Determining the winner of a presidential
election using an electoral college (i.e., the
way the United States of America does it)
For Submission
Submit the following items on hardcopy by the
beginning of class on September 9. As much as
possible, bring a draft of the exercise portion to
class on September 4.
Exercise
As precisely as possible, in a manner that will allow
you to do things “blindly,” write up one set of in-
structions each for:
1. Solving the Towers of Hanoi puzzle
2. Moving a mouse through a grid-based maze
until it either finds a piece of cheese or deter-
mines that the cheese is unreachable or not
present in the maze
Reflection
Once you have finished the exercise, answer the
following reflection questions:
1. How do the “Towers of Hanoi” and “mouse in
a maze” puzzles relate to what the textbook
discusses in Chapter 0?
2. Has your perception of what computer science
is changed from the beginning of the course?
If so, how has it changed?
3. Is there anything that does not make sense to
you so far? If so, what can be done to clear
things up for you?