History of Computer Science Discipline in Christ University

 (Article written for Anil Pinto Sir's Assignment during Ph.D coursework March 2015)
External Link: http://anilpinto.blogspot.in/2015/03/history-of-computer-science-discipline.html

 Computer Science discipline has changed at a very rapid rate. To get an idea the Apollo Mission to moon had a RAM capacity of just 4 KiloBytes and today in India we have mobile phones with 2 GigaBytes of RAM. Today computer science and technology has transformed almost all aspects of human life. From the early time sharing machines in the 70’s to the PC’s of the 80’s and distributed cloud servers of the 21^st century,  the computer lab has seen changes in leaps and bounds. We become archaic in 3 years and obsolete in 5.  Computer’s control transcends from the vegetable to the share markets, from birth in a hospital to claiming life insurance. Whether to make friends, for entertainment or travel, technology is touching our lives in ways we never even imagined in our wildest dreams.

How does the discipline in universities keep pace?

Before we get bogged by the immenseness of our task let us take a step back and see what makes a good IT Professional. What traits and skills a successful computer science graduate possess?

Personal Traits	Technical Traits
Ability to take Decision Accepts Change Accepts Direction Accepts Responsibility Time Management Attitude Cooperation & Team Player Effective Under Stress Initiative Leadership Planning and Organizing Quality of Work Quantity of Acceptable Work Growth & Learning Innovation Presentation Skill	Core Concepts (35%) Programming Language Database Design Operating System Computer Architecture Computer Network Data Structures Technical Skills (30%) Designing Database Analyzing Requirements Project Estimation Code Understanding Debugging Thinking/Problem Solving Explore New Tools	Application Software(20%) RDBMS (like Oracle) Web Based Software High End Languages(like C#) (…) Domain Expertise (10%) Customer Interaction Requirement Gathering Emerging Areas (5%) Cloud Computing Data Mining AI Android App Dev (…)

The table above I have listed out is not based on a literature survey but purely based on my Industry Experience and hence may not be very exhaustive.

How has the discipline evolved over time?

Course Started in Christ University related to Computer Science Discipline:

·         1990: CMS (Computer Science, Maths, Statistics)
·         1994: MCA
·         1996: CME (Computer Science, Maths, Electronics)
·         2000: BCA
·         2007: M.Sc. Computer Science
·         2009: M.Sc. (Working Professionals)
·         M.Phil. and Ph.D were added recently

Computers is now taught in B.Com, MBA, Law, Chemistry, Maths, Physics and is spreading its wings and intersects most disciplines.

 Syllabus constantly underwent changes and many courses were added over time.

1990's

o   Software Architecture

o   C/ UNIX/ COBOL

o   OOAD

o   Embedded Systems

2000

o   DBA

o   Data Warehousing and Data Mining

2010

o   Cloud Computing

o   Mobile Application

o   ADBMS

o   NO SQL

 Department has used different strategies to make Teaching and Learning become effective with changing times. Following is a short summary of the last 25 years.

o   1997 Project based learning

o   1997 Started Magazine/ Cultural and Technical Fest to foster innovation, teamwork, all round development and leadership

o   2000 Seminars and Soft Skill Workshops

o   2001 Internship part of Curriculum

o   2005 Domain based lab

o   2009 Research Focus

o   2010 Corporate Connect Programs

o   2012 Online Courses

 Students have been placed consistently each year, though there may have been ups and down in the CTC the corporates have always returned for placement back to Christ University. There have been challenges specially when the recessions occurred in 2001 and 2010, but fortunately did not affect placement at Christ to a great extent. The alumni has been a key source of strength for the department and whether it was for special lectures, syllabus review, conducting sessions or exams the Alumni has been very active. In the last Alumni Meet conducted on January 2015 more than 130 Alumni had come down to the campus.

 Is there a gap between the traits table and the students who pass out from our courses?

The answer is a “yes”, we strive every day to bridge the gap. I as a teacher with 6 years of teaching experience and 12 years of industry experience realize that gap is inevitable.  I take heart that it’s after all our students out there in the real world who are making the technological advances to widen the gap and are also the ones inspiring us to keep dancing to change.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”  ― Mahatma Gandhi