Foundations of Computer Science

For exam dates and detailed exam information please visit the section for "current students"

The courses "Foundations of Computer Science" cover material that all students of computer science should know. They are self-study courses and are based on material which we assume students know from their Bachelor program. The main goal of these courses is to ensure that all our Master students have a solid knowledge all over computer science and not just in their area of specific expertise.

For each course a syllabus of required topics is published. During the semester the students should ensure that they master all these topics. Looking back at this material of the Bachelor program from the advanced perspective of a Master student will reveal many new connections.

A note for ETH Bachelor students: The required material is mostly taken from courses of the first two years (Obligatorische Fächer), with small additions from third year courses (Kernfachvorlesungen).

Exams:
For each course there is an exam. For topics other than Programming, exams are

• Pass/fail, i.e. no marks are given.
• Closed book, i.e. no supporting material (books, notes, electronic
  equipment, etc.) is permitted; for the programming exam appropriate
  equipment will be provided (see below for details).
• 2 hours (Computational Science and Information Systems), 3 hours
  (Theory and Algorithms and Computer Systems), 4 hours (Programming).

Requirements: 4 out of the 5 courses must be passed.

Courses: Please follow the links to get detailed information on the required syllabus for each course.

• Theory and Algorithms
• Computer Systems
• Computational Science
• Information Systems
• Programming