ACCELERATED INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS AND PROGRAMMING

M 1:30-3:00PM - 1610 IOE

W 1:30-3:00PM - 1013 DOW

Instructor: Ella M. Atkins ematkins@umich.edu

Computers are prevalent in engineering and everyday life. Graphical interfaces rapidly enable us to adopt the computer as a tool: an advanced telephone (voice/e-mail/chat), television (interactive entertainment), typewriter (word processing), or calculator. Incoming students are comfortable with web browsers and impatient when connectivity is lost, yet few understand how information is represented, manipulated, and communicated within a digital computing environment.

An engineer must first understand technology to appropriately use and advance it. Spacecraft cannot operate without computers. Modern aircraft and automobiles contain tens to hundreds of embedded microprocessors networked with one or more central processor(s). Emerging technologies in fields such as active structures, fluid dynamics, and engines/propulsion are increasingly relying on computers to monitor sensors and actively control subsystems. Information management and processing are revolutionizing the way engineered systems are designed, built, tested, and deployed.

Engineering 151 introduces students to the algorithm development and procedural programming concepts covered in Engineering 101 but at a faster pace. Engineering 151 also introduces object-oriented programming, engineering analysis methods, and additional topics such as parallel computing and embedded systems. Assignments focus on procedural and object-oriented algorithm development and implementation for complex engineering applications. Engineering 151 provides an accelerated alternative to Engineering 101 for students either with previous programming experience or with strong motivation and natural intuition for algorithms.

Students who take Engineering 151 will experience broad and in-depth coverage of the C++ and Matlab programming languages. Both are widely used across the engineering disciplines. C++ is a general-purpose language supporting fundamental programming constructs including object-oriented methods. Matlab provides powerful built-in capabilities for mathematical modeling and analysis, and visualizing data graphically.

For Fall 2009, Engineering 151 students will complete in-depth engineering simulation and robot control simulation projects. The engineering simulation project, written in Matlab, will focus on numerical analysis of a dynamic system as it moves through a simple simulated world. The embedded control project, written in C++, will enable students to remotely program and control a mobile robotic system.

This course is equally appropriate for EECS and non-EECS majors. Non-EECS engineering students, in particular, will be exposed via Eng 151 to object-oriented programming and embedded system topics not otherwise covered in most required undergraduate engineering curricula.