Logic in the curricula of Computer Science
Margareth Quindeless · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · 2014
The aim of the programs in Computer Science is to educate and train students to understand the problems and build systems that solve them. This process involves applying a special reasoning to model interactions, capabilities, and limitations of the components involved. A good curriculum must involve the use of tools to assist in these tasks, and one that could be considered as a fundamental is the logic, because with it students develop the necessary reasoning. Besides, software developers analyze the behavior of the program during the designed, the depuration, and testing; hardware designers perform minimization and equivalence verification of circuits; designers of operating systems validate routing protocols, programing, and synchronization; and formal logic underlying all these activities. Therefore, a strong background in applied logic would help students to develop or potentiate their ability to reason about complex systems. Unfortunately, few curricula formed and properly trained in logic. Most includes only one or two courses of Discrete Mathematics, which in a few weeks covered truth tables and the propositional calculus, and nothing more. This is not enough, and higher level courses in which they are applied and many other logical concepts are needed. In addition, students will not see the importance of logic in their careers and need to modify the curriculum committees or adapt the curriculum to reverse this situation.