Exploration Sessions

Thursdays, 4:30-5:20 in room SIG 134.

Each week we will offer a different opportunity to explore extra topics in Computer Science with one of our TAs. Attending these sessions will not affect your grade but they will be a good way to learn about how the course material connects to the larger world of Computer Science and Information Technology.

Week 9: No session this week. Thursday, June 5th

Week 8: Third Party APIs - Thursday, May 28th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • Getting a couple of integers from System.in or parsing a file on your computer isn't bad, but how do we access the rest of the publicly available data in the world in real time? CSE 143x TA, Roee Avnon, will explore how to use Third-Party APIs (Application Programming Interface) to get massive amount of real-time, real-world data to create truly interactive applications.

Week 7: No session this week.

Week 6: Amazon.com and the Software Industry - Thursday, May 14th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • Come hear about what it is like to work as a software developer in the industry from former Amazon.com employee (and UWCSE TA alum) Whitaker Brand. He'll talk about the work that he did at Amazon, how working in the industry is different than CS in college, and work/life balance. Come learn about how Amazon.com prevents inappropriate language and fake reviews from getting posted to their website.

Week 5: Midterms -- no session.

Week 4: Cryptography - Thursday, April 30th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • How do we protect the information that we share on and over the web? In this week's Exploration Session, TA Varun Mahadevan will speak about encryption and the math that underlies it. We'll see how some properties of prime numbers and the mod operator enable secure communication, via public key encryption.

Week 3: Artificial Intelligence - Thursday, April 23th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • Have you ever wondered about the rise of artificial intelligence and its prominence in games and puzzles? In a talk given by TA Caitlin Schaefer, you will learn about the history of big moments in AI in games and puzzles. In addition, we'll look at what algorithms computers like Watson and Deep Blue use to beat humans at their own game.

Week 2: Machine Learning - Thursday, April 16th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • A quick introduction to the fundamental concepts of machine learning. Machine learning involves identifying patterns in large datasets, and using these patterns to understand new and unforeseen situations. Topics will focus on decision trees and neural networks and how they can apply to college admissions and handwriting recognition.

Week 1: Binary - Thursday, April 9th from 4:30-5:20 in SIG134

  • Computers can only understand binary, but we write in Java, a programming language that looks a lot like English. This week we'll talk about how computers represent different types of data, complex information, and instructions with just 1s and 0s.