Curriculum
Graduate certificate courses
Learn fundamental concepts of computer science and software development in a nine-month, six-course sequence. Study part time, taking two classes a quarter in the 100% online or evening on-campus cohort.
Study software engineering concepts and develop essential skills in object-oriented programming, data structures and algorithms in C++.
Learn how to design and test software systems, explore systems programming, and gain an understanding of software engineering life cycles and modeling.
Course schedule
Students in both the online and on-campus cohorts complete the same courses each quarter as outlined in the schedule. The online cohort is 100% online (asynchronous) and the on-campus cohort meets twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays in the evenings. In addition to course content, students will have weekly homework and/or lab work outside of class. Learn more in the program FAQ.
Graduate certificate classes build upon what students learn each quarter. Students need to complete each course with a 2.7 or higher, and maintain a cumulative 3.0 to earn the graduate certificate.
Autumn
| Course | Cr | Days | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSS 501: Data Structures & Object-oriented Programming 1 | 4 | M/W | 6:00-7:40 p.m. |
| CSS 506: Software Development Processes | 2 | W | 8:00-10:00 p.m. |
Winter
| Course | Cr | Days | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSS 502: Data Structures & Object-oriented Programming 2 (prerequisite: CSS 501) | 4 | M/W | 6:00-7:40 p.m. |
| CSS 507: Software Modeling Techniques (prerequisite: CSS 506) | 2 | W | 8:00-10:00 p.m. |
Spring
| Course | Cr | Days | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSS 503: Systems Programming (prerequisite: CSS 502) | 4 | M/W | 6:00-7:40 p.m. |
| CSS 508: Software Testing & Quality (prerequisite: CSS 507) | 2 | W | 8:00-10:00 p.m. |
Course descriptions
CSS 501: Data Structures and Object-oriented Programming 1
Covers data structures and object-oriented programming. Studies basic and advanced data types, their uses, and implementations. Students design solutions to programming problems using object-oriented techniques with various data types. Covers algorithms and their tradeoffs. Uses modern software engineering practices.
CSS 502: Data Structures and Object-oriented Programming 2
Covers advanced data structures included trees, balanced trees, heaps, graphs, and hash tables along with associated algorithms. Covers object-oriented programming with a focus on design and implementation of programs using inheritance and polymorphism. Introduces formal automata theory. (Prerequisite: CSS 501)
Examines the logical design and programming aspects of operating systems and network communication. Topics covered include process, threads, synchronization, deadlocks, memory management, virtual memory, file systems, and client-server network programming. (Prerequisite: CSS 502)
CSS 506: Software Development Processes
Provides a foundation in software engineering processes, methods and practices associated with prescriptive and agile software process models. Includes the creation of artifacts commonly used to communicate, justify, and manage computing projects.
CSS 507: Software Modeling Techniques
Provides the concepts and skills needed to use modeling in software analysis and design to foster understanding and communications of a problem and its potential solutions. Includes the creation of modeling artifacts for projects by hand and using CASE tools. (Prerequisite: CSS 506)
CSS 508: Software Testing and Quality
Reviews approaches, concepts and techniques used to validate and verify software methods used to improve software processes. Students reflect on the applicability of software engineering and computer science methods. (Prerequisite: CSS 507)