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Program in Computing and the Arts

The Bachelor of Arts in Computing and the Arts is an interdepartmental major designed for students who wish to integrate work in computing with work in one of the arts disciplines: Art, History of Art, Music, and Theater Studies.

For students with a computing perspective, issues in these disciplines present interesting and substantive problems: How musicians use computers to compose; the limitations of current software tools used by artists; the types of analyses done by art historians; challenges in designing and using virtual sets in the theater; ways that virtual worlds might help to envision new forms of artistic expression; lessons that can be learned from trying to create a robotic conductor or performer.

For students with an artistic perspective, computing methods offer a systematic approach to achieving their vision. A foundation in computer science allows artists to understand existing computing tools more comprehensively and to use them more effectively. Furthermore, it gives them insight into what fundamentally can and cannot be done with computers, so they can anticipate the future development of new tools for computing in their field.

Students choose a track in art, history of art, music, or theater studies. The prerequisite for all tracks is

• CPSC 112a or b Introduction to Programming.

(Students with little programming experience are advised to complete this course during the freshman year.) The additional prerequisites for the art track are

• ART 111a or b Visual Thinking
• ART 114a or b Basic Drawing.

There are no additional prerequisites for the history of art track. The additional prerequisite for the music track is

• MUSI 210a or b Elementary Studies in Analysis and Composition I,

as determined by the Music Theory Placement Test. (Students who do not place into or out of MUSI 210 a or b may have to take a lower-level course first.) The additional prerequisites for the theater studies track are

• THST 110a and 111b Survey of Theater and Drama.

There is no required favorable review of studio work for admission to any track.

Twelve term courses are required beyond the prerequisite(s), not including the two-term senior project. Three Computer Science courses are common to all tracks:

• CPSC 201a or b Introduction to Computer Science
• CPSC 202a Mathematical Tools for Computer Science
• CPSC 223b Data Structures and Programming Techniques.

Students are advised to complete these courses by the end of the sophomore year. Students may substitute MATH 244a Discrete Mathematics for CPSC 202a.

The remaining nine courses are track-specific, as specified below. All requirements for a single track must be satisfied. The art track requires the following courses:

The history of art track requires the following courses: The music track requires the following courses: The theater studies track requires the following courses:

For all tracks the senior requirement is a two-term project supervised by faculty members from both Computer Science and the arts department and approved by the director of undergraduate studies. Students must submit a written report, including an electronic abstract and web page(s). The project is taken as one term of

• CPAR 491a or b Senior Project for Computing and the Arts

and one term of

• ART 495a or b Senior Project
• HSAR 499a or b The Senior Essay
• MUSI 490 Senior Essay for Intensive Majors in the History, Theory, or Composition of Music
• THST 491a or b Senior Project in Theater Studies,

depending on the track chosen.

The entire program of each student majoring in Computing and the Arts must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies. Courses taken Credit/D/Fail may not be counted toward the major.

For more information visit the program web site at

http://graphics.cs.yale.edu/comparts.html

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Next: Miscellany Up: hbook Previous: B.S. Electrical Engineering &   Contents