A computer is a system of many parts working together. The physical parts, which you can see and touch, are collectively called hardware while non-physical parts are called software. Software refers to the instructions or programs that tell the hardware what to do. Each different part in a computer has a different task to perform. The tasks complement one another to produce the desired result.

Introduction

CSC 208 Introduction to Discrete structure is a 3 unit course for students studying towards acquiring a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. The course is divided into 10 study sessions. It will first introduce you to the fundamental of discrete structure.

The course guide therefore gives you an overview of what CSC 208 is all about, the textbooks and other materials to be referenced, what you expect to know in each unit and how to work through the course materials.

Recommended Study Time

This course is a 3 unit course divided into 10 study sessions. You are enjoined to spend at least 3 hours in studying the content of each study unit

What you are about to learn in this course

The overall aim of this course, CSC 208 will first introduce you to the fundamental of discrete structure. At the end of this course you will learn about the meaning of discrete structure, highlight the importance of discrete structures, explain some mathematical notations of set theory, meaning of relation, explain the Binary operations of sets, differentiate the operations of relations. The student will be required to complete this module by learning what the discrete structure.

Course Aims

This course aims to introduce students to the discrete structure. It is expected that the knowledge will help the reader to effectively use computers in solving discrete structure problem.

Course Objectives

It is important to note that each unit has specific objectives. Students should study them carefully before proceeding to subsequent units. Therefore, it may be useful to refer to these objectives in the course of your study of the unit to assess your progress. You should always look at the unit objectives after completing a unit. In this way, you can be sure that you have done what is required of you by the end of the unit.

This study session will teach you the basic principles of computer programming and good programming practices. It is intended to help you in writing a well-developed, clear, well documented, easy to read programs that will be easy for both you and someone else to understand and update at some time in the future. If you follow the guidelines as will be discussed in this session, it will be very useful both for you as the program coders and developers.

The only language a computer system understands is machine language; therefore, all other programs written in any other language must be converted, interpreted or translated to the language which the computer understands. This necessitates the need of a compiler, translator or interpreter.

To make a computer do any task, you have to write a computer program. To write a computer program, you have to tell the computer, step by step, exactly what you want it to do. The computer then "executes" the program, following each step mechanically, to accomplish the end goal. When you are telling the computer what to do, you also get to choose how it is going to do it. This is where computer algorithms come in.

The area of management that aim to facilitate effective communication and exchange of fact and ideas from and to various knowledge stores, centres and sources such as human experts, books, and databases is referred to as information management.

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