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Possibly the difference between "Computer Science" and "Computer Studies"?

i don't think so. CompSci 101 is gonna be stuff like fizz-buzz. you're gonna learn the absolute basics: loops, conditionals, maybe even functions, depending on how the course is structured. but depth-vs.-breadth? calculating big O, or even what big O is? that's not intro level stuff. it's certainly important, and i agree that you should think long and hard before hiring someone for a senior role if they can't handle that kind of stuff. i just strongly disagree with categorizing it as introductory.

You're right, I didn't literally mean CS 101. In fact, at my university I believe the class was CS 1511.

What I mean is, "Things that a CS major probably should have been exposed to in his or her first year of college."

The University of Cambridge's computer science course includes big-O notation in the first term. It is introductory.

Look at it like any other subject: you spend a lot of time analysing and understanding existing work before you make new work. Why would it be different for computer science?

The introductory course syllabus is at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1011/CST/node11.html if you're interested.

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