Certificate in Computing Science

This program provides both part-time and full-time students with an opportunity to understand the fundamentals of computers and programming without necessarily specializing in computing science. Current SFU Computing Science students in Major or Honours programs (or related joint programs) may not apply to this program.

Prerequisite Grade Requirement

Computing science course entry requires a grade of C- or better in each prerequisite course. A minimum 2.40 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) is required for 200, 300 and 400 division computing courses.

Program Requirements

A 2.00 grade point average is required on the CMPT courses that are used for graduation. Only courses completed at Simon Fraser University are used in this calculation.

Required Courses

Students complete at least 18 units of CMPT or MACM courses including:

CMPT 225 - Data Structures and Programming (3) *

3 credits of upper division CMPT courses chosen from the following list. 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

CMPT 310 - Artificial Intelligence Survey (3)

CMPT 340 - Biomedical Computing (3)

CMPT 411 - Knowledge Representation (3)

CMPT 413 - Computational Linguistics (3)

CMPT 414 - Model-Based Computer Vision (3)

CMPT 417 - Intelligent Systems (3)

CMPT 419 - Special Topics in Artificial Intelligence (3)

VISUAL AND INTERACTIVE COMPUTING

CMPT 361 - Introduction to Computer Graphics (3)

CMPT 363 - User Interface Design (3)

CMPT 365 - Multimedia Systems (3)

CMPT 412 - Computational Vision (3)

CMPT 461 - Image Synthesis (3)

CMPT 464 - Geometric Modelling in Computer Graphics (3)

CMPT 466 - Animation (3)

CMPT 468 - Introduction to Computer Music and Sound Synthesis (3)

CMPT 469 - Special Topics in Computer Graphics (3)

COMPUTING SYSTEMS

CMPT 300 - Operating Systems I (3)

CMPT 305 - Computer Simulation and Modelling (3)

CMPT 371 - Data Communications and Networking (3)

CMPT 379 - Principles of Compiler Design (3)

CMPT 431 - Distributed Systems (3)

CMPT 433 - Embedded Systems (3)

CMPT 471 - Networking II (3)

CMPT 479 - Special Topics in Computing Systems (3)

CMPT 499 - Special Topics in Computer Hardware (3)

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

CMPT 353 - Computational Data Science (3)

CMPT 354 - Database Systems I (3)

CMPT 441 - Computational Biology (3)

CMPT 454 - Database Systems II (3)

CMPT 456 - Information Retrieval and Web Search (3)

CMPT 459 - Special Topics in Database Systems (3)

CMPT 470 - Web-based Information Systems (3)

CMPT 474 - Web Systems Architecture (3)

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AND SOFTWARE

CMPT 373 - Software Development Methods (3)

CMPT 375 - Mathematical Foundations of Software Technology (3)

CMPT 383 - Comparative Programming Languages (3)

CMPT 384 - Symbolic Computing (3)

CMPT 473 - Software Quality Assurance (3)

CMPT 475 - Requirements Engineering (3)

CMPT 477 - Introduction to Formal Verification (3)

CMPT 489 - Special Topics in Programming Language (3)

THEORETICAL COMPUTING SCIENCE

CMPT 307 - Data Structures and Algorithms (3)

CMPT 308 - Computability and Complexity (3)

CMPT 404 - Cryptography and Cryptographic Protocols (3)

CMPT 405 - Design and Analysis of Computing Algorithms (3)

CMPT 407 - Computational Complexity (3)

CMPT 408 - Theory of Computing Networks/Communications (3)

CMPT 409 - Special Topics in Theoretical Computing Science (3)

* Students are responsible for meeting the prerequisites for this course: introductory computer science ( (CMPT 125 and 127), CMPT 126 or CMPT 135) and discrete math (MACM 101) or their equivalents. Note that completion of these courses counts towards the 18 units required for the certificate.

Co-operative Education and Work Experience

All computing science students are strongly encouraged to explore the opportunities that Work Integrated Learning (WIL) can offer them. Please contact an applied sciences co-op advisor during your first year of studies to ensure that you have all of the necessary courses and information to help plan for a successful co-op experience.