Communications of the ACM - Self managed systems
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A computing program is usually more than a collection of disjoint courses. Rather, students typically move from an introductory level to intermediate level to advanced, and each level usually builds upon background and experience obtained at earlier levels. Prerequisites often provide the structure for a curriculum, so prerequisites shape the way students progress through these courses. This column examines possible rationales for prerequisites and some consequences of prerequisite chains. The column then examines more carefully the prerequisites for two specific areas of the computing curriculum: mathematics and introductory courses.