Computational Logic in the Undergraduate Curriculum

Abstract

Logic provides the mathematical basis for hardware design and software development. In fact, digital circuits and computer programs are logic formulas expressed in a formal language. Accordingly, educated computer scientists should have experience in reasoning about the formulas that their digital circuits and programs represent. An exemplary way to get this experience is to use computational logic in support of such reasoning. This paper searches the typical undergraduate curriculum in computer science for opportunities to include material on computational logic in the context of hardware and software design and implementation. It explains how computational logic has been included as an element of two courses required in most computer science programs. It discusses some successes and a few missteps that the author has experienced over the past nine years in developing this material and using it in the classroom, and it suggests opportunities for similar efforts in other courses.