BSc Computer Science Subjects: Know key topics and important books

Aspiring for BSc Computer Science? Know about common subjects, important topics and books below.

BSc Computer Science subjects cover all the important topics required to train students for a successful career in the IT industry. Though the majority of subjects are common, the course is totally different from BTech in Computer Science. The entire course curriculum of the BSc in Computer Science course is divided into six (6) semesters.

Admission to the programme is purely based on a merit basis but students must score a minimum of 50 per cent marks in their class 12 with PCM as compulsory subjects for admission to the course. The BSc computer science subjects across the top colleges in India are almost the same. BSc Computer Science is usually offered in regular mode, but there are options to opt for the programme in distance education as well.

Here is detailed information about BSc Computer Science subjects that are followed across the majority of BSc Computer Science colleges in India.

Year-wise BSc Computer Science Subjects

BSc Computer Science degree course is a 3-year course. The subjects are divided along the three years keeping in mind the ability of the students to grasp the knowledge more effectively. The year-wise breakdown of the BSc Computer Science syllabus is mentioned below:

First Year
Language 1	C Programming	Computer Networks
Language 2	Data Structure	Basics of Computer Science
Digital Fundamentals	Mathematical Foundation	Computer Science Applications
Second Year
Computer Networks	Visual Programming	Visual Basic
Oracle	Software Engineering	Java Programming
RDBMS	Java	Digital Advancement
Third Year
C++	Programming Lab	Operating System
Java	Java Programming	System Software & Operating System
Software testing	Visual Programming 2	Advanced Computer Networks

BSc Computer Science Subjects: Key Topics

The table below shows key topics of most popular subjects for the BSc Computer Science course offered by various colleges:

Subjects	Topics Covered
Introduction to Computers	Evolution of Computers, Generation of Computers, Classification of Computers Analog Digital and Hybrid Computers, Classification of Computers according to size, Supercomputers, Mainframe Computers, Personal Computers (Different Types) and Terminals (Different Types), Characteristics of Computers, Block Diagram of a Digital Computer, types of OS.
Input/Output Devices	Input Devices-Keyboard, Mouse, Output Devices – VDU, Printers. Internet, Multimedia, Computer viruses
Introduction to Programming Concepts	Types of Programming Languages, software, Classification of software, Application software and System Software, Structured Programming, Algorithms and Flowcharts with Examples
Introduction to Number system and codes	Different number systems and their conversions (Decimal, Binary, Octal, and Hexadecimal), 1’s and 2’s complement, Floating Point numbers, Coding – BCD, Gray, ASCII
Disk Operating System	Introduction to DOS Commands. Types of DOS Commands Wild Card Character in DOS Directory Related Commands. File Related Commands and Utilities. Filters & Redirection, Batch file.
Introduction of Windows, Features, Application	MS Windows, and its various elements of application windows title bar, menu bar, maximize and close buttons, borders and corners, scroll bars, windows icon, folder icons, dialogue box and its items, starting Microsoft windows, searching the files, copying the files, disk cleanup, deleting unnecessary files
Introduction to C	History of C, Structure of a C program. The C character set, Constants, Variables and keywords, Data type. Types of constants and variables. Type declaration and arithmetic instructions, Operators in C, Hierarchy of operators, control instructions, InputOutput statements in C (Formatted and Unformatted)
Control Structures	Decision control structures, logical operators, conditional operators and relational operators. Loop control structures –while, do-while, for loop, Break statement, Continue statement, switch-case control structure, goto statement Bitwise operators Bitwise AND, OR, exclusive OR, compliment, right shift and left shift operators
Arrays	One dimensional and multidimensional array, declaration, initialization and array Manipulations, sorting (Bubble sort) Strings – Basic Concepts, Library Functions.
Functions	Definition, function definition and prototyping, types of functions, type of arguments, Recursion, passing arrays to functions, storage class in C-automatic, register, external and static variables.

BSc Computer Science Subjects and their Books

Students are advised to go through some of the below-mentioned books for clear concept and practical training:

Name of the Book	Name of the Author
Fundamentals of Database Systems	Ramez Elmasri
Programming with Java	E Balagurusamy
Data Structures with Java	J R Hubbard
Theory of Computer Science	K L P Mishra and N. Chandrasekaran
Programming in ANSI C	E. Balagurusamy
Practical Data Acquisition for Instrumentation and Control Systems	John Park and Steve MacKay
Mathematical structures for Computer Science	Judith L Gersting
Elements of Discrete Mathematics	Ronald E Prather