The syllabus for the 1970 University of Toronto Ph. D. written comprehensive examination
The attached list of books and monographs served as the syllabus for the 1970 Ph.D. written comprehensive examination in the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto. This examination is intended to test our Ph.D. students' breadth* of knowledge in Computer Science and is given at the end of his first Ph.D. year. The students are expected to have a basic knowledge in each of the following five areas: Programming Languages, Computer Systems, Numerical Analysis, Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science, and Computer Applications. This year, the syllabus consisted of 3 6 books or monographs in each area, plus a supplementary list of books in the "General" category. The set of books in each area was chosen to reflect the breadth of the area rather than to give a definitive outline of what the student is expected to know in the area. The students were not expected to have read all chapters of all books but rather to have made an intelligent selection of the material presented. In some areas the student may have had to do some extra reading.