Computer Science at Yale University

A suggested order for the 38 courses on the map, built from prerequisite chains and how often each course has run in fall and spring across the last 12 regular terms. It is not the department’s plan, and it is not a promise a course will run. Confirm against the department’s own advising material.

Gateway courses

Each of these unlocks the largest share of downstream work on this map. Courses from other departments can appear here when they genuinely gate CPSC coursework.

• CPSC 3230Introduction to Systems Programming and Computer Organizationopens 9 courses (9 directly)
• CPSC 3650Algorithmsopens 3 courses (3 directly)
• CPSC 3660Intensive Algorithmsopens 3 courses (3 directly)
• CPSC 4780Computer Graphicsopens 1 course (1 directly)

The map

Intro tiers at the top, advanced work below; arrows point from a prerequisite to the course it unlocks. Courses from other departments appear where they gate CPSC work. Click any course to see what it requires and unlocks without leaving this page; hovering lights up its neighbors. The lists on this page carry the same courses in text form.

Showing the 38 CPSC and feeder courses that have prerequisite links. 407 more CPSC courses have no recorded prerequisites. They are listed under Tracks below, not drawn as loose dots here.

Tracks

Upper-level clusters, grouped by the gateway that opens them.

The longest ladders

The deepest prerequisite chains in CPSC. These are the routes that take the most semesters to climb.

• 3 courses deep, ending at CPSC 4050

  1. CPSC 2230Data Structures and Programming Techniques
  2. CPSC 3230Introduction to Systems Programming and Computer Organization
  3. CPSC 4050Great Debates in Computer Systems

• 3 courses deep, ending at CPSC 4650

  1. CPSC 2020Mathematical Tools for Computer Science
  2. CPSC 3650Algorithms
  3. CPSC 4650Theory of Distributed Systems

• 3 courses deep, ending at CPSC 4792

  1. CPSC 2020Mathematical Tools for Computer Science
  2. CPSC 4780Computer Graphics
  3. CPSC 4792Real-Time 3D Computer Graphics Programming

• 2 courses deep, ending at CPSC 3380

  1. ECE 2011Introduction to Computer Engineering
  2. CPSC 3380Digital Systems

Grade medians

Teaching in Fall 2026

Instructors on CPSC sections in Fall 2026, from the registrar's schedule.

• A. Cohan
• A. Khandelwal
• A. Lew
• A. Silberschatz
• A. Weide
• A. Wong
• B. Fisch
• B. Rosen
• B. Scassellati
• C. Papamanthou
• D. McKay
• E. Michielssen
• Erat
• F. Zhang
• Feigenbaum
• Glenn
• H. Rushmeier
• Immorlica
• J. Aspnes
• J. Glenn
• Kim
• L. Zhong
• M. Fischer
• M. Shah
• M. Vazquez
• M. Zampetakis
• McKay
• N. Vishnoi
• O. Erat
• Posada
• R. Lederman
• R. Manohar
• R. Piskac
• R. Soule
• R. Ying
• S. Krishnaswamy
• S. Park
• S. Petersen
• S. Slade
• S. Zucker
• + 13 more

Clubs & organizations

No clubs or organizations on record under CPSC yet.

Clubs students here join

Department events

Computer Science does not run a page here yet. When it does, its events show up here and on the Yale campus feed.