D-INFK news channel

Juraj Hromkovic has been Professor of Information Technology at ETH Zurich for the past 20 years. During this time, he has been a leading advocate of teaching computer science in schools. He’s now giving his farewell lecture.

Last year, it was decided that computer science would become a core subject in Swiss baccalaureate schools from the 2024/25 school year onwards. In this conversation, three generations of professors who have committed themselves to this cause look at the past and future of the school subject of computer science.

Students of the department have voted for their favourite lecturers and teaching assistants. VIS President Emilia Pucher announced the winners at the last Department Conference.

Students of the department have voted for their favourite lecturers and teaching assistants. The VIS Teaching Awards winners, Angelika Steger, Dennis Hofheinz, David Basin, Ueli Maurer and Thomas Gross have been announced at the last Department Conference.

Professor Ueli Maurer was Director of Studies at the Department of Computer Science (D-INFK) from January 2020 to December 2021. In his farewell interview, he looks back on an intense but rewarding time.

In the last part of this video series, Niklaus Wirth tells us what doors the Turing Award opened for him and how he got one step closer to perfection with each programming language.

In this continuing conversation, Niklaus Wirth talks about the hurdles he had to overcome when introducing computer science to Switzerland and why the label "made in the USA" was absolutely necessary at the time.

1970, Prof. em. Niklaus Wirth developed the programming language Pascal and became world famous with it. In this conversation with Prof. em. Friedemann Mattern, Wirth talks about the beginnings of computer science and how he influenced them significantly.

Carl August Zehnder's work not only shaped the Department of Computer Science, but also the Swiss state and society. In this continuing conversation, the founder of D-INFK explains the benefits of associations, how not to lose touch in a fast-moving field and why openness is of great importance for computer scientists.

Professor emeritus Carl August Zehnder is one of the founders of the Department of Computer Science. In this video, he talks about how his research field developed out of practical necessity, the competitive pressure against other departments, and the importance of infrastructure at ETH Zurich.

Professor emeritus Walter Gander was a strong advocate for computer science since the 80s. He was committed to independent computer science teaching in Swiss schools, supported women in CS and participated in development projects abroad. In the second part of this interview, Walter Gander tells us about his work as head of department, his long-term book projects and how copy & paste was done in the 80s.

Prof. em. Walter Gander helped Switzerland acquire a high-performance computer, promoted the implementation of e-mail at ETH Zurich, and wrote the first book using LaTeX. In this interview with Lukas Fässler, high above the rooftops of Zurich, he talks about the beginnings of the Department of Computer Science and about a career that stretched from St. Gallen to Hong Kong.

How does one find what one is looking for among the numerous publications and research areas of ETH Zurich? To answer this question, ETH staff teamed up with students from the Master’s in Data Science.

Forty years ago, ETH Zurich launched its computer science degree programme. However, the history of computer science at ETH began even earlier. Our professor emeritus Carl August Zehnder reveals how he and the other founders of the department fought for their own degree programme.

Gifted children are often not challenged enough at school. As a result, their motivation and love of learning suffer. The Centre for Gifted Education at the Department of Computer Science aims to counteract this with extracurricular courses.

Computer science is a young science that builds on old ideas. Friedemann Mattern has taught this for more than seven years in his computer science lecture for electrical engineering students. With his retirement, an era comes to an end.

As Director of Studies, Professor Ueli Maurer is responsible for teaching at the Department of Computer Science. When ETH Zurich discontinued all classroom teaching on March 16, he, too, was faced with the challenge of ensuring that the department’s more than 1'000 Bachelor's and Master's students could continue their studies.

Am 10. Schweizer Tag für den Informatikunterricht vermittelte die ETH Zürich Lehrkräften neue Ansätze des Informatikunterrichts und ehrte Schulen und Lehrpersonen, die sich für einen lebendigen Unterricht einsetzen.

Professor Peter Müller, the retiring Director of Studies of the Department of Computer Science, looks back on two and a half years in office and takes stock. In this interview, he talks about the highlights of his job and how teaching has changed at D-INFK.

They are lecturers, scientists, software developers and innovators: the Senior Scientists Focus Education at the Department of Computer Science are responsible for teaching computer science at other departments. But they also do much more than just teach.

Can you turn a semester project into a business idea? Yes, of course! The video game Unrailed!, developed by Hendrik Baatz, Thomas Lang, Lukas Rahmann and Thomas Wolf as part of the Game Programming Laboratory course, has garnered worldwide interest at trade shows and in the media. On 9 September 2019, it became the first game developed at the Department of Computer Science to be commercially available.

As a female computer scientist, Julia Chatain has experienced many conscious and unconscious biases. With her work at ETH Zurich’s Game Technology Center, she aims to refute such prejudices for future generations and to show everyone – not least the women themselves – that yes, women can code!

20 international students explore their favourite research topic while working within a research group at the Department of Computer Science.

Professor Juraj Hromkovic explains what language and programming have in common and what makes a good programming language for computer science education.

Juraj Hromkovic has over 15 years of experience in teaching children computer science. He explains the approach we should take.

After launching the School for Continuing Education with Einstein in April, ETH is presenting another new course: the Diploma of Advanced Studies ETH in Data Science. 

ETH computer scientist Bernd Gärtner explains why even youngsters should get to grips with computer science.

The 2018 KITE Award has been presented to Lukas Fässler, Markus Dahinden and David Sichau for their e-​tutorials, which teach programming to students from all departments. ETH Zurich awards the prize for pioneering teaching concepts.

As part of today’s Digitaltag event, 180 children are visiting ETH Zurich to attend a programming workshop organised by the Centre for Computer Science Education. ETH professor Juraj Hromkovic explains why good computer science education is so important for young people and what is currently going wrong in schools.

Professor emeritus Carl August Zehnder recounts the early history of computer science in Switzerland that lead first to the creation of a computer science curriculum and finally to the founding of the Department of Computer Science in 1981. (German)

Knowledge is not only a privilege but also a responsibility. Prof. Bernd Gärtner, Dr. Petra Adamaszek and their "Kinderlabor" (Laboratory for Children) bring scientific MINT subjects closer to individuals at the ETH hosted event "Treffpunkt Science City". Through the laboratory’s dedication towards young learners, disciplines such as computer science become both distributed and accessible. The benefits reach far into business, industry, and society.

Google honours the Centre for Computer Science Education (ABZ) of ETH Zurich, which promotes computer science skills at primary schools by offering programming courses. Now, the programme leaders can extend their efforts onto other parts of Switzerland. (German)

Alumni and current students discuss the opportunities of the joint Master in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB) offered by ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich.

Professor Friedemann Mattern, Head of the Department of Computer Science, welcomes first-year Bachelor's students to ETH Zurich. (German)