Technological advances have allowed for the emergence of new professions in computer science within the fields of artificial intelligence, data science, web technology, cybersecurity, networks, computer graphics, formal methods and optimization. The Computer Science Department aims at providing future graduates with the essential skills of the field of computer science. Shared across all areas of society, economics and science, this discipline must be mastered by all engineers and researchers, regardless of their chosen field. The Department is supported by its Laboratory, LIX, whose teams are responsible for the core part of computer science education at École Polytechnique.

The teaching offer we provide mainly consists of the following programs, which are presented below:

• the Bachelor Program
• the Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program
• the Masters of Science and Technology
• the Masters in Computer Science

The precise list of courses for each program, as well as the current pedagogical team, can be found on the syapses website.

Bachelor program

The bachelor program is a 3 years undergraduate program with a double major (Mathematics and Computer Science/Physics/Economics). The major specialization starts from the second year.

• Year 1 classes: Programming (CSE101, CSE102), Algorithms (CSE103) and Web Programming (CSE104).
• Year 2 classes: Object-oriented Programming (CSE201), Design and Analysis of Algorithms (CSE202), Logic and Proofs (CSE203), Machine Learning (CSE204), Computer Architecture (CSE205), Introduction to Formal Languages (CSE206), Introduction to Networks (CSE207).
• Year 3 classes: Functional Programming (CSE301), Compilers (CSE302), Computer Science Project (CSE303), Complexity (CSE304), Concurrent and Distributed Computing (CSE305), Computer Graphics (CSE306), Relational Programming (CSE307).

Bachelor students also have to complete a project, a thesis and internships.

The engineer program

The Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program is a 4 years program, which you usually enter after following 2 years of intensive scientific courses (classes préparatoires) and a very competitive exam. There are mandatory courses on the first year, and the specialization begins from the third year (which corresponds to a master 1) level. The fourth year usually consists of a master 2, which is not necessarily at École Polytechnique (we however provide a few master 2 level programs).

• Year 1 classes: students have to chose between the introductory (INF361) or advanced (INF371) CS course.
• Year 2:
  • students have to chose courses among Algorithms (INF411), Complexity and Calculability (INF412), Advanced Algorithms (IFN421), Data analysis (INF442) and Computer Graphics (INF443).
  • they can learn concrete applications with the modal classes, which are practical classes culminating in the completion of a project. Possible topics: web development, smartphone programming, robot programming, etc. (comprehensive list).
  • they also learn collective work through the PSC (collective scientific project)
• Year 3:
  • they chose an intensive sepcialized program at master 1 level, see the list of programs proposed in computer science which include Algorithms, Cybersecurity, Datascience, Image/Vision, and so on.
  • they complete a reasearch internship (usually in a research lab or in the R&D department of a company) of approximately 4 months (see INF590, INF591, INF592 et INF593), see the here 2019-2020 internship brochure
• Year 4: students follow a master 2 anywhere in the world, according to the track they chose in previous year.

IP Paris masters

École Polytechnique is part of IP Paris, through which it offers various master lever formations (the master 1 level courses are often shared with third year engineer students).

IP Paris also provides PhD tracks which are 5 years scolarships consisting of 2 years of master and 3 years of PhD. The PhD project is defined at the beginning of the PhD track, in accordance with a tutor, and master courses are chosen with this aim in mind.

Masters of Science and Technology

The department offers three masters of science and technology:

• Cybersecurity : Threats and Defenses Master
• Internet of Things: Innovation and Management Master
• Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Visual Computing Master

Carrers

The formations we provide can lead to a wide range of possible carrers. This includes

• research at public bodies or large enterprises in France or abroad based on the Internet and network management sector,
• engineering and development of information services at major corporations across all sectors,
• entrepreneurship, which is greatly simplified for IT due to the reduced requirement of equipment and material,
• Continuing their studies at an école d’application (specialized graduate school) like Télécom Paris, major government bodies, or through additional training abroad.