CORRECTION APPENDED

Google recently donated 20 free T-Mobile G1 cell phones to Harvard’s introductory computer science courses, allowing students taking Computer Science 1 and Computer Science 50 to develop new cell phone applications for course credit.

Pre-installed with Google’s Android operating system, the black flip-phones have also been loaned to students serving as teaching fellows for CS 50, offered this semester. “What was so appealing were Google’s plans for a dragon drop programming piece, a language similar to the language already used in CS 50,” said David J. Malan ’99, the class course instructor. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

“The idea is that [the phones] would be very accessible for everyone who would like to program and not have a very high barrier to entry,” said CS 50 TF Nathan C. M. Leiby ’10, who received his phone in late August.

This is not the first time that Harvard’s computer science classes have received donations from technology corporations­­—last October, CS 50 TFs received free tablet PCs from Microsoft to test out. But the Google initiative marks the first time in recent years that the department has received mobile devices, according to Malan.

Malan said he does not plan on heavily incorporating the phones into the course curriculum.

Instead, the phones will be loaned out at the end of the semester among the students enrolled in CS 50—a number that usually reaches roughly 300—as one option for their final projects. Malan said he sees the phones as “a welcome experiment” to enhance an already comprehensive curriculum.

“Students are welcome to tackle most any project they’d like, and these Android phones will empower a handful [of students] this fall to develop some actual mobile apps,” said Malan.

CS 1 Course Head Henry H. Leitner wrote in an e-mailed statement that he would decide how his course will use the technology after observing the program in action in CS 50.

“At the moment I’m a little concerned that the user interface is a bit confusing, and a CS1 student would probably have a difficult time if it were deployed at the start of the semester,” wrote Leitner, who is also associate dean for Information Technology and Chief Technology Officer for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Ten other schools are participating in the T-Mobile G1 give-away program.

Google could not be reached for comment yesterday.

—Staff writer Elyssa A.L. Spitzer can be reached at spitzer@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Helen X. Yang can be reached at hxyang@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The Sept. 4 news article "Google Donates Cell Phones to CS Classes" misquoted David J. Malan '99 as referring to the language used by the Android cell phones as a "dragon drop programming piece." In fact, he said it was a "drag and drop programming piece."