Computer Science 101 - Computers & Programming for Beginners

Name: Computer Science 101 - Computers & Programming for Beginners
Rating: 4.6 (2684 reviews)

Understand the basic concepts behind Computers, Computer Science, Programming and Programming Languages

Highest Rated

Created byTimothy Meixner, Johannes Ruof

Last updated 11/2021

English

English [Auto],Korean [Auto],

What you'll learn

Understand how computers work
Understand basic concepts of Computer Science
Understand basic concepts of Programming and Programming Languages

Course content

19 sections • 36 lectures • 1h 1m total length

Introduction & Curriculum1:39
Explore the fundamentals of computer science, including what computers are and can do, how we communicate with them, and an overview of programming terminology and software concepts.
What is a computer?1:43
Learn what a computer is: an electronic device that stores and processes data by running software, and understand how hardware differs from software.
What can a computer do? What can't a computer do?2:41
Computers process vast data and perform complex calculations quickly, using teaching, data, and predefined solutions. Machine learning and AI are rising, but computers still lack independent judgment, intuition, and emotion.
How do we communicate with Computers?5:11
Explain how computers execute tasks as binary code and compare low level languages near hardware with high level languages like Java, C, and Swift, plus interpreters and compilers.
Why are Computer Science and Programming important?2:37
Discover why computer science and programming matter in everyday life, from smartphones to medicine and CGI. Build a foundational understanding and terminology for the digital world.

What is an Algorithm?9:46
Define algorithms as step-by-step solutions to problems, then illustrate with merge sort, dividing lists and merging to ascending order, and highlight that programs also use sort and search algorithms.
What is a Program?1:38
Explore how an algorithm becomes a full program by combining multiple algorithms and data across code and resource files. Learn how compilers and interpreters create executables that run applications.
What are Variables and Constants?2:57
Explore how variables and constants store data in programs, with constants fixed after assignment and variables that can change, illustrated by a name constant and a coins variable.
What are Methods and Functions?6:18
Explore how functions and methods encapsulate functionality, accept parameters, and return values, enabling reusable, flexible code through examples like say hello and simple arithmetic.
Control Flow: What is a loop?2:38
Explore core control flow concepts, including for loops and while loops, and learn how conditions, subroutines, and jumps shape program execution.
Control Flow: What is a conditional statement?4:27
Explore conditional statements in control flow, including if and else, and switch statements that compare values across cases; learn how booleans and language nuances shape program outputs.
Control Flow: What are Subroutines and Jumps?1:53
Explains how subroutines call a function or method, return to the caller, and differ from jumps that go to another code location without returning, while introducing programming paradigms.

What is Imperative Programming?2:00
explore programming paradigms and learn imperative programming as a series of instructions executed top to bottom, including defining numbers, multiplying them, and printing the result.
What is Declarative Programming?3:27
Learn how declarative programming defines goals and lets the computer find solutions, with examples from SQL data queries and real-world navigation.
What is Object Oriented Programming?5:45
Explore object oriented programming as a real world model using objects, properties, and methods defined by classes; create instances such as cars and differentiate instance versus type properties and methods.
Pseudocode - The connection between Programmers and Non Programmers2:39
Explore pseudocode as a language-agnostic abstraction that lets teams prototype algorithms with plain words, using if, else, while, and other keywords for clear communication between programmers and non-programmers.

Requirements

Access to a computer might be beneficial but is not needed
Interest in Computer Science and Programming

Description

Computer Science is a topic that is becoming more and more relevant. Whether in college, school or at work. Computers and computer programs are everywhere in our everyday lives. We use software in smartphones, ATMs and even household appliances that we are able to control with our smartphones. A lot of people are confused and don't really know how all of this actually works

This compact course will take you from zero knowledge to having a solid understanding of the basic concepts of computer science and programming languages.
To keep the course interesting and entertaining, we use a lot of examples to explain the individual topics. Amongst many other things we will learn about the importance of algorithms and how we can create one and why they are incredibly important. We will also learn about different approaches to programming such as imperative, declarative and object oriented programming. We're going to give you real world examples outside of code and computer programs to make sure everybody is able to understand what we are talking about.

At the end of this course you will have a fundamental understanding of the most important concepts of computer science and programming and can try your luck on an easy test exercise. The course also contains a kind of glossary where we've listed definitions and explanations for the most important terms so you always have them at your fingertips.

So if you always wanted to know how computers actually work, what a programmer does and how we are using computers to develop our own programs join us in this course!

Who this course is for:

Programming Beginners
People who are interested in the topic of Computer Science and Programming

Computer Science 101 - Computers & Programming for Beginners

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction and First Steps5 lectures • 14min

Basic Programming7 lectures • 30min

Programming Paradigms4 lectures • 14min

Glossary1 lecture • 1min

A stands for2 lectures • 1min

B stands for1 lecture • 1min

C stands for1 lecture • 1min

D stands for1 lecture • 1min

E stands for1 lecture • 1min

F stands for2 lectures • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: