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    Computer Science 101

    Stanford University via Stanford OpenEdx

    16 Reviews 1973 students interested
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    Taken this course? Share your experience with other students. Write review

    Overview

    CS101 teaches the essential ideas of Computer Science for a zero-prior-experience audience. Computers can appear very complicated, but in reality, computers work within just a few, simple patterns. CS101 demystifies and brings those patterns to life, which is useful for anyone using computers today.

    In CS101, students play and experiment with short bits of "computer code" to bring to life to the power and limitations of computers. Everything works within the browser, so there is no extra software to download or install. CS101 also provides a general background on computers today: what is a computer, what is hardware, what is software, what is the internet. No previous experience is required other than the ability to use a web browser.

    Syllabus

    • The nature of computers and code, what they can and cannot do
    • How computer hardware works: chips, cpu, memory, disk
    • Necessary jargon: bits, bytes, megabytes, gigabytes
    • How software works: what is a program, what is "running"
    • How digital images work
    • Computer code: loops and logic
    • Big ideas: abstraction, logic, bugs
    • How structured data works
    • How the internet works: ip address, routing, ethernet, wi-fi
    • Computer security: viruses, trojans, and passwords, oh my!
    • Analog vs. digital
    • Digital media, images, sounds, video, compression

    Taught by

    Nick Parlante

    Tags

    usa

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    Reviews for Stanford OpenEdx's Computer Science 101
    4.1 Based on 16 reviews

    • 5 stars 50%
    • 4 stars 19%
    • 3 stars 25%
    • 2 star 0%
    • 1 star 6%

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    • 1
    LB
    Lien B
    3.0 4 years ago
    Lien completed this course.
    0 person found
    this review helpful
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    SJ
    S. J
    5.0 2 years ago
    S. completed this course, spending 2 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
    Even if I can be considered as an advanced computer user (I can install an OS, create web pages...), I realize that I have learned much more than I expected with this course. It brought me answers to questions I could not even imagine, especially for the pictures manipulation topic. I strongly recommend it, especially if you are an autodidact.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    KO
    Keith O
    5.0 5 years ago
    Keith completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
    This was an excellent course. It covered hardware, software, programming, networking and security. The instructor taught the course in a manner that was not too geeky. Although the lecture using the Ocilloscope was pushing it.
    12 people found
    this review helpful
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    RC
    Rafael C
    1.0 5 years ago
    Rafael completed this course, spending 1 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be very easy.
    Level is too low. Basically, if you've been using a computer and know anything about coding *at all* you won't benefit from this course. It would be the kind of course you would recommend to your grandmother (yes, really). Unless you know literally nothing about computers, you should not do it.
    8 people found
    this review helpful
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    CC
    Cd C
    4.0 2 years ago
    by Cd completed this course, spending 2 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be easy.
    If you're looking for an intro to CS then this is the class for you. However, if you know anything about computers, programming, or the internet, this class will be a breeze for you.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    EA
    Emmanuel A
    5.0 a year ago
    Emmanuel completed this course, spending 20 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be easy.
    I thought this was a great introduction to Computer Science. It covered topics from basic code to how computer hardware works. I found the instructor did a great job of breaking down the principles into digestible and useful bits.
    Was this review helpful to you? Yes
    AT
    Anderson T
    4.0 4 years ago
    by Anderson completed this course.
    1 person found
    this review helpful
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    FP
    Félix P
    5.0 4 years ago
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    JW
    John W
    3.0 4 years ago
    John completed this course.
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    SB
    Simon B
    5.0 4 years ago
    by Simon is taking this course right now.
    0 person found
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    KM
    Krešimir M
    5.0 3 years ago
    by Krešimir completed this course.
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    AL
    Andrey L
    5.0 3 years ago
    by Andrey completed this course.
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    OA
    Olivia A
    5.0 2 years ago
    Olivia completed this course.
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    VG
    Vanessa G
    3.0 2 years ago
    Vanessa completed this course.
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    DM
    Dennis M
    3.0 3 years ago
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    CU
    Class U
    4.0 4 years ago
    Class completed this course.
    0 person found
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    • 1

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