Introduction
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Welcome to ALCS (A-levels Computer Science), a course created to aid in your journey of the A-level Computer Science 9618.
Tip
If you’re already familiar with Computer Science & know what you’ll be dealing with, skip to Overview
What is computer science?¶
Official Definition
Computer science is the study of computation, information, & automation. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to applied disciplines (including the design and implementation of hardware and software
Computer science focuses a lot on theory and the core concepts behind making a computer do something. It dives into the theory behind it all: data structures1, algorithms2, and programming languages3. These core concepts underpin exciting applications like graphics and robotics. It’s about understanding the “how” and “why” of making computers do what we want.
It was in fact a field of study before computers even existed & in fact doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with computers. Computer science, to a certain point, can be thought of as a degree in applied mathematics; the emphasis is on computation, not computers.
REWRITE Computer Science encourages you to develop your computational thinking while broadening your understanding of computer science. This should prove helpful when you to further study, where topics such as artificial intelligence, quantum cryptography and imperative and declarative programming will be studied; all of these are covered in the later chapters of the book. In order to handle such topics confidently, you will need to be a competent programmer who uses computational thinking to solve problems and has a good understanding of computer architecture. REWRITE
What will you be learning?¶
This course is mainly designed for students that do not consider themselves computer persons, have a limited foundation of Computer Science and assumes that you have not studied Computer Science previously including in IGCSE/GCSE/Olevels. Thorough explanations on hardware, the Internet, data, security, programming, communication, and software development as well as examples from recent events and developments. This course equips students for not only A-levels Computer Science but also the skills necessary to apply this understanding to develop computer based solutions.