Computer science & programming

A program makes operations and their order explicit so that its behaviour can be checked.

Start here

Introduction to Computer science & programming

How does a program turn a rule into a result?

Computer science & programming3h · IntroductionBeginner

Choose a direction

Python foundations

How do I turn an idea into a program?

Computer science & programming22h · TopicBeginner

Building web applications

How do I build a useful web application?

Computer science & programming22h · TopicBeginner

Algorithms & data structures

How do I choose an algorithm?

Computer science & programming22h · TopicBeginner

Databases and SQL

How do I store related data and query it correctly?

Computer science & programming22h · TopicBeginner

Systems programming with Rust

How do I control data ownership and handle failures in a compiled program?

Computer science & programming22h · TopicBeginner

Program state

How does changing a value change later behaviour?

Computer science & programming14h · TopicSome background

Program design

How can a small program be easier to change?

Computer science & programming14h · TopicSome background

Read a thinker or author

Alan Turing

Work on computability, machine intelligence and morphogenesis. Begin by distinguishing a mathematical model, an operational test and a biological mechanism.

Ada Lovelace

Notes on the Analytical Engine, symbolic operations and a worked procedure. Read her contribution alongside the translated text and Babbage’s machine design.

Claude Shannon

A mathematical account of communication under uncertainty. Separate the quantity of information in a model from the meaning or truth of a message.

Fei-Fei Li

Computer vision and human-centred approaches to AI. Study the relationship among a dataset, a benchmark and the people affected by a system.

Connect this subject

What should count as success for an AI system?

Connect computation, datasets, labour and social consequences. Compare a technical evaluation with the people and purposes it leaves out.