Computer science is the world’s fastest growing field of study, and this growth is showing no signs of slowing down. As a new field, computer science can seem intimidating, but it should not be scary to learn or difficult to understand. If you have ever turned on a phone or surfed the Internet then you have used a computer and should have a basic understanding of what happens when you click the mouse or touch the screen—and how fast it happens! Computer Science Principles introduces the creative side of computing. Once you’ve made your way through this book, you’ll be editing photos, designing websites, coding JavaScript, and getting organized with spreadsheets—and along the way you’ll learn the foundational concepts of computer science. How do computers convert information into ones and zeros and send it thousands of miles in a blink of the eye? What is an IP address? What do TCP/IP, DNS, HTML, and CSS stand for? How can a hard drive store large movies and thousands of songs? How can secrets be sent in plain sight? These questions—and more—are answered in Computer Science Principles.
This self-paced course was developed with content that has been modified and optimized over the past two decades. The questions, projects, tests, and content have been tested by thousands of high school students and used in actual classrooms and iterated over the years. The content can be used to supplement current courses or to learn the knowledge needed to be successful as a computer science teacher: from passing a certification exam to your first years in the classroom.
The course is self-paced and can be navigated to fit any schedule, but for those new to the field it is recommended to spend at least 5 hours a week for 8 weeks with the content. These 40 hours are a recommendation that our data suggests as an average. Not sure? Try it out for 24-hours and if you enjoy it, sign-up for a lifetime membership and gain access to over a dozen assessments and all future content. If you still have questions, drop us a line and we will get back to you ASAP. We hope you enjoy and happy computing!
1 – Hardware, Software, Number Systems, and Boolean Expressions
2 – Pixels, Images, and Adobe Photoshop
4 – Storing Data: Spreadsheets and Databases
5 – Protecting Data: Heuristics, Security, and Encryption
9 – Impact of Computing (Free downloadable PDF)
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"As a student, this book is a great resource when preparing for the AP principals exam. Kevin Hare explains the complex code in a way that can be interpreted by any student. I highly recommend this book for any student preparing for the AP principles exam."
"As an educator, I appreciate the way this resource is logical, straightforward, and easy to understand. My students taking AP Computer Science will find this resource a helpful supplement to the AP Computer Science course, and even those not enrolled in the course will find it useful as a guide for understanding. Moreover, this book celebrates the unlimited creativity that can be imagined and achieved in this field rather than emphasizing formulaic rigidity, which will inspire all students of the study, regardless of age!"
"I've scoured countless digital textbooks about comp sci over the years, and I'm thrilled to find Computer Science Principles available now through Amazon. This textbook is an excellent resource for AP and non-AP students alike. The writing and images make difficult to grasp concepts easy for high school aged students, and there's enough depth to challenge even the biggest nerds. I didn't know hexadecimal could be so fascinating! Highly recommended."
