In the last millennium, education was based on reading, writing and mathematics; today, reading, writing and computers do. Every student and education, not only in the arts, social sciences and humanities, but also in the sciences and engineering, should include learning to program. This is the first step in understanding the nature and undeniable impact of information technology on today’s world, even beyond its immediate use. We offer a course covering the first half of our book Computer Science:

An Interdisciplinary Approach. Our Coursera course Computer Science: Algorithms, Theory and Machines covers the second half. Our goal is to provide science programming education to anyone who needs or wants it.First, we cover the basics of programming, including variables, loops, conditionals, arrays, and input/output. Then we’ll move on to activities that cover important ideas like recursion, modular programming, and code reuse.

Next, we give a modern overview of object-oriented programming.We teach the basics of solving computer problems using the Java programming language, which are useful in many modern computing situations. The goal is to acquire Java skills, but our main focus is on programming concepts, not specific Java.

This course offers all features for free. No certificate will be issued upon completion.