What is Computer Science? Dr. Barbara Hughes

What is Computer Science? Understanding how to use a computer to achieve interesting results Computers have a processor, memory and use a language to communicate what tasks to do Writing code to group tasks together Processor – work on instructions presented to it in a language Brains of the computer Language is just a combination of 1.0 and zeros – so is really corresponding to a pattern of 0,1 Use the fast abilities of a computer to achieve interesting results.

Computers are used everywhere! Traditional think of laptops – anything else ? Smart phone – tablet – applications are computer programs that have been written to behave in a particular way. Traditional industry Banks and telecommunications – teller, computer to computer Aviation and space exploration Robotics – very good at tasks that are repetitive – don’t get tired, don’t make mistakes – they do what they are told – car manufacture Hospitals – now able to help with surgery and able to handle vast volumes of data to help with research and discovery in medicine Margaret Hamilton – 1969 – the software written allowed the Apollo 11 moon landing to complete.

You use them more than you think!

How does work? You Tube – presented with an image and title and how long the video will be. There will be many that you can choose from and scroll through to select what you want. Can be in classifications recommended or related to your previous views Select and opens a video that is located maybe 100s of miles away – we expect to be able to view without any interruptions i.e., the video freezes etc. We can play this on any device – tablet, smart phone or computer

Coding is fun! Coding allows you to solve puzzles Coding can be unique Write code anyway you want if it achieves the results you want Coding can evolve forever Keep adding to your project for a long as you want How can I make Mario look like he’s slipping on ice? How can I search the Internet to return “balinteer etns” A number of people could be given the same task, but may write completely different code to achieve the same result. No one way is right! When you start writing code, you can keep adding to it to make it perform more functionality/faster etc. for as long as you want. Ada Lovelace – 1842 – first computer programmer Grace Hopper – 1949 – first actual language and debugger

How can I play with code? One option is Coder Dojo Demo Groups that get together to have fun with writing code You can work on anything you want – whatever you’re interested in Demo

Thank You! Any questions?