The programming profession is increasingly attracting people who want to earn decent money and be in stable demand among employers. Let's say you have already decided to master this profession. A reasonable question immediately arises: “Where to start?” In this article we will talk about how to learn programming from scratch.
To teach development skills to beginners, we created a JavaRush course dedicated to the world's most popular programming language. We also translated the best course in computer science, “Harvard CS50,” which you can find here .
In the 1980s, developed and modernized from year to year
Where is it read?
At Harvard and Yale Universities, since 2015 - to the whole world on the Internet
Who is it intended for?
For newcomers to IT
Lecture language
English, in 2016 the course lectures were translated into Russian for the first time by JavaRush and VertDider
Course duration
1 semester or 4 months, 23 lectures
Lecturers
The main lecturer and author of the course is Professor David Malan. Sometimes famous IT specialists are invited to lectures. For example, one of the lectures was given by Mark Zuckerberg
Themes
Basics of programming, basics of the C language, working with Linux OS, web programming, SQL, security, artificial intelligence
Price
the course is completely free
Basics of programming with CS50
CS50 is a legendary course developed by professors at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. He is a shining example of how material should be presented today: understandable, interesting, inspiring. CS50 is so good that even neighboring and equally prestigious Yale University abandoned its own Programming Fundamentals course in favor of Harvard. The CS50 course covers the very basics of programming for beginners. To listen to lectures, you don’t have to go to Harvard; you just need to have access to the Internet: CS50 materials have been available on the edX learning platform for several years now. Only this method has one significant drawback: all lectures are in English. However, do not be discouraged: we have translated CS50 into Russian and posted it on the JavaRush platform. Harvard course available for free!
Who is the course programming for beginners CS50 intended for?
CS50 teaches programming for beginners, from scratch. Even if you don't know anything about computer science or programming, the Harvard CS50 will suit you. It is equally suitable for smart schoolchildren aged 12, school graduates, university students (not necessarily technical ones), as well as adults who want to change their occupation.
Interesting facts about the course
The Harvard CS50 appeared back in the 1980s.
In 2012, this course became the second most popular at Harvard University. 691 students were enrolled in it. And already in 2014 it became a leader, attracting an audience of 12% of all university students.
In the same year, the course appeared on the edX platform, which increased its audience by 53 thousand people.
In 2014, the famous Yale University abandoned its own program and switched to CS50. In 2015, the Harvard course became the most popular at Yale.
Once, the CS50 lecture was given by the former head of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer (given his peculiar charm, the students remembered this for a long time!). And in 2005, Mark Zuckerberg visited the course audience. As many as 15 people came to listen to him.
What you study at CS50
The course covers the basics that will help you understand what IT and computer science are. You'll learn how different programming can be, but you'll also see how similar the concepts behind it are. David Malan (Harvard professor and main lecturer of CS50) will talk about what applied problems are encountered in programming, what dangers lie in wait for users and how to avoid them. At the end of the course, students learn how to create a presentation about their project. Programming for beginners in CS50 includes the following topics:
Basics of programming: number systems, cycles, conditional jumps based on C and Scratch languages;
Algorithms and data structures.
Principles of working with Linux.
Concepts of abstraction, encapsulation, memory management.
Fundamentals of computer security.
SQL and databases.
Basics of web programming (using JavaScript, CSS, PHP, HTML).
The main part of the examples of the first half of the Harvard CS50 course. Fundamentals of Programming" are given in the C programming language. Its syntax is quite similar to Java, so it can be learned at the same time as CS50. This course covers the basics of what every IT professional should know. At Harvard, CS50 is often enrolled not only by students of specialized fields, but even by humanities students who want to broaden their horizons and learn something useful about information technology.
CS50 Course Features
CS50 is a very progressive course, so it is constantly updated. To successfully master the material, you do not need to know university mathematics, the school curriculum is enough. The course is taught by Professor of Computer Science David Malan , a very charismatic and passionate person. The success and constant development of the CS50 is largely due to him. The professor is assisted by experienced faculty members as well as recent CS50 graduates.
JavaRush course
You have decided to study the basics of programming, where to start a detailed study of this area? You can gain basic knowledge of computer science on CS50, and at the same time try programming in Java , the most popular and highest paid programming language! To make learning Java as accessible and straightforward as possible, we created the JavaRush online course with thousands of exercises and automatic, instant problem checking. Programming is, first of all, practice, so in JavaRush you will start writing code, that is, programming from the very first lesson. Moreover, the course lectures are presented in the form of an exciting online game. JavaRush is more than 700 short lectures and 1200 practical problems in Java that will help you learn the programming language from scratch to Java Junior level.
Where to start learning programming languages? How to master the basics of programming? JavaRush presents a variety of online courses for beginners in the field of IT development
Upload date: 2017-03-24T14:30:00
The course is aimed primarily at developing practical skills that are necessary for all programmers, regardless of their profile.
Features of the JavaRush course
The JavaRush course is somewhat similar to a computer game. It is divided into four quests, each of which is united by a common idea (for example, Java Syntax, the first quest, where they study the basic syntax of the language). In turn, each quest consists of ten levels that must be completed sequentially. The levels are filled with lectures and tasks of varying difficulty. To move to the next level, you need to solve most of the problems at the current level. Practical tasks include tasks of varying complexity and scale: from simple ones (reading code or fixing errors in it) to real complex projects (for example, writing games). There are so many tasks that, having completed the course to the end, you simply cannot help but become a programmer! The most important feature of JavaRush, which makes it stand out among all online courses, is instant automatic verification of problems, tips and recommendations for solutions. With JavaRush, you don't have to wait long for the teacher to check your problem: you press one button, and in a moment you get the result and recommendations if there is something wrong with the solution. JavaRush also has an active and friendly community of students and administration. So if you're stuck on a particular task in particular, you'll definitely get help on the help page . Upon completion of the course, the student receives 300-500 hours of real-world programming experience! This course is also an excellent tool for those who have already learned programming for beginners but don’t know where to start looking for a job. In addition to practice, during JavaRush you will be able to analyze the main questions that you will have to answer at the interview, as well as create a competent resume.
Course stages
Conventionally, the learning process in JavaRush can be divided into two main parts. The first is completing the four main quests of the course, studying Java Core, that is, the “core of the Java language” and solving those same 1200 problems with auto-checking. The second is an internship for 12 weeks, during which students learn principles and technologies that are extremely important for a future Java developer. The end result will be a rather complex project, a link to which you can add to your resume.
“Those who have completed the JavaRush internship will be able to indicate knowledge of leading technologies in their future resume, talk about their work project, and also successfully prepare for employment.”
Educational books and videos on the topic of learning programming languages
On the Internet you can find a lot of materials on the topic “programming languages for beginners” or on the basics of web development. Videos, books, lectures - all this is freely available. However, you will have to spend time and effort to find really worthwhile materials and put together your own “library” of lessons that you need. This approach has some features that are important to consider.
Advantages and disadvantages of this method of training
Books, video tutorials and other materials on programming that are publicly available are an excellent source for acquiring new knowledge. However, this method is not suitable for fully learning programming from scratch, since it is very difficult for a beginner to evaluate the quality of the material offered, and independently selecting practical tasks, and, moreover, checking them, is a completely overwhelming task. Of course, you can find students who learned “from books” and came up with their own tasks. But there are only a few of them, but there will be many more of those who abandoned programming after such attempts.
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