Computer Science

INTRODUCTION

We live in an age dominated by computers. When we fly from London to New York, computers fly the aircraft for most of the journey. The smartphone that you carry in your pocket is vastly more powerful than the computer that took man to the moon in Apollo 11. All of these require programming, which is part of the rigorous academic discipline of Computer Science, encompassing programming languages, data structures, algorithms and more. It is about problem solving – getting computers to help solve problems and find solutions. You may have heard of, or used, languages such as Scratch, PICAXE or Lego Mindstorms NXT. These are all part of the wonderful world of computing and highlight the successes of computer scientists of the UK such as Alan Turing and Tim Berners-Lee.

Companies are in need of people with programming experience: people who can create, design and build engineering structures such as Rolls Royce Trent Engines, the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world’s first plastic airliner.
The A level Computer Science course will encourage you to develop:

• an understanding of, and the ability to apply,
• the principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, decomposition, logic, algorithms and data representation
• the ability to analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems, including writing programs to do so
• the capacity for thinking creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically
• mathematical skills
• the ability to articulate the individual (moral), social (ethical), legal and cultural opportunities and risks of digital technology