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How Computers Work 

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How Computers Work
 at 
Coursera 
Overview

Duration

10 hours

Total fee

Free

Mode of learning

Online

Difficulty level

Beginner

Official Website

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Credential

Certificate

How Computers Work
Table of content
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How Computers Work
 at 
Coursera 
Highlights

  • Shareable Certificate Earn a Certificate upon completion
  • 100% online Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
  • Course 2 of 3 in the Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Specialization
  • Flexible deadlines Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
  • Beginner Level
  • Approx. 10 hours to complete
  • English Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, English, Spanish
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How Computers Work
 at 
Coursera 
Course details

Skills you will learn
More about this course
  • Computers are everywhere, they aren't just the desktops and laptops we use for work but the phones in our pockets and even the watches on our wrists are also computers. You probably use a computer every day and in fact you are reading this on a computer!
  • Just because we use computers all the time, doesn't mean that we understand them, or find them easy to use. Computer Science is the science of computers, it is the field of knowledge that experts use to understand computer systems. Knowing a little computer science will help you understand the computers all around you.
  • This isn't a how-to course for a particular piece of software, instead you will learn some fundamental concepts that you can apply to any software or computer system. You'll apply these concepts to the kind of computer systems we use every day, including word processing applications, e-commerce, the internet and web sites. You will learn how to apply computer science concepts to solve problems in daily computer use and generally be a better computer user.
  • Taking this course could be the start of your career in computer science, and the course is an introduction to the Bachelors in Computer Science from University of London, but it is also for you if you just want to learn a little computer science to help you better understand the computers you use in your ordinary life.
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How Computers Work
 at 
Coursera 
Curriculum

Abstraction

1.0.1 What is computer science and how can it help us?

1.1.1 Abstraction

1.1.2 Abstraction in data representations

1.1.3 Notional machines

1.1.5 CPU and memory

1.1.7 Summary

1.0.3 Further Reading

1.1.4 Abstraction

State, modularity and applications

2.1.1 The deep secret of computer science

2.1.3 State

2.1.5 An e-commerce site

2.1.7 Why does turning it off and on again work?

2.2.1 A notional machine: files

2.2.3 Modularity

2.2.4 Applications

2.2.6 Debugging

2.3.4 Summary

2.2.5 Looking inside applications

2.1.4 State

2.2.2 Files

2.2.7 Debugging an application problem

2.3.3 Summative quiz

Networks

3.1.1 Networks

3.1.2 The internet

3.2.1 Security threats

3.2.3 Encryption

3.2.4 Security defenses

3.2.5 The perils of the password: Interview with Sarah Wiseman

3.2.8 Summary

3.1.3 Networks

3.2.6 Security: what have you learned?

3.2.7 Case study: debugging a web load error

How the web works

4.0.2 What is a website?

4.1.1 Websites

4.1.2 Networks and the Web

4.1.3 Security and the Web

4.1.4 State and the Web

4.1.5 Clients and servers

4.1.6 Embedding and APIs

4.1.7 Your data

4.2.5 MOOC Summary

4.2.4 Further Learning

4.0.1 Motivating problem

4.1.8 Websites

4.2.3 Summative quiz

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How Computers Work
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