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Harvard's CompSci Intro Course Boasts Record-Breaking Enrollment

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-bet-you-liked-programming-before-it-was-cool dept.

alphadogg writes: Harvard College's CS50, the school's Introduction to Computer Science course for undergrads, has attracted about 1 in 8 students this fall — a new record for the school and yet another sign of just how hot this field is becoming for the job-hungry. Overall, 818 undergrads (or 12% of the student body) signed up for the challenging course this semester (PDF), and nearly 900 students are registered when factoring in graduate and cross-registered students. Topics on the syllabus include Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript. David Malan, a Harvard CompSci grad, teaches the course.

6 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript.

    That's computer science?

    What about algorithm complexity analysis, type theory, normal forms and well, computer science.

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    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    1. Re:Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript. by SirGeek · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What about teaching "Data Structures and Algorithm Design", C/Pascal/Assembly Language ?

      Linux != Comp Sci ...

      This is why we have a generation of "programmers" who's solution to a problem is "throw more RAM into the system" instead of fixing their crappy code.

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      UPS Sucks
    2. Re:Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript. by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Because it's 101 and not 201?

    3. Re:Linux, cryptography, HTML and JavaScript. by Beck_Neard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you teach kids theory, people object that they're not being taught 'practical things'. If you teach them how to use popular software (like JavaScript), people object that they're not being taught enough theory.

      You can't win.

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      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
  2. more a reflection of what Harvard decides by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Harvard gets far, far more applicants in every area than they can possibly accept to their relatively small student body. So shifts among disciplines and interests almost entirely reflect decisions on the part of Harvard admissions policies. They don't necessarily reflect shifts in either broader society or even the subset of society that applies to Harvard. It's possible they do, but it's also possible Harvard explicitly decided to accept more CS applicants for various reasons.

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    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  3. Re:Computers and Computer Science by chubs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No. Meaning every good astronomer can use a telescope, but not everyone that can use a telescope is an astronomer. You really should know how to program to do computer science, but programming computers is not computer science.