Understanding Computers and the Internet

Computer Science E-1

Harvard Extension School
This course is all about understanding: understanding what's going on inside your computer when you flip on the switch, why tech support has you constantly rebooting your computer, how everything you do on the Internet can be watched by others, and how your computer can become infected with a worm just by turning it on. In this course we demystify computers and the Internet, along with their jargon, so that students understand not only what they can do with each but also how it all works and why. Students leave this course armed with a new vocabulary and equipped for further exploration of computers and the Internet. Topics include hardware, software, the Internet, multimedia, security, website development, programming, and dotcoms. Through optional hands-on sections and workshops, local students have opportunities to dissect as well as upgrade a computer with additional hardware, search the Internet more effectively, build a wireless network, create digital images, eradicate spyware, and design webpages. Problem sets offer online students similar opportunities. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day.

This is OpenCourseWare.

Computer Science E-1 is a course at Harvard Extension School. E-1 isn't so much about computer science as it is about technology and how it all works. Most every student who takes this class uses computers every day but doesn't necessarily understand what's going on underneath the hood (or, in some cases, is outright scared!). All students exit this more comfortable with computers and the Internet.

Even if you are not a student at Harvard, you are welcome to "take" this course via computerscience1.tv by following along via the Internet. (The course's own website is at www.computerscience1.net.) Available at left are videos of lectures along with PDFs of problem sets. Sample solutions to the latter are not available, but if you have questions or would like to discuss the material with others, do join the course's Google Group.

If you're a teacher, you are welcome to adopt or adapt these materials for your own course, per the license.

djm

Creative Commons License

Copyright © 2006 – 2021, David J. Malan of Harvard University

This course's content is licensed by David J. Malan of Harvard University under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you are not only welcome to "take" this course,

you are free:

  • to Share — to copy, distribute, and transmit this content
  • to Remix — to adapt this content
under the following conditions:
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  • Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.
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  • Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from David J. Malan of Harvard University
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So that folks (like you!) have a place to turn with questions, we've created a Google Group called computerscience1-discuss, which is like a message board and mailing list rolled into one.

Once you've joined, you'll be able to email the group at computerscience1-discuss@googlegroups.com and browse past discussions at https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/computerscience1-discuss.