It’s no secret {that a} profession in software program engineering is enviable. In truth, the US News & World Report recently ranked software development as among the finest jobs in America in 2022, based mostly on qualities that job seekers want most: High salaries, low stress ranges, employment progress, and job prospects. And in contrast to a lot of the different jobs in that listing, software program improvement doesn’t require a complicated diploma (or essentially any diploma in any respect).
However, pc science (CS) can nonetheless really feel like a troublesome area to interrupt into. According to the newest annual State of CS report from code.org, solely 51% of excessive colleges within the US supply a foundational pc science course to their college students. Only 4.7% of highschool college students enroll in these foundational programs annually. These statistics could appear formidable to any mother or father who’s hopeful that their youngster might select a profession in pc science, particularly for many who would not have any background in software program improvement themselves.
Luckily, entry to the curriculum and instruments utilized in many of those excessive school-level foundational pc science programs is totally free and open supply. Whether you are a mother or father who hopes to introduce your youngster to foundational pc science ideas, otherwise you’re hoping to be taught these ideas your self, this text introduces you to the instruments it’s good to work by way of this curriculum from the consolation of your personal dwelling.
The Beauty and Joy of Computing
The “Beauty and Joy of Computing” (BJC) curriculum is a collaborative effort between the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Development Center, and varied different establishments. The National Science Foundation funds it, and it has been in improvement since 2008. They initially used the curriculum in an introductory pc science course provided at UC Berkeley (The Beauty and Joy of Computing). They tailored it particularly to handle the curriculum framework and examination for the College Board’s comparatively new AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. This model of the course, focused at highschool college students, was first provided with the AP examination in the course of the 2016-17 college yr. The College Board has acknowledged the BJC curriculum as an endorsed supplier each of curriculum (for college students who take AP CSP) {and professional} improvement (for academics who wish to train AP CSP). That means this curriculum is ideal for both the teenage or grownup learner involved in mastering the fundamental foundations of pc science. Furthermore, they license the curriculum underneath a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This license means anybody can brazenly copy and redistribute in any medium or format and that it’s freely out there for public use.
The curriculum contains eight growing issue models that introduce coding ideas starting from easy loops to recursive features. Each unit accommodates a number of labs that construct complexity and understanding all through the unit, and every lab contains particular directions (with screenshots!) on the best way to full the lab. Labs additionally comprise optionally available actions (resembling exporting a recreation college students programmed to their telephones) that present college students with further challenges and methods to attach their studying to their very own worlds. Units additionally supply extra, optionally available tasks (resembling simulating the Etch A Sketch toy) that reinforce what they discovered and evaluate sources to assist college students self-check their understanding after every unit.
Overall, the BJC curriculum presents college students with studying actions which might be enjoyable and interesting whereas additionally inviting college students to assume deeply about every idea and to be taught by way of troubleshooting and investigation. One of the perfect qualities of the BJC curriculum is its accessibility: Students study quite a lot of pc science ideas with out the necessity to obtain particular software program or be taught a high-level programming language in anyway. BJC achieves this through the use of a device constructed particularly to be used along side the curriculum.
Snap! programming language
Snap! is a device developed as a collaborative effort between UC, Berkeley, SAP, and varied different establishments and used as the first studying device for college students and adults utilizing the BJC curriculum to be taught the foundations of pc science. The Snap! source code is totally open supply and licensed underneath the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. Snap! is a visible, drag-and-drop programming language that’s totally browser-based and options the flexibility to work with first-class knowledge sorts (resembling integers, variables, arguments, and arrays), procedures, and continuations. This permits Snap! to be highly effective sufficient for a severe introduction to pc science whereas additionally permitting for prime accessibility by way of its visible, drag-and-drop nature. Since Snap! is browser-based, learners can entry it from any pc, cellphone, or pill with out buying or putting in extra or specialised software program.
In Snap!, blocks of code are put collectively like a puzzle, utilizing pre-built items for the platform or items that college students create themselves. These items work precisely like actual items of code, instructing learners how to consider programmatic ideas like loops, features, and order with out worrying about syntax or compiling errors. Here is an instance of a block of code in Snap!:
The mixture of the Beauty and Joy of Computing curriculum and the Snap! programming language empowers each teenage and grownup learners to grasp foundational pc science ideas free of charge, at their very own tempo, and from the consolation of their very own properties. The top quality of the curriculum, along side the benefit of accessibility of the Snap! programming language makes this open supply device among the finest methods to be taught the fundamentals of pc science.
Scratch and ScratchJr programming language for younger learners
While the BJC curriculum and the Snap! programming language goal teenage and grownup learners, a number of instruments additionally exist for college students as younger as 5. Open supply instruments much like Snap! can be found. In truth, Snap! is an prolonged reimplementation of Scratch, a visible, drag-and-drop programming language for youngsters ages 8-16. And for youngsters ages 5-7, ScratchJr is a well-liked choice. While Scratch and ScratchJr haven’t got totally developed curriculums that help within the studying course of, they embrace guides and urged actions to assist interact youthful learners—instructing them varied expertise enabling their future success with foundational pc science programs like BJC.
[ Read also: Code your first algorithm in Scratch ]
Computer science is for everybody
While pc science is a area that the majority dad and mom could be completely satisfied for his or her kids to enter, the low availability of pc science programs provided beneath the post-secondary degree, in addition to the low share of scholars who enroll in these programs, might make dad and mom and college students alike really feel not sure of what sources can be found to introduce younger learners to primary pc science ideas. However, a large number of free and open supply choices exist to allow each dad and mom and college students to understand these ideas, together with ScratchJr for youngsters ages 5-7, Scratch for youngsters ages 8-16, and Snap! and the Beauty and Joy of Computing curriculum for teenage and grownup learners. The ease of accessibility and use of those instruments, mixed with the analysis and improvement, empowers learners of all ages to achieve the foundational data and expertise essential to create a profession in pc science.