Harvard Course: Understanding Computers and the Internet

Posted on August 6, 2007  Comments (3)

Harvard Extension School – Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the Internet

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. This course is designed both for those with little, if any, computer experience and for those who use a computer every day.

Nice job. via: Learn How The Darn Thing Works … from Harvard

Related: University of California, Berkeley course videosTechnology Talks at GoogleEngineering and Science Webcast LibrariesLectures from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

3 Responses to “Harvard Course: Understanding Computers and the Internet”

  1. CuriousCat: How Computers Boot Up
    June 11th, 2008 @ 12:52 pm

    “Things start rolling when you press the power button on the computer (no! do tell!). Once the motherboard is powered up it initializes its own firmware – the chipset and other tidbits – and tries to get the CPU running…”

  2. Curious Cat Engineering Blog » von Neumann Architecture and Bottleneck
    December 1st, 2008 @ 9:46 pm

    We each use computers a great deal (like to write this blog and read this blog) but often have little understanding of how a computer actually works…

  3. Justin
    December 8th, 2008 @ 9:36 pm

    Computers and internet connections have become my entire life! I love being able to get online 24/7 and pay the bills at the same time and the internet has made all of that possible! Great post!

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