Introduction to Computer Science

Over the years of my work in IT and programming I have managed to identify a set of elementary knowledge that does not require special theoretical training, is not part of any single theory and is necessary for any activity related to Computer Science. The big problem with teaching Computer Science is that it is a collection of different disciplines, each of which is a separate subject, often quite difficult to study. For example, Graph Theory, Discrete Mathematics, Information Theory, etc.

If studied separately, the very essence of Computer Science is lost and replaced by its individual parts, which are these subjects.

The overall goal of developing and creating these subjects as part of Computer Science was to create the computer as a universal information processing device. This course is specially designed for those who want to quickly grasp the essence of Computer Science without going into abstract mathematical theories.

The course is composed of maximum concise lectures, which reveal basic terms and steps which lead to understanding of how a computer is built and how it can be programmed with a programming language. The course is made as short as possible by avoiding proofs and long arguments, and mostly using only ready-made conclusions gained from research.

The course contains:

• Information and Data – we learn what is the main subject of processing in Computer Science.

• Researchers who have contributed most to the development of Computer Science – a brief historical overview of how Computer Science was created and what non-trivial problems had to be solved at different points in time. This information is important in terms of ordering and prioritizing Computer Science topics.

• The description of Data and the description of Algorithms are the two most important topics that, like axes of a coordinate system, hold the entire Computer Science system together.

• The design and basic operation of a digital computer–how the device was able to combine data processing based on typical algorithms.

• Finally, an example of a simple Pascal program that summarizes the knowledge from all the previous lectures.