Computer programs are abundant in many people’s lives today, carrying out applications on smartphones, tablets, and laptops, powering businesses, helping cars drive and planes fly, and much more. The course introduces computational thinking and algorithms, a sequence of instructions that solves a problem. Computational or mathematical thinking became increasingly important throughout the industrial age to enable people to successfully live and work. In the information age, computational thinking and algorithms will continue to be increasingly critical for work and everyday life.
Beyond business and personal computing devices such as PCs, tablets, and smartphones, embedded computers exist invisibly in nearly anything electrical today (e.g., TVs, cars, printers, thermostats, satellites, etc.) and require scripting and programming of instructions to perform efficiently.