Computer Studies / Computing

Course summary

Computer Science is the science of computation. Far more than computers, Computer Science explores the mathematical concepts of number bases, Boolean algebra and binary arithmetic. This is a course that can be thought of as “Applied Mathematics” as you learn what makes a problem unsolvable or intractable and how abstraction can be used to reduce a problem to its relevant components. You will learn about theoretical concepts such as the Universal Turing Machine and Finite State Automata as well as learning real-world skills such as networking and database organisation. Central to the whole course is programming. You will learn the latest paradigms including Object-Oriented coding and will work on a large project of your choosing. While A level Computer Science leads into Computer Science at degree level, its strong mathematical component makes it a good grounding for maths and engineering based degrees. The UK games industry is currently booming, and new tech start-ups are popping up everywhere, so a good background in programming opens up a large range of careers.