Computer Science

Course summary

Course Content: A level Computer science is split into two complementary sections, programming and theory. On the programming side of the course, students can learn a programming language (chosen by your teachers from C#, Java, Pascal/Delphi, Python and VB.Net). You will cover the fundamentals of programming, data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented programme design. The theory side of computer science teaches about the internal workings of a computer, right down to the basics of how all data is stored using binary, whether that data consists of numbers, text, pictures or even music. It goes on from there to cover aspects of computer architecture, showing exactly how data is accessed from main memory using assembly language instructions and the fetch-execute cycle. As well as covering programming the course aims to promote good programming practices such as avoiding global variables, sensible variable naming, structured programming, good re-use of code through procedures and functions, and proper commenting of code. It also covers higher level concepts such as the social and legal impact of computers, and how to go about breaking down a big problem into individual programmable steps. Subject Linking: Students considering Computer Science as a degree should be aware that many universities also require A level Mathematics. Progression: A level Computer science is naturally a strong subject to take if you wish to go on to do computer science at degree level, and although most computing-based degree courses don't require Computer science A level there are a number of software engineering courses which do. There are also other degree courses such as Information Technology and Information Systems which will be served well by a Computer science A level. Future pathways include: Software engineering, Business Information Systems, Computer Networks or Computer Science.