Learn Computer Science And Programming With These 6 Courses From Harvard University

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Geeks are always looking for online free courses to upgrade themselves and learn new skills. Are you one of them? 

Harvard University is offering 6 free online courses of computer science and programming. This can be a golden opportunity for the students and beginners for developing a strong base in programming and enhancing their programming skills. The University's courses have been an excellent source of the best online courses ever. 

The courses mentioned below are free of cost. Here are the details -

1. CS50's Understanding Technology

Some people are working with and around the technology in their day-to-day life, yet don't understand what exactly is going on. However, curiosity is the fuel for learning. This course provided by Harvard University will bridge the gap between you and the technology you're working with. This will effectively make you more confident about your job. The 6-week long course includes lectures on hardware, the Internet, multimedia, security, programming, and web development.

Course Details

• Duration: 6 Weeks
• Instructor: David J Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

2. Using Python for Research

This course bridges the gap between introductory and advanced courses in Python. Python is an excellent language to dig deep into your research based projects. Nevertheless, many people have already taken many good courses available online yet, this one will ensure that you understand the core concepts of python to its best. In this course, you can learn about the basics of Python 3 along with the tools that are commonly used for research purposes. 

The course is rich with a guided introduction, in-depth exploration of Python, case studies and much more. The course also includes revised assessments and a new module on machine learning. 

Course Details

• Duration: 5 weeks
• Instructor: Stratos Idreos, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Harvard University

Also read: Sneak peek into the science of cooking with Harvard’s free online course

3. CS50's Introduction to Programming with Scratch

Using Scratch, this course introduces students to fundamentals of programming, found not only in Scratch itself but in traditional text-based languages (like Java and Python) as well. Scratch is a visual programming language, designed at MIT's Media Lab, to empower students with no prior programming experience to design their own animations, games, interactive art, and stories.

This course enables students to understand the fundamentals of programming using Scratch. It also covers the basic aspects of programming through the traditional text-based programming languages such as Java, Python, and C. The course is designed at MIT's Media Lab, especially for the students having no prior knowledge of programming concepts. After the successful completion of the course, the students can build their own games, animations, interactive art, stories, etc. 

The course will teach students about basic and most important elements of programming such as functions, events, return values, conditions, loops, variables, etc. 

Course Details

• Duration: 3 Weeks
• Instructor: David J Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

4. CS50: Introduction to Computer Science

This is an entry-level course that will make students think in terms of algorithms. The course is specifically designed for beginners in programming and includes concepts like abstraction, algorithms, data structures, encapsulation, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Languages that the course offers include C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript plus CSS and HTML.

Course Details

• Duration: 11 Weeks
• Commitment: 10-20 hours per week
• Instructors:
  • David J Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • Doug Lloyd - Senior Preceptor in Computer Science, Harvard University
  • Brian Yu - Senior Preceptor in Computer Science, Harvard University

5. CS50's Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python

This course by Harvard will traverse the programming concepts and algorithms keeping artificial intelligence at the base. The course provides a fundamental knowledge for the technologies such as game-playing engines, handwriting recognition, and machine translation. It also includes hands-on projects with gives a practical approach towards programming concepts. The course will clarify complex machine learning and artificial intelligence topics such as graph theory, search algorithms, classification, optimization, reinforcement learning. 

Course Details

• Duration: 7 Weeks
• Commitment: 10-30 hours per week
• Instructor: David J Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

6. CS50's Introduction to Game Development

Are you a crazy game geek who's always dreaming of building some lit games? If yes, then this course works great for you! 

In this course, students can explore the design and development of 2D and 3D interactive games such as Super Mario Bros., Pong, Flappy Bird, Breakout, Match 3, Legend of Zelda, Angry Birds, Pokémon, 3D Helicopter Game, Dreadhalls, and Portal. Through carefully designed lectures and hands-on projects, the course will boost your confidence in principles of 2D and 3D graphics, animation, sound, and collision detection etc. Students will be using frameworks such as Unity and LÖVE 2D, as well as languages like Lua and C#. 

Course Details

• Duration: 12 Weeks
• Commitment: 6-9 hours per week
• Instructors:
  • David J Malan, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • Colton Ogden - Technologist, Harvard University

If you are looking to build a career on another level, make sure you keep learning everyday. Enroll yourself in the course that has interested you the most and happy learning! 

Interested candidates can visit the official Harvard University website and select the right course to apply.

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