Where to Focus Your Attention

In the next few videos Dave Evans, the instructor for Introduction to Computer Science, will explain what programming is and why it's such a powerful tool.

Some of what he discusses will not apply to what you will learn in this course, but a lot of it will.

You can ignore…

• The references to "building a search engine". You won't be doing that in this Nanodegree Program.
• His descriptions of the different "Units" in the course. We won't be following the exact same order.

You should pay attention to…

• What Dave says about breaking problems into smaller pieces.
• How Dave talks about computers, computer programs, and the web.

He will use terms like:

1. computer
2. program
3. precise sequence of steps
4. computation
5. high-level language
6. input
7. interpreter

Some of these you have heard of, some you probably haven't. Pay attention to these terms as Dave uses them. Try to use context to guess what they may mean. You'll probably find that even the words you're familiar with (like "computer") are used slightly differently.

If you haven't already, please download the starter code for this Nanodegree program found below. These files will help you follow along and take notes during each lesson.