CS50

Today I enrolled in Harvard's CS50x, the online version of its Introduction to Computer Science module. From what I can tell, CS50 basically covers all the actual computer science necessary for being a software engineer, and as such it is well respected within the industry.

I have heard the course is fairly hard, and knowing myself, I am somewhat worried that I will burn out, however I shelled out $90 for a certificate at the end, so hopefully that will motivate me.

I completed problem set 0 today, which involved making a programme in Scratch, coincidentally enough the same language we use to teach 10 year olds at Code Club. It was pretty fun, and I made something with some basic logic in, but the amount of repeating myself I did was pretty gross - if anyone has any suggestions for refactoring, they'd be greatly appreciated! You can see the project here.

Problem set 1 is based around C, somewhat at the other end of the spectrum to Scratch. Fortunately the basics at least vaguely resemble PHP, so I am not completely at sea (pun wholeheartedly intended), but I think it's going to ramp up pretty quickly. GL me.