Computer Studies / Computing

Course summary

Why study computer science? Computer science provides a framework within which you can consider complex problems and apply computational methods to create effective and efficient solutions. The course will enable you to analyze problems and critically evaluate solutions. You are able to choose your own programming project and tailor the practical aspects of the A Level to your own interests. What will I learn about? - Computer systems You will gain a good understanding of the theory of computer systems including the characteristics of computer processors, approaches to developing software, exchanging data between computers and algorithms. This unit also covers more contemporary computer science issues such as the legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues associated with computer systems. - Algorithms and programming This practical topic equips you with skills necessary to design, test, implement and evaluate computer programs. You will use computational methods to solve complex computational problems by decomposing the problem into its component parts and applying programming techniques to develop a solution. This topic also covers standard algorithms that are used to search and sort a data structure, which you will also evaluate algorithms mathematically to test the relative efficiency of each solution.