“MIT 6.00 — Introduction to Computer Science and Programming” is one of the best introductions to programming I’ve seen, and I guess I shouldn’t expect less from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 24 video recordings of Computer Science lectures (totalling roughly 20 hours) by Professors Eric Grimson and John Guttag, current and former heads of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. The course focuses on, quite simply, teaching you how to think like a programmer and solve problems computationally. Historically, LISP was the language of choice for Computer Science introductions at MIT, but was since replaced by every imperative programmer’s new darling, Python.
To quote the overview given in the first video, the course revolves around:
- Computational thinking
- Understanding code
- Understanding abilities and limits
- Mapping problems into computation
I highly recommend watching this if you’re new to programming, a hobby programmer, or even if you’re pretty well-versed — I’m sure there are nuggets of useful information inthere for everyone. Give Lecture 1 a look; if you like it, I’ve embedded the entire course after the jump, but it can also be found on the official course website, along with assignments, exams and solutions.
