So, You have decided to have a career in computer science. Now you are wondering where do I start or What should I learn for this? Don’t worry, you have come to the right place. Here in this blog, we will explore the knowledge and sources needed for starting a career in computer science.
Why do we need a Computer?
In today’s time, we see computers everywhere around us. It’s applicable in all the fields like travel, tourism, energy, research, education, construction, entertainment, weather forecasting, social networking, and e-commerce. In universities, students used it to email, write papers, and participate in online classes. In a professional environment and at home, people use it to make presentations, communicate with colleagues, conduct business transactions, pay bills, shop online and play video games. In today’s world, there is no single organization that can operate without a computer. There are many organizations that are still trying to free their business from paper and use computers for all the transactions
The below diagram shows the several ways in which computer is being used in today’s world.
What is Computer Science?
Computer Science is the study of computers and their computational systems. In Computer science, we mainly focus on software and software systems and the method to develop that software,
In the field of computer science, one needs to learn about programming, coding, statistical skills, and managerial skills. There are some people who want to understand the basics of computer science; some who want to learn for the better. In order to succeed in the computer science field, one needs to be better at algorithms, and data structures. We need to decide what data structure to use for certain types of applications, how to use it, and where to use it. We need to design and analyze algorithms that are used for developing various computer software.
Topics that need to be learned for computer science
Below is the list of topics that one must be familiar with when they want to start a career in computer science.
- Programming Languages
- Computer Systems and Networks
- Algorithms and Data Structures
- Computer Networking
- Databases Systems
- Languages and Compilers
- Mathematics
- Computer Architectures
- Computer Cables
- Machine Learning
- Distributed Systems
- Computer Vision and Graphics
- Software Engineering
- Hardware
- Human-Computer Interaction
Before learning all this topic, we need to first learn about computer.
What is a Computer?
A computer is a machine that takes an input, processes that input, and produces an output. A computer needs both the hardware and software properly in order for it to work properly.
Common Things that are applicable to the Computers
Below are the common things that are applicable to all computers.
- Input Devices
This input can be typed characters through a keyboard or data passed over a network to the computer. Input is any data the computer collects. The Source of Input can be a keyboard, mouse, scanner, microphone, digital camera, or data from a remote network. This device that collects the data for the computer is known as an input device.
- Storage Devices
This is the hardware layer where data is stored on a permanent basis for a long period of time even when there is no power. When software runs, it is temporarily loaded into memory as needed. Other data such as documents, transactions, etc, are saved to secondary storage. This permanent storage is known as ROM or Read-Only Memory.
The most common type of storage device in computers is the disk drive. Disk drives store data by encoding the data magnetically encoding into the circular disk.
- Central Processing Unit (CPU)
CPU is the main part of the computer that is responsible for running the programs. It is responsible for processing the results after executing a series of procedures. They consist of small chips known as microprocessors.
- Output Devices
Output is the data or the result that the computer provides to people or other devices. Output can be an excel file, document, report, or graphic image. Some common output devices are video displays, printers, and scanners. In addition to this, we can also send data to disk drives and CD(Compact Disk) recorders.
- Main Memory
This is the main memory that is mainly used in the computer work area. This is the place where the application software is loaded when it is running. Let’s say, we are working on a report using Microsoft Excel. When we are working on the report in Excel, it gets loaded into the main memory. When we finish our work and close the Excel sheet, it frees up the memory.
Main memory is commonly known as RAM or Random Access Memory, which is volatile memory. This memory is used for temporary storage when the CPU wants to quickly access data stored in RAM. Memory stored in RAM is deleted when the computer is turned off.
- Software
In order for a computer to function, the software is mandatory. The complexity of software has changed over the span of time. Modern software is complex and needs more resources from computers to run. The software runs in a computer from the moment it is turned on to the moment it is turned off.
There are mainly two types of software, System software and Application Software.
The below diagram shows the several parts of a computer that is explained above.
Types of Operating System
An operating system is software that controls the computer hardware and manages all the devices connected to that computer. It is the most basic component of a computer that allows to read and write the saved data from storage devices.
There are mainly three types of operating systems that are popular out there.
- Windows
- OSX for Mac Users
- Linux
Computer Data Storage
In a computer, its memory is divided into tiny storage locations called bytes. Each byte is divided into eight small locations called bit. The term bit or binary digit has the capacity to store 0 or 1. In reality, data or information on a computer is stored in a combination of 0 and 1, which takes up some amount of space on the disk. Modern-day computers can have millions to billions of bytes of memory as the complexity of the software and the task becomes complex. With the arrival of machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, the size and complexity of computers have increased.
Measurement of the storage in the computer has several terminologies. The bit is the basic unit of storage in a computer. Its value can be either 0 or 1. Other storage units are a combination of bits.
| Unit | Abbreviations | Capacity |
| Bit | b | 0 or 1 (or On and Off) |
| Byte | B | 8 bits |
| Kilobyte | KB | 1024 bytes |
| Megabyte | MB | 1024 kilobytes |
| Gigabyte | GB | 1024 megabytes |
| Terabyte | TB | 1024 gigabytes |
Computer Science Video tutorial List
This section contains several video tutorials that one can refer to when wanting to learn computer science.
I want to emphasize that, I am not affiliated with any of these YouTube channels/channels that are mentioned here.
1. Computer Basics (Watch all)
There are around 17 video tutorials on this list that give you basic knowledge of computer science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mybYCf4Mov4&list=PL4316FC411AD077A
2. Crash Course: Computer Science {Watch till 8-9 Videos}
This playlist contains several crash courses on computer science basics.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH2l6uzC4UEW0s7-KewFLBC1D0l6XRfye
Display and Monitor
This video contains a basic introduction to monitoring and displays.