Preparation for A Level Computing

Hi everyone, one of my options for a levels was computing and i really want to get a head start on things before the year begins in september for two reason..

One being that i like the idea of coding and plan on doing it in the future as a career.

Secondly because i believe Maths and Physics/Further Maths (Depending on grades and which college/sixth form i go to) will be incredibly difficult, so where i can give myself more time to focus on those subjects i will benefit greatly.

The Questions is what would be the best way to get a head start? Is their any specific languages i should teach myself (Im taking the OCR course) if so could you please link me to specific websites or books that would be of great help, i would appreciate it greatly.

Thanks :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 1

ExcitinglyMundane

7

Hello,

I'm currently doing Further maths (and, of course, normal maths), physics, chemistry and computing.

Now, computing is usually taught from scratch, however it did help that I had been writing code for a year beforehand. I would strongly recommend that you focus on your current studies and only delve into computing in your free time, as you'll be taught it all next year.

If you really want to get ahead, talk to a computing/ICT teacher at your school, and see if they could give you a copy of a programming suit (often VB6). If they can't, and you're really wanting to start work, see if they can register you for Microsoft DreamSpark, where you can download a copy of VB.Net (also known as Visual Studio.net), and the internet is abundant for good beginner guides (be warned, there are many more poor ones).

If none of that is possible, just do logic puzzles, or look at binary and boolean algebra.

I hope this helps.

Reply 2

VisualKiddy

2

You needn't register for Dreamspark or anything, if you fancy using VB.net just download Visual Studio Express from here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-2010-express

Either 2010 or 2012 editions will do.

There are plenty of online tutorials, if you don't know where to start or get stuck feel free to PM me and I'll give you a hand.

Reply 3

llii

3

From what I'm aware of they teach you a lot of the Visual basic stuff from scratch on the course so it might be worth investing your time into another language. I don't say that like it's not worth getting ahead on VB but for a lot of coders once you have your first language down then it's a lot easier to branch and learn others and a lot of the concepts and wording are all very similar (That and then at least you won't make half of your classes boring :biggrin:

). Personally I think it's worth putting the time into learning something like or C# or Java depending on what you find most exciting to learn about or want to eventually build / make with :smile:

Reply 4

Pom.

5

Original post by BradleyLawrence

Hi everyone, one of my options for a levels was computing and i really want to get a head start on things before the year begins in september for two reason..

One being that i like the idea of coding and plan on doing it in the future as a career.

Secondly because i believe Maths and Physics/Further Maths (Depending on grades and which college/sixth form i go to) will be incredibly difficult, so where i can give myself more time to focus on those subjects i will benefit greatly.

The Questions is what would be the best way to get a head start? Is their any specific languages i should teach myself (Im taking the OCR course) if so could you please link me to specific websites or books that would be of great help, i would appreciate it greatly.

Thanks :smile:

I know this was from five years ago and you may not even use this site anymore, but I am about to do these exact subjects for a levels, how was it? Any tips?

Reply 5

Bright99

1

Books that will help in studying IT

Preparation for A Level Computing

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