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Computer Basics tutorial
New to computers? Start here: what a computer is, how 0s and 1s store everything, files and folders, the internet, and thinking in steps. No coding needed, and it's all free.
8 lessonsabout 5 h
Learn it by doing
The interactive course has the same lessons with an editor next to them: run every example, answer the quizzes and solve exercises that are checked the moment you submit. Free to start, no sign-up.
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1
What a computer doesWhat is a computer, and what is it actually doing when you use it?2
Inside the machineWhat's inside a computer, and why does unsaved work disappear when the power goes off?
What a computer is
Input, processing, output, and the parts inside.2
3
Zeros and ones: binaryA computer only knows "on" and "off". How can that be enough to store numbers?4
Text, colours and picturesIf a computer can only store numbers, how does it store a message, a photo or a song?
Everything is a number
Bits, binary, and how text and pictures become numbers.3
5
Files and foldersWhere does a photo go when you save it, and how do you find it again?6
How the internet worksWhen you open a website, how does the page get from the other side of the world to your screen in under a second?
Files and the internet
Where your data lives, and how it travels.4
7
Algorithms: finding fastYour friend picks a number from 1 to 100 and only answers "higher" or "lower". What's the fastest way to find it?8
Pseudocode and bugsHow do you write instructions so precise that a computer could follow them, before you know any programming language?