For many students, myself included, their first exposure to Computer Science is through the AP Computer Science A course in high school. Advanced Placement (AP) courses are designed for high schoolers to learn subjects with the rigor, depth, and complexity of college classes. Taking AP classes can also boost a student's weighted GPA.
The AP Computer Science A curriculum emphasizes the fundamental concepts and problem solving skills that Computer Science requires, using the Java programming language. It introduces basics like variables, loops, conditionals, and methods, along with object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, and software design strategies. Java is a widely used programming language, useful and multifaceted because it can support abstraction, encapsulation, and object-orientation, all of which are important concepts for software engineering.
The official prerequisite for AP Computer Science A is first-year high school algebra, including function notation and other algebraic problem solving skills. Overall, the course recommends a solid foundation in mathematical reasoning. However, having worked with many students taking this course, we have found that some prior coding experience really helps students be successful in this course. At Juni, we recommend students who are new to programming start with our Python Level 1 and sometimes our Python Level 2 course before moving into Java.​

To receive college credit, students must register to take the College Board AP exam through their school, administered in May of each year. In 2017, the College Board introduced a second computer science AP course, AP Computer Science Principles. Compared to AP Computer Science A, this course "focuses on the broader aspects of computing, including not only programming but also topics like the global impact of computing, the internet and cyber-security, and creativity" (College Board). At Juni, we only offer the AP Computer Science A course.
The AP Computer Science A exam is a three hour test. The first half includes 40 multiple choice questions and accounts for 50% of the exam score. The second half includes four free response questions focused on program design, implementation, and problem solving, and it makes up the remaining 50% of the exam score. All of the questions on the AP exam involving coding use Java as the primary programming language, and test booklets include the Java Quick Reference that includes all of the accessible methods from the Java library that the AP exam may reference.
Goals of the AP Computer Science curriculum include:

• Design, implement, and analyze solutions to problems
• Use and implement commonly used algorithms
• Develop and select appropriate algorithms and data structures to solve new problems
• Write solutions fluently in an object-oriented paradigm
• Write, run, test, and debug solutions in the Java programming language, utilizing standard Java library classes and interfaces from the AP Java subset
• Read and understand programs consisting of several classes and interacting objects
• Read and understand a description of the design and development process leading to such a program
• Understand the ethical and social implications of computer use

The exam score is College Board’s recommendation on whether universities should grant course credits to the student. Generally, an AP score of 3 and above is considered passing. The scoring breakdown is laid out as follows:

Score     Recommendation
   5          Extremely well qualified
   4         Well qualified
   3         Qualified
   2         Possibly qualified
   1          No recommendation

There are many different resources and programs that can help students prepare for the AP Computer Science A exam. The best fit depends on the student's learning style and time constraints.
Overall, the AP Computer Science A course is a great opportunity to learn the fundamentals of computer science and demonstrate proficiency to colleges. Passing the AP exam is a great way to earn some college credit, but more importantly it helps develop a lifelong technical skill that helps one think in new ways.​

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Suman Tripathy holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. Next fall, she will be moving to New York to pursue her Master's in Data Science. She is currently a Senior Instructor at Juni Learning. You can often find her camped out at Philz Coffee reading books and listening to music!

algorithm is a set of step-by-step procedures, or a set of rules to follow, for completing a specific task or solving a particular problem. Algorithms are all around us. The recipe for baking a cake, the method we use to solve a long division problem, and the process of doing laundry are all examples of an algorithm. Here’s what baking a cake might look like, written out as a list of instructions, just like an algorithm:

1. Preheat the oven
2. Gather the ingredients
3. Measure out the ingredients
4. Mix together the ingredients to make the batter
5. Grease a pan
6. Pour the batter into the pan
7. Put the pan in the oven
8. Set a timer
9. When the timer goes off, take the pan out of the oven
10. Enjoy!

Algorithmic programming is all about writing a set of rules that instruct the computer how to perform a task. A computer program is essentially an algorithm that tells the computer what specific steps to execute, in what specific order, in order to carry out a specific task. Algorithms are written using particular syntax, depending on the programming language being used.​

​Algorithms are classified based on the concepts that they use to accomplish a task. While there are many types of algorithms, the most fundamental types of computer science algorithms are:

1. Divide and conquer algorithms – divide the problem into smaller subproblems of the same type; solve those smaller problems, and combine those solutions to solve the original problem.
   
2. Brute force algorithms – try all possible solutions until a satisfactory solution is found.
   
3. Randomized algorithms – use a random number at least once during the computation to find a solution to the problem.
   
4. Greedy algorithms – find an optimal solution at the local level with the intent of finding an optimal solution for the whole problem.
   
5. Recursive algorithms – solve the lowest and simplest version of a problem to then solve increasingly larger versions of the problem until the solution to the original problem is found.
   
6. Backtracking algorithms – divide the problem into subproblems, each which can be attempted to be solved; however, if the desired solution is not reached, move backwards in the problem until a path is found that moves it forward.
   
7. Dynamic programming algorithms – break a complex problem into a collection of simpler subproblems, then solve each of those subproblems only once, storing their solution for future use instead of re-computing their solutions.
   

​There are a number of different algorithms, from simple to very complicated, that exist for solving a Rubik’s cube. Below is just one simple algorithm. First, let’s specify a notation to use (similar to picking a programming language).
Each of the six faces of a Rubik’s cube can be represented by the first letter of their name:

• U - up
  
• D - down
  
• L - left
  
• R - right
  
• F - front
  
• B - back
  

Each face can be turned in three different ways/directions. Using U as an example, these are represented as:

• U - clockwise quarter-turn of the upper face
  
• U' - counter-clockwise quarter-turn of the upper face
  
• U2 - half turn in either direction of the upper face
  

Now, let’s go through the steps in the algorithm to solve a Rubik’s Cube. Feel free to grab one of your own and follow along!
Step 1: The Cross

1. First, flip some edges so that there is a white cross on the upper face.
   
2. Apply the following turns: F, R’, D’, R, F2, R’, U, R, U’, R’, R2, L2, U2, R2, L2.
   
3. The cross is now solved.
   

Step 2: The White Corners

1. The edges on the white face are now complete, but the corners remain.
   
2. Depending on where the white-orange-green corner is in the puzzle, apply one of the following series of turns:
   
   1. Bottom: R’, D’, R, D (repeat until the corner moves to its correct place)
      
   2. Top: R’, D’, R, D (this moves the corner to the bottom; then, follow the above instructions)
      

Step 3: Middle Layer Edges

1. Flip the cube so that the white is on the bottom.
   
2. Look for an edge that is on the top face and doesn’t have yellow on it.
   
3. Perform a U-turn so that the color on the front face of the edge matches with the center.
   
4. Depending on the direction that the edge could go, apply one of the following series of turns:
   
   1. Left: U’, L’, U, L, U, F, U’, F’
      
   2. Right: U, R, U’, R’, U’, F’, U, F)
      

Step 4: Yellow Cross

1. Apply the following turns, until a yellow cross on the face appears with the yellow center: F, R, U, R’, U’, F’.
   
2. If there is an “L” shape, where the two yellow pieces showing are adjacent to each other, apply the following turns: F, U, R, U’, R’, F’.
   
3. If there is a “Line” shape, which is horizontal, apply the following turns: F, R, U, R’, U’, F’.
   

Step 5: Sune and Antisune

1. Look at the face with the yellow center.
   
2. Depending on the below contingencies, apply one of the following series of turns:
   
   1. If there is only one oriented corner: R, U, R’, U, R, U2, R’ (repeat until the desired position is attained)
      
   2. There is one oriented corner and one right-facing corner: U2, R, U2, R’, U’, R, U’, R’
      

Step 6: Finishing the puzzle

1. Look for sets of “headlights” (two stickers of the same color in the same row, separated by a sticker of a different color).
   
2. Depending on how many there are, apply one of the following series of turns:
   
   1. If there are a set of headlights on each side: R, U’, R, U, R, U, R, U’, R’, U’, R2
      
   2. Otherwise: R’, F, R’, B2, R, F’, R’, B2, R2
      

​A sorting algorithm is an algorithm that puts elements of a list in a certain order, usually in numerical or lexicographical order. Sorting is often an important first step in algorithms that solves more complex problems. There are a large number of sorting algorithms, each with their own benefits and costs. Below, we will focus on some of the more famous sorting algorithms.

1. Linear sort: Find the smallest element in the list to be sorted, add it to a new list, and remove it from the original list. Repeat this until the original list is empty.
2. Bubble sort: Compare the first two elements in the list, and if the first is greater than the second, swap them. Repeat this with every pair of adjacent elements in the list. Then, repeat this process until the list is fully sorted.
3. Insertion sort: Compare each element in the list to all the prior elements until a smaller element is found. Swap these two elements. Repeat this process until the list is fully sorted.

​Ananya Rao is studying Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, and she is an instructor at Juni Learning. She is a biorobotics researcher at CMU, and she is pursuing an additional major in Robotics. She was previously a Digital Technology Intern at GE Transportation and an Assistant Teacher at the National Academy For Learning in Bengaluru, India. Ananya also enjoys dancing, building robots, and writing stories.

​For kids 10 and under, there are many games and toys that help them understand the building blocks of computer programming. For example, Bitsbox delivers a physical box to your home every month containing a kit of projects, and then your young child can login to Bitsbox’s online platform to program their own version of these projects. The apps are selected based on difficulty and interests - they offer anything from interactive birthday cards to Tetris-like games. The apps can then be easily shared onto phones and tablets.
The Osmo is an iPad-based programming game system that incorporates physical blocks to write code. Using a set of magnetic blocks, your child controls Awbie, a cute character who must navigate the different levels of the Osmo universe. The physical blocks must be connected together logically so that Awbie can move on screen, using commands like “move,” “turn,” and “repeat.” The Osmo is ideal for kids as young as five years old because they don’t need typing skills to learn the basics of programming logic and to practice their critical thinking skills. After your child has mastered Awbie, they can move onto Osmo’s other products like Coding Jam, which uses a similar block system to generate digital music, and Coding Duo, a more advanced version of Coding Awbie with multiple players.
Cubetto is a completely screenless coding toy for kids 6 and under. Cubetto is a wooden robot that is programmed by placing colored blocks onto its surface, which instructs it where to move. The Cubetto is placed on top of different maps, mazes, and books. For example, in one challenge Cubetto must navigate around a big urban city. In another, he is in ancient Egypt, learning about pyramids, hieroglyphics, and the Sphinx. This is a great toy that encourages active play and critical thinking without any screens.

​In the world of computer science, there are many programming languages, and no single language is superior to another. In other words, each language is best suited to solve certain problems, and in fact there is often no one best language to choose for a given programming project. For this reason, it is important for students who wish to develop software or to solve interesting problems through code to have strong computer science fundamentals that will apply across any programming language.
Programming languages tend to share certain characteristics in how they function, for example in the way they deal with memory usage or how heavily they use objects. Students will start seeing these patterns as they are exposed to more languages. This article will focus primarily on Python versus Java, which are two of the most widely used programming languages in the world. While it is hard to measure exactly the rate at which each programming language is growing, these are two of the most popular programming languages used in industry today.
One major difference between Python and Java is that Python is dynamically typed, while Java is statically typed. Loosely, this means that Java is much more strict about how variables are defined and used in code. As a result, Java tends to be more verbose in its syntax, which is one of the reasons we recommend learning Python before Java for beginners. For example, here is how you would create a variable named numbers that holds the numbers 0 through 9 in Python:

​Historically, Java has been the more popular language in part due to its lengthy legacy. However, Python is rapidly gaining ground. According to Github’s State of the Octoberst Report, it has recently surpassed Java as the most widely used programming language. As per the 2018 developer survey, Python is now the fastest-growing computer programing language.
Both Python and Java have large communities of developers to answer questions on websites like Stack Overflow. As you can see from Stack Overflow trends, Python surpassed Java in terms the percentage of questions asked about it on Stack Overflow in 2017. At the time of writing, about 13% of the questions on Stack Overflow are tagged with Python, while about 8% are tagged with Java!

​When it comes to learning the foundations of programming, many studies have concluded that it is easier to learn Python over Java, due to Python's simple and intuitive syntax, as seen in the earlier example. Java programs often have more boilerplate code - sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration - than Python. That being said, there are some notable advantages to Java, in particular its speed as a compiled language. Learning both Python and Java will give students exposure to two languages that lay their foundation on similar computer science concepts, yet differ in educational ways.
Overall, it is clear that both Python and Java are powerful programming languages in practice, and it would be advisable for any aspiring software developer to learn both languages proficiently. Programmers should compare Python and Java based on the specific needs of each software development project, as opposed to simply learning the one language that they prefer. In short, neither language is superior to another, and programmers should aim to have both in their coding experience.

This article originally appeared on junilearning.com ​

This article originally appeared on junilearning.com ​​on October 19th, 2019

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Julia Geer is studying Cognitive Science at UC Berkeley and is a former instructor at Juni Learning. She has an interest in the applications of coding in data analytics and digital marketing. In her spare time, Julia loves finding new restaurants, going to the beach, and discovering new music.

Juni Learning program helps bright young minds develop their interest and  passion for analytical and technical subjects  outside of school, and we want to inspire kids and their parents to check out how much fun learning could be

Learn more about Juni Learning on this PC Magazine article.