📚 Resources 02 — Go Deeper on Software
All free, none required. Ordered from gentlest to most ambitious.
🎬 Videos
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Code.org — “How Computers Work: Instructions & Programs” — part of Code.org’s short official “How Computers Work” video series (on code.org and Code.org’s YouTube channel), covering how hardware follows stored instructions — the exact hardware-to- software bridge of this module. Best for: anyone who wants the friendliest possible five-minute reinforcement.
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Crash Course Computer Science — the software episodes — the same beloved YouTube series from Module 01’s resources; its middle stretch covers programming languages, compilers, and operating systems (look for the episodes titled “The First Programming Languages”, “Programming Basics”, and “Operating Systems”). Best for: visual learners ready for a faster pace and some delightful history.
🖱️ Interactive
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Khan Academy — Computing section (khanacademy.org) — alongside “Computers and the Internet”, Khan Academy’s Computing section includes gentle programming-basics material with in-browser exercises and self-checks. Best for: readers who want to peek at what actual code feels like before Module 05, with zero setup.
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GitHub (github.com) — not a tutorial but the world’s largest home of open-source software; browsing famous projects (like
torvalds/linuxfrom the lab) is the most direct way to internalize “software is text files written by people”. Best for: curious wanderers — no account needed to look around.
🎓 A full (free) university course
- CS50: Introduction to Computer Science (cs50.harvard.edu/x) — Harvard’s free intro course; its early lectures walk through source code, compiling, and how human-written text becomes a running program, with live demonstrations. Best for: the reader who finished this module thinking “I want the fuller story” — it is a serious time commitment, so bookmark it rather than binge it.
⚠️ Watch out: some of these resources use programming examples before you’ve written any code. If a code snippet appears, you’re allowed to let it wash over you — Module 05 of this course will teach you to read and write it properly.