16 February 2021

Harvard’s Most Popular Course is Free, Online




Frederik Bussler

This introductory computer science course covers algorithms, data structures, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development.

Over 2 million students have taken this hallmark computer science course — which started off in 1989 as an exclusive, on-campus course, with just around 200 students a year. Today, attending Harvard in-person costs over $70,000 a year.
Why is CS50 Famous?

CS50 is an extremely famous course, and for good reason.

CS50’s claim to fame has its roots in Harvard Professor David Malan, who The Harvard Crimson describes as having a “cult of personality” for his unique teaching style.

Now you can understand the praise of YouTube’s CEO: “CS50 changed my life.”

Robert Bowden, a member of the technical staff, says that the digital experience is essentially equal to the in-person experience:

“It’s no longer the case that the live experience, being in Sanders Theatre, being lectured to, is superior to even sections as separate things, office hours Monday through Thursday, the videos that are online, the shorts that are online [and the] message boards that we have.”

In other words, millions of people are getting the true Harvard experience, for free online.
Esteemed Guest Lecturers

CS50 is the largest on-campus Harvard course, and one of the most popular MOOCs of all time.

Countless alumni praise this engaging, fun course, which has had guest lectures from the likes of Zuckerberg and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Employability

As The Harvard Crimson writes, there’s an implication that CS50 is the first step to employability, and even a step towards a career in Silicon Valley.
After CS50

The possibilities after CS50 are endless.

One great, free option is “CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python.” This course recommends CS50x as a pre-requisite, so this is a great next step if you’re interested in AI.

That said, if you’re not a highly-technical programmer, you can also build no-code AI models with tools like Obviously.AI, which also offers a free online no-code AI crash course.

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