Java Script A' Level - What Doors Might it Open?

[AsleepInYorkshire]

We've been to an open evening at a college that my daughter is interested in going to after her GCSE's.

One of the courses she is considering is Computer Science.

The course teaches Java Script, which means nothing to me. The teacher is new to the college but at his last college his last class turned out A*'s across the board except for one pupil who didn't attend class all the time due to illness and they still scraped a C.

Does anyone who has lead a life in computing know what doors this kind of A' level opens, if any please?

Just noting this is her plan b subject. She has joined police cadets and at age 18 wants to do an apprenticeship to be a police woman.

Thank you in advance

AiY(D)

[servodude]

Does anyone who has lead a life in computing know what doors this kind of A' level opens, if any please?

The choice of programming language used in a computer science course "should" normally be mostly irrelevant - and often is pseudo-code specifically for the purpose (it looks kind of like code but isn't). There will be maths and formal logic involved.

JavaScript will be fine for this but I would be very surprised if it is the only language they used.

It benefits from being very "web orientated" and interpreted rather than compiled: which means you can see results very quickly, kids can relate to something that runs in a browser and you can find practical uses for it quickly.
It has its quirks but they can be useful things to consider from a learning perspective; I like to quiz JavaScript folk about these at interviews to see how well they actually know what they are doing.

Certainly for pupils starting out, whatever they are using just needs to be sufficiently comprehensible that they can see how the concepts they are actually learning are being implemented. Those concepts (at least the fundamentals) are transferrable to (just about) any other language and beyond. e.g. the thinking requirement to break a problem down in to clearly defined and manageable tasks isn't just useful in programming.

Or looking at it another way it's an A-level in a technical subject with a practical component: must be useful in a few places

-sd

[mc2fool]

JavaScript is a programming language that is a core component of the vast majority of websites and is pretty much essential to know if you're a website designer/implementer.

However, I would be amazed if there is an A level in JavaScript, indeed, I can't find one at all.

Rather I think that it's an A level in Computer Science and the syllabus has JavaScript as a part of it, probably only a small part and it probably covers some other computer languages too; you should be able to check that out in the syllabus.

Obviously a Computer Science A level is useful if going for a job or further studies in computing but it can also teach useful skills regardless -- actually quite so for a copper -- which are explained in plain English here (and probably other places too): https://www.davidgamecollege.com/819/a-level-computer-science-course

[moorfield]

JavaScript is a programming language that is a core component of the vast majority of websites and is pretty much essential to know if you're a website designer/implementer.

However, I would be amazed if there is an A level in JavaScript, indeed, I can't find one at all.

Rather I think that it's an A level in Computer Science and the syllabus has JavaScript as a part of it, probably only a small part and it probably covers some other computer languages too; you should be able to check that out in the syllabus.

Obviously a Computer Science A level is useful if going for a job or further studies in computing but it can also teach useful skills regardless -- actually quite so for a copper -- which are explained in plain English here (and probably other places too): https://www.davidgamecollege.com/819/a-level-computer-science-course

TBH A level Comp Sci is about so much more than just programming these days so the languages taught actually don't matter too much (provided that they cover all the basic "grammar" - flow control loops etc., operators, object orientation). IIRC some syllabuses still teach Delphi which is regarded as quite old now.

JavaScript has evolved a lot over the last decade from an older version "ES5" to a newer one "ES6". A good programmer should understand the history and differences between the two and a really good programmer should understand how its concurrency model works in a single threaded runtime. A good engineer on the other hand should understand how to plug all the various libraries available together to build commercial applications or websites - eg. React, Angular and so on.

My advice would be not to obsess or focus too much on one particular language - they are always evolving and it is impossible to keep up.

[stewamax]

And a really really really good designer/ programmer will understand how to write elegantly structured code that is maintainable by someone else.

Anyone who gets an appreciation of the role of classes and objects (and, when it comes to data structures – normalisation) is half-way there. It is rarely anything to do with clever coding tricks.

As an introduction to programming, JavaScript is OK but object orientation is not one of its strengths.

[UncleEbenezer]

Does anyone who has lead a life in computing know what doors this kind of A' level opens, if any please?

The choice of programming language used in a computer science course "should" normally be mostly irrelevant - and often is pseudo-code specifically for the purpose (it looks kind of like code but isn't). There will be maths and formal logic involved.

Yep. Recruiters may get hung up on one language or another; techies don't: we treat them as largely interchangeable. The skills certainly are.

JavaScript will be fine for this but I would be very surprised if it is the only language they used.

A heavy focus on it should be a warning sign against the teacher. And if that teacher gets good results, a warning against the course/exam. But what you'll have read is the publicity, which doubtless oversimplifies. A course that teaches principles of programming is an education; one that teaches a particular language (except perhaps as a one-day intro for those who already have the education) is at best a technician training.

[Urbandreamer]

The teacher is new to the college but at his last college his last class turned out A*'s across the board except for one pupil who didn't attend class all the time due to illness and they still scraped a C.

I do hope that was not a deliberate pun that everyone missed.

"C" is a powerful, but crude programming language that was the basis of languages like C++ and C#. There are truly significant differences between javascript and java, but a lot of similarities. Android apps are written in Java.

As has been said, you have to use something to teach computer science, but I would hope that they cover more than one language. Specifically different computer languages embody different concepts. Different languages are better or worse for different uses, hence it would be important to study those differences.

Ok, it's no good. I have to post this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S1fISh-pag

[servodude]

The teacher is new to the college but at his last college his last class turned out A*'s across the board except for one pupil who didn't attend class all the time due to illness and they still scraped a C.

I do hope that was not a deliberate pun that everyone missed.

"C" is a powerful, but crude programming language that was the basis of languages like C++ and C#. There are truly significant differences between javascript and java, but a lot of similarities. Android apps are written in Java.

As has been said, you have to use something to teach computer science, but I would hope that they cover more than one language. Specifically different computer languages embody different concepts. Different languages are better or worse for different uses, hence it would be important to study those differences.

Ok, it's no good. I have to post this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S1fISh-pag

C ... Crude?!
How bally well dare you

It's positively elegant these days

Occasionally I find myself having to weed out some overgrown copse of code that only supports c99 or ANSI
- which leads one to realise just how useful a lot of the features/syntax that have been added recently are


-sd

[Urbandreamer]

C ... Crude?!
How bally well dare you

It's positively elegant these days

Occasionally I find myself having to weed out some overgrown copse of code that only supports c99 or ANSI
- which leads one to realise just how useful a lot of the features/syntax that have been added recently are

In the words of this song.
https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/eternal-flame.en.html

..
So when I made my senior year, I threw my code away,
And learned the way to program that I still prefer today.

Now, some folks on the Internet put their faith in C++.
They swear that it's so powerful, it's what God used for us.
And maybe it lets mortals dredge their objects from the C.
But I think that explains why only God can make a tree.

I mostly use C++, but I couldn't cope without data types like bit fields and unions when communicating with hardware registers.

[servodude]

I mostly use C++, but I couldn't cope without data types like bit fields and unions when communicating with hardware registers

Indeed. Once you reach that boundary where how data is encoded in the hardware matters C "just works", and does so in a really neat and clean way. I cant imagine how that's could be handled well if JavaScript were the language under discussion, even using C# for forming binary packets is a hair pulling experience

[gryffron]

So I found this answer online:

AS and A-level Computer Science
Subject content
1 Fundamentals of programming
2 Fundamentals of data structures
3 Systematic approach to problem solving
4 Theory of computation
5 Fundamentals of data representation
6 Fundamentals of computer systems
7 Fundamentals of computer organisation and architecture
8 Consequences of uses of computing
9 Fundamentals of communication and networking

Pretty much sums it up for me. You'll notice it doesn't mention ANY specific programming language.
Sound computer knowledge is useful for any job these days. Most people can get streets ahead if they can write a few simple macros to speed their work.

Oh yeah, and learn to touch type FIRST. You can work so much faster. Mavis Beacon anyone? Is she still around? Oh wow, just googled and she's still going!

Gryff
C Programmer for 20 years. Mostly embedded micros. Still got my K&R bible (2nd Ed) on the bookshelf.
I wrote a Windows program in C once. Never again. I'll concede C++ wins hands down for that.
Never heard that song before though. Man it's dated.

[moorfield]

Oh yeah, and learn to touch type FIRST. You can work so much faster. Mavis Beacon anyone? Is she still around? Oh wow, just googled and she's still going!

I learnt my touch typing from the BBC B's Welcome Tape (*) "Keyboard" program! Anyone remember that ?

If I had to suggest one language for a budding A level Computer Science to immerse themselves in now it would be Python rather than JavaScript.




(*) The best program by far on that tape was of course "Kingdom". In my very occasional spare time I am still trying to reverse engineer it and build a sim that can test it ad infinitum...

[Charlottesquare]

The Scottish equivalent did my son no harm, (Higher then Advance Higher) but he was always aiming to do Comp Sci at university.

I suspect his Maths was more important to his acceptance than the Comp Sci he took at school (St Andrews I recall wanted three "science" subjects, so his were Comp Sci, Maths, Physics but Scottish education is wider.)

It has worked out fine, graduate software developer/engineer role for 3 odd year post Uni then contracting in Frankfurt and Edinburgh and now age 31 working for a New York consultancy- he has earned pretty good money ( £500 per day/circa £120k gross before costs as a contractor) and I think the New York employment package is more again.

I believe the key is maths but Comp Sci seems to do no harm coupled with maths.