AP Computer Science Principles Course

AP^® Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) is an introductory-level course meant for all students, regardless of whether they intend to pursue a major in a STEM discipline or not. You don’t need an advanced understanding of programming. One year studying Computer Science will help students explore careers they may not have considered open to them. Students who take AP CSP —

• Gain confidence in problem-solving abilities
• Understand better how computers really work
• Broaden their understanding of how computers impact every career and discipline
• Stretch their creativity by bringing their own ideas to life
• Learn skills that they can apply to a wide range of fields and interests
• Learn new ways to help their community through technology

This course adequately covers the requirements of the AP^® CSP curriculum and allows students to go further in more advanced topics that are outside of AP CSP requirements if they have interest and time.

This course covers a broad range of foundational topics such as digital information, the Internet, programming, algorithms, big data, cybersecurity, and the societal impacts of computing. It provides students with the essential knowledge and skills needed to work with modern computing throughout their lives. Not only do we show students how our current computational world was built from the first computer through the Internet, we also develop the foundational skills that they will need to build the next generation of computational tools. Students will develop their ability for computational solution design, algorithms and program development, abstraction in program development, code analysis computing innovations, and responsible computing.

The course provides its own browser-based Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that the students will use to create and run their programs. It encompasses an editor and compiler, a custom graphics package, and an autograder that is capable of grading not only textual problems and solutions, but also a broad range of graphics problems and solutions.