AP Computer Science

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AP Computer Science at Punahou starts with learning how to use the program Scratch to learn basic scripting concepts through block coding. After learning Scratch, the course takes us through the CS50 curriculum, Harvard's introductory computer science course. Problem sets teach C, Python, SQL, HTML, CSS, and JS throughout the course. The arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences inspire these problem sets. This class taught you how to collaborate, problem-solve, and be a critical thinker. You also learn how how to think algorithmically and solve problems efficiently.

Throughout the class, you work on many projects and problems and a culminating project called the Create Task. The Create Task is a culminating course project that is turned in when taking the AP exam.


Becoming a TA

After going through the AP Computer Science course, there was an opportunity to become a teaching assistant (TA). Becoming a TA taught me that I enjoyed teaching others, especially computer science topics. This allowed me to help others learn computer science and combined two things I love most: teaching and programming.


Coursework Examples

Name: Credit

Language: Python

Credit is an assignment in the CS50 course, in the Python unit, where you are validating if a credit card number given by the user exists using Luhn's Algorithm.

Name: Readability

Language: C

Using the Coleman-Liau index, Readability calculates the approximate grade level needed to comprehend text given by a user.

Name: Movies

Language: SQL

Movies use a SQL database to answer various questions and problems using different SQL methods and other conditionals.

Name: Meet My Friends

Language: HTML, CSS, JS

As one of the CS50 topics is web development, I chose to make a website representing the people who have helped me throughout life: my friends. So, using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as the CSS framework, Bootstrap, I created a website dedicated to my friends.

See it here!

Visit the repository here!


AP Create Task

Name: Playlist Project

Language: HTML, CSS, JS

Music has been something that has inspired me and continues to push me to work hard. However, sometimes when looking for new songs, it isn't easy to know where to start. For my create task, I made an app using JavaScript and different programming essentials, such as functions, nested loops, variables, and lists, to help the user get new song recommendations based on a random song or a preferred musical genre.

See it here!

Visit the repository here!