18.S191: Introduction to computational thinking for real-world problems

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Welcome to MIT 18.S191 aka 6.S083 aka 22.S092, Spring 2021 edition! For older semester, see the Fall 2020 branch or older content.

This is an introductory course on Computational Thinking. We use the Julia programming language to approach real-world problems in varied areas applying data analysis and computational and mathematical modeling. In this class you will learn computer science, software, algorithms, applications, and mathematics as an integrated whole.

Topics include:

Image analysis
Machine Learning?
Network theory
Climate modeling

Stay updated on Twitter

We will be using Twitter to put out class updates and other relevant course content. You can find us on Twitter @MITCompThinking.

Meet our staff

Lecturers: Alan Edelman, David P. Sanders, Charles E. Leiserson, Henri F. Drake

Teaching assistants: Bola Malek

Technical assistants: Fons van der Plas, Logan Kilpatrick

Guest lecturers: to be announced

Logistics

Course materials will be published on this website on Monday 1:00pm. Each week is a new chapter, which includes:

Asynchronous video lectures (total 60 minutes)
Interactive visualizations
Exercises

Live lectures

On Monday 1:00pm - 2:30pm, after the material is published, there will also be:

Q&A on Discord
Live overview lecture (30 minutes)

On Wednesday 1:00pm 2:30pm (MIT students only), you will meet with fellow students and your TA to:

Review the lecture
Work on problem sets in small groups or individually, with the opportunity to ask questions to your TA

Start date: February 16, 2021

Discussion forum and homework submission

Discord: discussion (we encourage you to hang out here during class!)
Piazza: (MIT only) questions, discussion with staff, announcements
Canvas: (MIT only) homework submissions. If you're a non-MIT student, don't worry, the homework has built-in answers checks, or you can find a partner to cross-grade homeworks via Discord.

Evaluation

The final grade is 80% problem sets, and 20% MITx quick questions.

Problem sets are released on Tuesdays and due before Sunday (11:59pm). They have equal weight; your lowest score will be dropped.
MITx exercises (quick questions) are due before Wednesday (11:59pm), but are best done on Monday, during or right after the lectures.