Re:Simon Peyton-Jones on computer science in school curricul...
by OJFord on Thursday November 28, 2019 @06:36PM
(#21660875)
Within mathematics, the 'D' (e.g. D1) modules are 'discrete' at A level, and are mostly (basic) graph theory/algorithms.
Cf. 'S' (Statistics), 'M' (Mechanics, i.e. mathematics of physics), 'C' (Core), and 'FP' (Further Pure).
You're right that Computer Science/Computing is separate, but it's not a particularly common and certainly not a required choice for people pursuing CS, many view it as unworthwhile/a joke either in advance or retrospect.
Certainly when I went through they'd far rather you took as much mathematics as possible (which can be three full A levels - Mathematics/Further/Additional if you take all of the modules) followed by sciences. A faculty member at Cambridge expressed an explicit preference for Latin over Computing at A level.
Cf. 'S' (Statistics), 'M' (Mechanics, i.e. mathematics of physics), 'C' (Core), and 'FP' (Further Pure).
You're right that Computer Science/Computing is separate, but it's not a particularly common and certainly not a required choice for people pursuing CS, many view it as unworthwhile/a joke either in advance or retrospect.
Certainly when I went through they'd far rather you took as much mathematics as possible (which can be three full A levels - Mathematics/Further/Additional if you take all of the modules) followed by sciences. A faculty member at Cambridge expressed an explicit preference for Latin over Computing at A level.