Science and Nature

Crash Course Computer Science

In this series, we're going to trace the origins of our modern computers, take a closer look at the ideas that gave us our current hardware and software, discuss how and why our smart devices just keep getting smarter, and even look towards the future!

The Future of Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #40

12m 21s

In the past 70 years electronic computing has fundamentally changed how we live our lives, and we believe it’s just getting started. From ubiquitous computing, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars to brain computer interfaces, wearable computers, and maybe even the singularity there is so much amazing potential on the horizon.

Episodes

  • The Future of Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #40: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Future of Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #40

    S1 E41 - 12m 21s

    In the past 70 years electronic computing has fundamentally changed how we live our lives, and we believe it’s just getting started. From ubiquitous computing, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars to brain computer interfaces, wearable computers, and maybe even the singularity there is so much amazing potential on the horizon.

  • Educational Technology: Crash Course Computer Science #39: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Educational Technology: Crash Course Computer Science #39

    S1 E40 - 11m 44s

    Today we’re going to go a little meta and talk about how computer science can support learning with educational technology. We here at Crash Course are big fans of interactive in-class learning and hands-on experiences, but we also believe in the additive power of educational technology inside and outside the classroom from the Internet itself.

  • Psychology of Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #38: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Psychology of Computing: Crash Course Computer Science #38

    S1 E39 - 12m 28s

    So today, we’re going to discuss some psychological considerations in building computers like how to make them easier for humans to use, the uncanny valley problem when humanoid robots gets more and more humanlike, and strategies to make our devices work better with us by incorporating our emotions and even altering our gaze.

  • Robots: Crash Course Computer Science #37: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Robots: Crash Course Computer Science #37

    S1 E38 - 12m 17s

    Robots are often thought as a technology of the future, but they're already here by the millions in the workplace, our homes, and pretty soon on the roads. We'll discuss the origins of robotics to its proliferation, and even look at some common control designs that were implemented to make them more useful in the workplace.

  • Natural Language Processing: CC Computer Science #36: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Natural Language Processing: CC Computer Science #36

    S1 E37 - 11m 39s

    As computers play an increasing role in our daily lives there has been an growing demand for voice user interfaces, but speech is also terribly complicated. Vocabularies are diverse, sentence structures can often dictate the meaning of certain words, and computers also have to deal with accents, mispronunciations, and many common linguistic faux pas.

  • Computer Vision: Crash Course Computer Science #35: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Computer Vision: Crash Course Computer Science #35

    S1 E36 - 10m 50s

    We’ve long known that our digital cameras and smartphones can take incredibly detailed images, but taking pictures is not quite the same thing. For the past half-century, computer scientists have been working to help our computing devices understand the imagery they capture, leading to advancements everywhere, from tracking hands and whole bodies to biometrics to unlock our phones.

  • Machine Learning & A.I. - Crash Course Computer Science #34: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Machine Learning & A.I. - Crash Course Computer Science #34

    S1 E35 - 11m 34s

    From spam filters and self-driving cars, to cutting edge medical diagnosis and real-time language translation, there has been an increasing need for our computers to learn from data and apply that knowledge to make predictions and decisions. This is the heart of machine learning which sits inside the more ambitious goal of artificial intelligence.

  • Cryptography: Crash Course Computer Science #33: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Cryptography: Crash Course Computer Science #33

    S1 E34 - 12m 16s

    We’re going to walk you through some common encryption techniques such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, and RSA which are employed to keep your information safe, private, and secure.

  • Hackers & Cyber Attacks: Crash Course Computer Science #32: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Hackers & Cyber Attacks: Crash Course Computer Science #32

    S1 E33 - 11m 52s

    Now, not all hackers are are malicious cybercriminals intent on stealing your data (these people are known as Black Hats). There are also White Hats who hunt for bugs, close security holes, and perform security evaluations for companies. And there are a lot of different motivations for hackers.

  • Cybersecurity: Crash Course Computer Science #31: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Cybersecurity: Crash Course Computer Science #31

    S1 E32 - 12m 21s

    In today’s episode, we’re going to unpack these three goals and talk through some strategies we use like passwords, biometrics, and access privileges to keep our information as secure, but also as accessible as possible.

  • The World Wide Web: Crash Course Computer Science #30: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The World Wide Web: Crash Course Computer Science #30

    S1 E31 - 11m 36s

    The World Wide Web is built on the foundation of simply linking pages to other pages with hyperlinks, but it is this massive interconnectedness that makes it so powerful. But before the web could become a thing, Tim Berners-Lee would need to invent the web browser at CERN, and search engines would need to be created to navigate these massive directories of information.

  • The Internet: Crash Course Computer Science #29: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Internet: Crash Course Computer Science #29

    S1 E30 - 11m 42s

    Specifically, how that stream of characters you punch into your browser's address bar, like "youtube.com", return a website. Just to clarify, we're talking in a broader sense about that massive network of networks connecting millions of computers together.

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