The Beauty and Joy of Computing is a HS course that implements the College Board's new AP Computer Science: Principles model (whereas the old AP CS course will be redefined as Computer Science: Programming). This course is intended to engage students in the social and well as technical aspects of computing, and it is based on a Scratch alternative called SNAP (which doesn't require Flash) and is based on the free online book Blown to Bits by Hal Abelson.
Computing has changed the world in profound ways. It has opened up wonderful new ways for people to connect, design, research, play, create, and express themselves. However, just using a computer is only a small part of the picture. The real transformative and empowering experience comes when one learns how to program the computer, to translate ideas into code. This course teaches students how to do exactly that, using SNAP! (based on Scratch), one of the friendliest programming languages ever invented.
