The course gives a hands-on introduction to coding. How does a computer work? How can it be operated using code? How does code interact with humans? How does it deal with data? How does it communicate with other computers? What problems are easy to solve and what are hard? And what tools are available, so we don’t have to start from scratch every time?

We approach these questions by writing our own code, mainly in JavaScript, one of the fundamental web technologies. We start by writing small sketches to get ourselves familiar with how algorithms work and how they can be designed to execute specific tasks. We learn how to declare and assign variables, write functions and eventually define objects with custom properties. We then aim to embed our sketches in real web environments, including basic interaction with HTML, server-side data, APIs and, of course, anyone on the web.

Students from other faculties or universities will receive a place on the course subject to room capacities.

• Contribution to the discussion through continuous presentation of the work in progress!
• No absence without prior excuse!
• Presentation of the final results!

No previous knowledge is required. It is recommended to attend both “Digital Skills” and "Introduction to Empirical Research: planning and conducting a quantitative study" in parallel to this lecture.