Useful Files, Admin & Fun Stuff
What's Here?
This is where you can find useful files and course documents, etc. This will eventually be formatted better, but for now it is slightly unorganised. This page will link you to useful websites and resources relevant for the whole course. Please let me know if you find any other useful websites that should be included, or leave a comment below.
A link to the textbooks, past papers and spec to exam spreadsheet can be found on FireFly
Programming companion guides are available in the programming section
A very useful YouTube playlist which covers many CS topics. It is designed for AQA and OCR, but there is much cross over.
LINK FOR VISUAL STUDIO Enterprise (use your single sign-on account to access and download)
https://azureforeducation.microsoft.com/devtools
Jetbrains Rider have an IDE that works with VB.NET on Apple OSX if you are not running Parallels https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/download/#section=mac
You also have access to Kivuto webstore, where you can download many products for free, or at vastly reduced rates. https://e5.onthehub.com/WebStore/ProductsByMajorVersionList.aspx?cmi_cs=1&cmi_mnuMain=14d5ed7a-4414-e911-8110-000d3af41938&ws=bd9af05b-e30c-e811-80fe-000d3af41938&vsro=8
Remember to check YouTube for tutorials in both Python and VB.NET. TheNewBoston is a particularly good channel which cover a multitude of different Computer Science/IT topics. Weblinks can go out of date at any time and I do not have time to check these. Please let me know if any of these do not work.
Revision Notes
Disclaimer: While I am happy to share these resources, I do not have the time to verify their content.
https://majidtahir.com/ offers notes on AS and A2 topics
Z notes are a collection of AS note topics and can be found above (note that this refers to the old 9608 spec).
External content sites
CIE Computer Science Wiki (low on content in places)
TheTeacher website (use the username/password given)
Wikibooks CS A Level (written specifically for AQA, but much of it is relevant and comprehensive)
Wikibooks CIE A Level (only partially complete as of September 2015)
Computer Development
The following site guides you through making a programmable computer from scratch. It gets technical but if you really want to get into the subject, this is one way to do it!
Programming
Python (v.3 +)
Python General
Python Tutorials/Learning
Code Academy (you will need to sign up for a free account)
Try Python on-line Python explorer (requires MS Silverlight).
Python Reference
Visual Basic.NET
VB.NET General
VB.NET Tutorials/Learning
VB.NET Reference
DotNetPearls contains lots of deep content.
Microsoft Development Network (MSDN) - in-depth technical documentation
Development Tools
Flowchart creator (requires Java)
Logic Gate designer (requires Fash)
Just For Fun
LightBot 2 - also available on Android and iOS app store
Code Monkey (you do need to sign up for this)
BlueMaxima's Flashpoint - Flash emulator with two download options: The main engine, or a 500GB+ download of every Flash game created
Z-library - Free repository of books (over 6m books to date)
Science Hub - Provides free access to many scientific journals usually locked behind a pay wall