By Eric Li (21S06E), Chairperson and Tay Kar Ray (21S06E), Vice-Chairperson

“The ultimate promise of technology is to make us master of a world that we command by the push of a button.”

Volker Grassmuck

Here at the Computer Science Society (CSS), we believe in the power of technology and computing in transforming our way of life for the better. We therefore teach a wide variety of courses in computer science and programming for this purpose.

Lessons start from the very basics and no prior programming experience is required. As long as you are willing to learn, you will acquire knowledge by leaps and bounds. From 2021 onwards, professional instructors from TinkerTanker will likely be conducting the training. At the end of some lessons, there will also be Kahoot quizzes to reinforce one’s understanding of concepts, as well as optional homework questions.

Some courses include Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Web Development, C++ and Python, and App Development is also planned. In the Web Development course, students will create a personal, working website after learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In the C++ and Python  courses, students will learn syntax, data structures, algorithms that can be used for spreadsheet processing (useful for PW!), and general purpose programs. 

Joining CSS also offers one the opportunity to participate in many exciting and enriching competitions such as the National Olympiad of Informatics (NOI) and the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI). Each year, many CSS members do RI and Singapore proud at these national and international programming competitions. These competitions also test one’s ability to think outside of the box and apply programming skills in creative scenarios, and allow one to gain deeper insights into many algorithmic and technical aspects of programming. We even collaborated with the 40th Students’ Council to create the virtual Open House 2021!

There are also hackathons, where participants build a prototype of an app or idea in 24 hours as a team. An example is the Whitehacks or Cyber Defenders Discovery Camp (CDDC) organised by the Defence Science Technology Agency (DSTA). In the recently concluded Business Analytics Case Competition (BACC) jointly organised by the National University of Singapore’s Industrial and Systems Engineering (NUS ISE) and Micron, one of our teams won 2nd Runners-Up.

Our CCA sessions are conducted every Wednesday from 9am to 11am, and we welcome students of all skills levels, from complete beginners to coding experts. If you are interested in creating websites, developing intelligent programs, or just programming useful applications or games, we warmly welcome you to join the computer science community!