This document details the organizational structure of the OSSU Computer Science curriculum, including its phases, dependencies, and progression pathways. It covers the technical architecture of how curriculum content is organized within the repository and the educational progression from prerequisites through final project completion.
For information about specific course setup and implementation details, see Course-Specific Guides. For details about supplementary materials beyond the core curriculum, see Supplementary Resources.
The OSSU curriculum follows a structured progression through four main phases, with each phase building upon the previous one's knowledge foundation README.md48-53 The curriculum is designed to match the CS 2013 undergraduate standards README.md42
Sources: README.md48-53 README.md110-116
The Core CS phase consists of eight required subject areas that correspond to the first three years of a traditional computer science degree README.md50
Sources: README.md87-99 README.md110-116
The curriculum implements a dependency system where certain courses must be completed before others. While students can study multiple courses in parallel, the repository recommends a "top to bottom" progression README.md64-68
Sources: README.md127-240 CHANGELOG.md18 CHANGELOG.md23
After Core CS, students select electives. They are encouraged to choose one subject to become an expert in and take all courses under that heading README.md67
Sources: README.md100-106 README.md303-407
The curriculum content is organized across the main README and specialized sub-directories.
| Curriculum Phase | Primary Files | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Core Curriculum | README.md87-107 | Main course list and sequence |
| Intro CS | README.md127-148 | Entry point definitions |
| Core CS | README.md149-302 | Major subject area courses |
| Advanced CS | README.md303-407 | Elective specializations |
| Supplementary | extras/courses.md extras/readings.md | Non-required high-quality material |
| Project Guidelines | README.md409-424 | Final project requirements |
Sources: README.md87-107 README.md45-46
OSSU aggregates courses from various high-quality providers README.md35-42
Sources: README.md35-42 CHANGELOG.md24
The curriculum is estimated to take approximately 2 years at 20 hours/week README.md54
Sources: README.md50-54
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