TJ CompSci

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a regional Governor's school in Northern Virginia, offers a full four-year sequence in Computer Science. The Computer Science Team is part of the Math/CS Division and the Computer Systems Lab is part of the Science and Technology Division. Our collective goal is to provide a world class Computer Science education to our students and to disseminate curriculum materials to other academic institutions.

Click on the links below to view and/or download course materials.

Introduction to Computer Science
A mandatory course for all TJ students, the intro. course assumes no prior programming experience. Students study object-oriented programming and develop fundamental programming skill. In preparation for the AP course, Java is the language of instruction.

AP Computer Science
An elective course available to all students who have completed Introduction to Computer Science, APCS follows the College Board topic outline. This course carries an additional 0.5 quality point in GPA calculation and pepares students to take the APCS Exam given each May.

Accelerated Computer Science
A non-traditional route designed for experienced programmers only, this course requires exceptional problem solving skills (by TJ standards).

Summer School
How better to spend five weeks of summer than learning Computer Science with 180 of your closest TJ friends. A great way to fit more into your cramped schedule, the summer school program thrives because of students aides (upperclassmen, apply early). An accelerated class is usually formed during the second week. Not only is there an ice cream social and a pizza party, but you may even get to work with teachers from outside TJ.

Artifical Intelligence 1 & 2
Half-credit semester courses requiring APCS as a prerequisite, students program in Python in a Linux environment. These classes carry the same extra grade point value as an AP course.

Parallel Computing 1 & 2
Half-credit semester courses with a suggested APCS prerequisite, students program in C with MPI and OpenGL in Linux and Solaris. Other systems may include CUDA, OpenMP and XMT-C.

Senior Tech Lab
One credit in Technology Independent Research, such as this course in Computer Systems Research, is required for graduation from TJ.