Information and Course Requirements

MIT has an extensive offering of free classes in computer engineering. Students can choose from undergraduate or graduate-level courses that offer lecture notes, video and audio lectures, assignments and exams. Not every class has video and audio lectures available, although most have lecture notes and problem sets. As with most OpenCourseWare (OCW) courses, students work independently and do not receive degrees or credits.

Students can choose among introductory or foundational classes and advanced classes geared toward specific computer systems engineering topics. Special software may be required; the course description lets students know what, if any, additional software they need.

Online Class List

Computer Language Engineering

Through video, audio and printed lectures, students learn how to put together programming languages and implement a compiler. The course divides the compiler-building section into five segments, with instructions for each segment. Lectures for this class are also available on YouTube and iTunes.

Intro to Computers and Engineering Problem Solving

This course teaches the basics of software development. Students begin by learning the Java programming language and continue on to advanced topics such as differential equations and sorting algorithms.

Computer Systems Engineering

This engineering class covers software and hardware systems. It branches out to discuss network development, online security and atomicity. Geared toward students interested in designing practical, usable systems, the course includes instructions for design projects.

Laboratory in Software Engineering

Students interested in larger software systems will learn programming basics and methods of data abstraction. Project examples are available, as are project instructions. Although students will not be able to work in teams as indicated on the syllabus, they are given the necessary project templates and source codes to work individually.

Foundations of Software Engineering

Designed for students new to programming, this course introduces object-oriented programming with C++ and Java. CVS code management and methods for working with algorithms are also addressed.

Computation Structures

This class helps students understand and design digital systems. Problem sets, quizzes and labs are provided. Online students will not be able to access materials provided by Athena, the UNIX-based computing environment at MIT.

Performance Engineering of Software Systems

Students with prior knowledge of programming can use this course to maximize the usefulness of their software systems. Methods used include multithreaded algorithms, parallelism and distributed systems.