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At some point, someone has told you that you should learn basic computer science. At Harvard, students are heeding the call.

In a longform analysis of CS50, the undergraduate course that has recently posted the highest enrollment at Harvard, Crimson staff writer Cordelia Mendez dissects what is making computer science so appealing to so many students. She highlights the cult of personality around instructor David Malan and the many perks CS50 affords — cake after class, t-shirt giveaways — in painting a colorful portrait of the "famous" class.

“We are evangelical about our subject,” one former dean tells Mendez. "We want [students] to understand that it’s going to going to be hard and fun."

Read "This is CS50" at the Harvard Crimson.

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