This course presents the important concepts in the computing discipline and places them in context, in order to introduce the nature of the computing profession and the education of a computing professional.The course covers the following topics, through case studies. Abstractions and the user view: the interactive machine, the stored-program machine, data, programming languages and virtual machines, computational objects. Applications of computer systems: personal computation, application software, information systems, knowledge-based systems, and real-time control. Computer systems and their environment: the personal computer, networked computers and concurrency, the world wide web. The nature of the computing discipline: mathematical theory, scientific experimentation and engineering design. Professional issues: the engineering of software systems, the client focus, and professional ethics. Educational issues: curriculum issues, the ANU experience.