THE

ACTUALIZE
CURRICULUM
an overview of the
technical topics covered
at actualize
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

01

OUR PROCESS
We're not just software
engineers - we're educators.
Our curriculum is designed first
and foremost using the lens of
how people learn and think.

Actualize was founded upon the premise that

teaching people to code requires true educational
expertise. Software engineering is a complex and
vast subject, so it's not enough to just present
students with information. Each concept needs to
be taught using clear and in-depth explanations,
poignant analogies, and exercises that solidify
the concept in the student's mind.

As educators, we value teachability over

trendiness. Our choice of technologies for the
curriculum is based on what allows our students
to best grasp the core concepts at hand and then
be able to teach themselves any new technology.
Teaching the shiniest JavaScript framework that
came out yesterday is less important to us.

Indeed, most Actualize grads go on to jobs that

require languages and frameworks that are
outside our curriculum. And that's because we've
prepared our students to be able to teach
themselves any new technical topic.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

02

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
The Actualize curriculum covers many topics,
grouped into following broad categories:

1. Programming Language. Subtopics: Ruby, OOP

2. Version Control. Subtopics: Git, Github

3. Back-End Development. Subtopics: Rails

4. Database Design. Subtopics: Postgres, SQL

5. Front-End Development. Subtopics: HTML, CSS,

JavaScript, React.js

6. Computer Science. Subtopics: Data structures,

algorithms

In the next sections, we will explain many of the

subtopics covered in the curriculum. Don't worry
if you don't understand everything - it'll all be
explained in depth when you join the course!
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

03

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
THROUGH RUBY
RUBY

Ruby is a multipurpose programming language

developed in Japan during the 1990's. It became
popularized through its use in conjunction with
the Rails web development framework and has
become a popular choice for back-end web
development.

We find that Ruby's natural, English-like syntax

softens the learning curve for students learning
the fundamentals of programming. Our students
begin learning Ruby from Day 1 of the Prework
phase, and use it to learn critical concepts such
as variables, code flow, methods, conditionals,
loops, arrays, hashes, and functions.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

04

OBJECT-ORIENTED
PROGRAMMING (OOP)
OOP is a popular programming technique that
allows for code simplification and reuse. Using
Ruby, which is an object-oriented language, we
explore important OOP topics including objects,
classes, methods, modules, inheritance, and
composition.

VERSION CONTROL WITH

GIT AND GITHUB
Version control is what allows software engineers
to keep track of every version of the codebase
that ever existed. This makes it easy to roll back
mistakes or discover at what point a bug was
introduced. Git is a popular tool that makes
version control manageable.

Github is a website that connects with Git to

store all your versions of code online. In addition
to the storage of code in the cloud, Github also
makes it easy for an entire team to work on a
single codebase without everyone overwriting
each others' work. Lastly, Github is a great site
for discovering new and exciting open-source
projects created by other developers.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

05

RUBY ON RAILS
BACK-END WEB DEVELOPMENT WITH RAILS

Rails is a web framework for back-end web

development. It is used in conjunction with Ruby,
and is popularly known as Ruby on Rails.

Ruby on Rails is one of the most powerful and

productive web frameworks available, powering
websites from major companies such as GitHub,
AirBnB, Groupon, Hulu, Kickstarter - and the list
goes on.

There are many different web frameworks to

choose from. However, from an educational
standpoint, we believe that Ruby on Rails is the
best choice as the first framework for a student
to learn. This is for two reaons.

First, it is written in the Ruby programming

language, which is an ideal first language for
beginners due to its readable syntax and
practical functionality.

Second, Ruby on Rails has had a huge influence

on the web frameworks that came after it, from
Ruby Sinatra, Node Express, Java Spring, PHP
Laravel, and Elixir Phoenix, to name a few. This
means that learning Ruby on Rails as a first web
framework enables a student to leverage their
knowledge to learn a multitude of other
frameworks.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

06

API DEVELOPMENT
MICROSERVICES THROUGH APIS (APPLICATION
PROGRAMMING INTERFACES)

APIs are programs that deliver data across the

web. This data is offered in a variety of formats,
with JSON being among the most popular.

Modern full-stack web development often uses a

back end comprised of APIs and a JavaScript-
powered front-end that communicates with these
APIs. The full-stack apps that you will be
building at Actualize take this form as well.

The concept of Service-Oriented Architecture

(SOA) is that your web API can serve not just as
the back end for your web application, but also
mobile apps and other interfaces as well.

You will learn how to interact with existing web

APIs as well as how to build your own APIs. Using
Ruby on Rails, you will build web APIs that serve
as the back-end of your web applications.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

07

DATABASE DESIGN WITH

POSTGRES AND SQL
RELATIONAL DATABASE THEORY

The database is a critical component of the web

applications you will build, as the database
contains all the information that your app deals
with. Using the Postgres database, you will learn
how to design a database schema to set up
database tables and their associations with one
another.

You will learn SQL, the language that powers

most relational databases. From there, you will
learn to use ActiveRecord, the ORM (Object-
Relational Mapper) that translates your Rails
code into SQL so your web app can store and
retrieve information from your database.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

08

THE FRONT END

Front-End Development with HTML, CSS,
JavaScript, and ReactJS

Full-stack web development means creating both

the back end and front ends of a web application.
Simply put, the back end is code that exists on a
web server and delivers data and code across the
web to your computer.

The front end is the code that your browser

receives (from the back end) and then displays as
a webpage that you can view and interact with.
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are used together to
and comprise the bulk of front-end web
development.

HTML & CSS

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the
language that declares the structure of a
webpage, and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is the
language that describes how the webpage will
appear visually. Using a simple analogy, you can
think of HTML as the bones of a webpage, and
the CSS as its flesh.

With HTML and CSS alone, however, a website is

just a pretty thing to look at. JavaScript is what
makes the webpage dynamic, allowing the user to
interact with it. (Does that make JavaScript the
webpage's blood?)
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

09

JAVASCRIPT
JavaScript is the key language of front-end web
development, as it is the language understood by
all web browsers. While back-end development
can be accomplished with a variety of languages
(such as Ruby on Rails), functional front-end
development is dominated almost exclusively by
JavaScript.

In addition to the core features of JavaScript, you

will learn about ES2015+, DOM manipulation, and
the modern JavaScript project setup, including
Babel, Webpack, NPM, and NPM Scripts.

FRONT-END FRAMEWORKS
WITH REACT.JS
Most front-end JavaScript development is coded
in conjunction with a front-end framework
(otherwise known as a JavaScript framework).
Front-end frameworks make it convenient to
organize your JavaScript code in a predictable
and reusable format.

React.js is one of the most popular and widely

used JavaScript frameworks today. It specializes
in creating SPAs (Single Page Applications),
dynamic web applications that feel more like a
desktop app than a website. React.js also enables
developers to build mobile apps for iOS and
Android, as well as desktop applications for
various operating systems.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

10

DATA STRUCTURES &

ALGORITHMS
COMPUTER SCIENCE THEORY

While data structures and algorithms are part of

basic computer programming, we delve further
into more complex analyses of these topics to
broaden our students' perspectives on theoretical
computer science.

Actualize Founder & CEO Jay Wengrow is the

author of the popular book "A Common-Sense
Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms," and
our curriculum covers important aspects of these
topics including time complexity, Big-O analysis,
algorithm optimization, and more.
ACTUALIZE CURRICULUM

11

LEARN HOW TO LEARN

The most important skill needed to become a
software engineer is the ability to learn how to
learn new things. Everything we do at Actualize
is focused on this.

Our goal is that our grads shouldn't need us

anymore. They will have the ability to learn any
new technology through research, tinkering, and
building. Because that is exactly what
professional developers do every day.

QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about the Actualize or
our curriculum, we'd love to hear from you!

Website: https://actualize.co
Email: hello@actualize.co
Phone: 773-766-5965