And the appliance alleviated load on the course's servers, with execution of students' programs now distributed across students' own CPUs. Moreover, the appliance ensured that the course's workload no longer required constant Internet access, particularly of students abroad. Not only did the appliance enable us to provide students with more familiar graphical interfaces, it also enabled us to provide students with their own local servers. In 2011, though, we replaced our centralized infrastructure with the CS50 Appliance, a client-side VM for students' own laptops and desktops. As teachers, we wanted easier access to our students' work as well as the ability to grow and shrink our infrastructure as problem sets' computational requirements demanded. As computer scientists, we wanted more control over our course's infrastructure. Our goals were both technical and pedagogical. And in 2009, we moved those VMs back on campus using VMware ESX.
In 2008, we moved the course into the cloud, replicating that infrastructure with virtual machines (VMs) using Amazon EC2. Prior to 2008, the course relied on a load-balanced cluster of Linux machines on campus on which students had shell accounts with which to write and debug code. The course is also edX's largest MOOC, with 700,000 registrants online. The course is Harvard's largest, with 800 students in Cambridge, as well as Yale University's largest, with 300 students in New Haven.
CS50 is Harvard University's introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming for majors and non-majors alike.
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