August 14, 2012, 1:10 PM — Note: The story has been updated to include news of the launch, which occurred a day earlier than had been announced.
Free online tutorial service Khan Academy has launched a new series of instructional videos and tutorialscovering the field of computer science.
"This project is going to blow the doors off Computer Science education," boasted Khan's dean of computer science and noted JavaScript programmer John Resig, in a Twitter message. "I have a feeling that people are going to have A LOT of fun with it."
In another Twitter message, Resig hinted of a project that has taken him 10 months to complete. Resig is the creator of the widely used jQuery JavaScript library, and has written numerous books on JavaScript.
Shantanu Sinha, Khan Academy president and COO, called the curriculum "pure magic," in another Twitter message.
In a blog post last December, Resig said it would be likely that its computer science curriculum would teach JavaScript as a first language. While noting JavaScript's many shortcomings, Resig praised the language for its "ubiquity, desirability in the larger workforce, lack of prior installation requirements, and ability to create something that's easy to share with friends," he wrote, adding that the curriculum would not focus solely on JavaScript.