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Prospective Computer Science student.

F

freeman2k6

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
107
Hey everyone. I'm planning on enrolling at UF for majoring in Computer Science in the Fall of '06. Just wondering if anyone can help me out a bit before I get there, maybe throw some advice my way. I'm not exactly sure what I want the end result(career) to be yet. Maybe any books I should start reading up on, etc. I'm mainly curious about other student's personal experiences, and graduate's advice. If anyone has anything to add, please do!

Regards,

-Freeman2k6
 
Brush up on your math skills, make sure you have Algebra 2 and Pre-Calc down solid. Taking Calc in high school (of community college) would be a very good idea. I'd also buy a C++ book and start fooling around with it. Don't be a language whore (someone who trys to show off that they know like 400 programming languages), just focus on one language (unless you have to take another for a class that is) until you have it down solid. Also it's important to not give up, things may get tough but you just have to calmly work through it. If you fail a class and you know you tried your hardest it's no big deal, just take it again next semester an you'll most likely get an A or a B.

Good luck.
 
If you want a super head start on CS - learn discrete math and calculus. You can save the advanced stuff like Ordinary differential equations and CS foundations for when you actually get into college.

Your school will probably use either Java or C++ in most of the classes, so if you want, take a look at those. Learn data structures and algorithms.
 
I'm a double major in CS and Computational Mathematics at Michigan State right now. For a CS degree, you really need to have a strong math foundation. I find alot of good programmers came into the whole thing not thinking about those sorts of classes they'd have to take, which nearly ruined some GPA's.

Be good in Math, if you're not good, you can make yourself with alot of hard work. Have an understanding of C++ or Java, depending on what your school uses. We use C++ here, and I had 4 years of it in high school before I got here. Amazingly though, the Introductory course he covered about half of what i knew in one semester. The 2nd semester C++ class wrapped up my knowledge, plus a little more.

It's not an easy major, in any sense. I find it more difficult than my computational math major. I prefer math though, so I'm a little bias.

Be prepared. Learn the basics of the language, master those. Learn a little more, master that. Find programming problems online, and solve them. Checkout TopCoder.
 
Don't do it.

Ok thats a bit harsh, but from what I see at my university a lot of the people that don't really have a good amount of direction on where they are trying to go in Comp Sci typically wash out to something totally opposite like Poly Sci (judging by the fact that this is [H]forum I doubt you are one of these people, but its something to consider). I found that I personally have switched around a lot in what I want to do, which has caused a lot of problems. Sadly now that I'm knee deep in upper division courses I realized that my University doesn't really offer what I want to do (security), so to get where I want to I've spent a lot of my time looking around and picking up an odd research job.

As far as things to prep yourself, from what I've seen most intro comp sci courses are a breeze, if you want to speed yourself up past them you could look into local programming courses and take the Programming SAT if the university allows you to use that as a free pass. All the previous things said are also great advice. The big languages that are typically used in the initial courses are either Java, C++, C#, or Python. If you really just want a quick language to mess around in that won't screw up your system, I highly suggest Python or alternatively Java. If you arn't already get at least a little familiar with how to use SSH and some shell (bash csh whatever), since some course will probably have you using at least some Unix/Linux/BSD system. IDE's are another good thing to have a handle on, Eclipse/Eric/Visual Studio/whatever, though most are typically focused on one language or another, so you may want to find out what the uni will be using before trying to pick up IDE usage.

Being more familiar with the tools will give you an edge to really learn the important stuff.
 
Comp sci is not for everyone! It also doesn't make you any better then anyone else (stares at the egineers .. see some of us are grounded).. just make sure you love what you do. No you do not have to be a math wiz to be a programmer (that is why there are math majors).. but you do have to adept at it.

All I can say is try it. If you don't like it try something else. You have TONS of time.
 
Conversely, you don't have to be a great programmer to be a good computer scientist. My fellow CS major is, ahem, horrible at programming. He will do the most basic part of any programming assignment, but nothing more, and he has dropped many courses halfway through because they were very programming intensive. I had to cover his ass in operating systems... :rolleyes: :p

Anyway, he's a good theorist/math guy, so if he also stopped being too lazy (another CS student trademark), he'd actually graduate. The problem is though, he has to basically take grad level courses since a lot of our upper tier undergrad CS courses are heaviily programming oriented.
 
Make sure CS is what you want. CS, CE, and CIS all end up doing very different things. They're all good majors, but you need to have some idea of what you'd like to do before you can make the right choice. This might not even be until a year after you've started school, so don't stress out yet.
 
i am a second year cs major, and from what i can tell so far its alot of math and some programming. the classes i have taken so far for my major are

pre-calc (didn't feel like i had a strong base from highschool so i retook it)

calc I (not as hard as i thought it might be)

Discrete Structures (discrete math, really interisting stuff. i am in the class right now and it is interisting and i see alot of links between real life problems and the course)

Programming I- intro to computer programming, this was a basic C++ course, i learned just about nothing, and i hate programming

Programming II- this is a course in JAVA, and so far i have not learned much of anything, and i hate it even more than C++




after this semester i am done with programming and i can get more into my emphasis of netcentric computing.

if you like computers and learning every little detail of how they operate then cs is probably for you. there is alot of math, and quite a bit of work for the courses, but i think it will be worth it in the end.
 
This may seem unrelated but i have a two year degree in CIS and i wish i would have gone for the full 4 year in CS. Regardless i started an internship in college and continued it and found out i didn't make the money i was hoping to. So i ended up in the air force with a nice cushy computer job. It may sound dumb but if your hearts in it i say go for it and don't look back. On the other hand though, if you are confused and not really sure you do have time till you get into the meat and potatoes of your real college courses, so you have time to change your mind. A CS degree is worht so much more than a CIS degree these days so its the right choice IMO.
 
I just recently graduated with a Computer Science degree from a university, and I say go for it!

I can't really add much to this thread that hasn't been said, but if you don't get a rush from programming, than maybe it's not for you. Be sure to learn the math concepts instead of just memorizing them because I know I had to re-learn Calculus by the time I got to my OpenGL course.

The sad thing is, the hardest course I ever took wasn't Calculus. It wasn't Computational Linear Algebra. It wasn't any of my Software Engineering courses. It wasn't Analysis of Algorithms. It was COBOL!

COBOL is the devil! And it isn't difficult at all, but you have to be pretty damn committed to sit through that class. The great thing is that you'll get plenty of typing practice if your university teaches COBOL.
 
id learn Java as well.

At Universitys its about 49% c++ 49% Java and the other 2% is like MIT who do their own stuff,
 
Dunno about learning a specific language because the university teaches with it. You're going to spend a few semesters learning it anyways and the intro classes are generally going to be taught assuming you don't know the difference between True and False.

If you want to be good, pick a language that you -enjoy- working in, get comfortable with it and just do stuff. There's going to be a world of difference between the people that are just studying to get good grades & those who have a passion for what they're doing and learn things outside of the curriculum. Stuff like systems administration, networking, web design & scripting languages are generally outside of university CS programs; these days, a lot of schools are all Windows & don't even expose you to Unix, something, IMHO, every 'real' CSist should at least be aquainted with.

...not to mention that picking up languages & technologies that go beyond what you learn in school can only make you more employable when you get out. Heck, it makes it easier to get a good student job or internship - technical computer jobs are generally going to be among the best, both in terms of job satisfaction & pay, on campus and will go a long way towards helping you get a job when you graduate.

Let me say this again - get technical student jobs & internships while you're in school. I wish I had.
 
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