question on majoring in CS

[vital]

I will be majoring in Computer Science, but I was wondering what is the most difficult part of the major? Is taking all the general ed courses like math, english, and science...etc more difficult or the upper division programming and CS related coureses more difficult for a student who is very interested in computers but not interested at all in the general ed coureses?

 

[schoolsucks]

Interested in computers? I think that will wear off once you get into upper division and get to know the moronic profs.

 

[thereds]

Wouldn't it be sweet if you actually meant that you had a question on majoring in Counter Strike?

 

[vi edit]

Totally depends on you. I'm pretty good with hardware, networking, and general troubleshooting of computers, but I SUCK at programming. A big chunk of my CS degree was programming classes. For reference - I averaged about 3.7 GPA for my "gen ed" classes and about 3.0 for my actual CS related courses.

Just because you are good with computers and interested in them doesn't mean that you will excel in a CS program. Some of the best programmers that I know couldn't tell the difference between a floppy drive and a hard drive

Totally different things(hardware and software).

 

[schoolsucks]

Yeah I would have to agree with you. Interest in computers is one thing, and studying CS and doing good in it is another, although they are remotely related.

 

[Phil21]

I would suggest practice, lots of it.

You need to get good with a variety of weapons, including rifles and low-budget SMG's. Proper grenade throwing technique is a must.

You must also take the mandatory courses of "Camping 101, why you NEVER do it." and "AWP whoreing 201, Why WE rule the scoreboard!"

After this, you just be able to majorly kick ass in CS like you requested!

-Phil

 

[psteng19]

i currently major in CS1.1

just passed CS1.0 with an A last semester


yeah, the math sucks in CS... linear algebra... ugh...

 

[xyion]

I WAS majoring in CS until today. It wasnt what I expected at all, far too much boring stuff and stupid profs(my first C++ prof had trouble with for loop code). You may want to think about Comp. Eng, or IST. Thats what I am looking into now.

x

 

[vital]

do more people struggle with the math and science courses more or the programming courses? i'm gonna have to take linear algebra and differential equations also as well as two semesters of the higher level chemistry courses...and i think i'm more concerned of the stupid GE courses that are required to get accepted into the major. I might just go into info system if this doesn't work out...but then again...i hate accounting...

 

[hans007]

i really like the programming courses. Hell i actually like the theory. Prof's are boring though , and stupid might as well just read all the books. I really dont like physics, and the class about infinite series really sucked for me. I think that from a frustration at a class point of view the GE classes suck more. They are easier, but you just dont care about some of them.

 

[SnoopCat]

cs is something you get or dont get. The drop rate for the intro courses is really high, but gets alot lower after the first 2-3 classes.

i agree with the others, it doenst really matter if you know how to make a computer or know wat each part does,

cs=math with patience

 

[joburnet]

Don't do it! CS majors are weird, even CS majors say that too. I was in Computer Engineering because I like computers right... I just couldn't stand the programming so I switched to Electrical Engineering. My roommate last year was a CS major and he NEVER left the dorm except to eat and go to class, a real hermit, but a classic CS major. If you have programed before and like it and are good at it then go for it, but if you want to do it just because you like computers then don't do it. BTW, gen ed courses are easy.

 

[charrison]

Vital,

The toughest parts will be the discrete math and data structures class. Once you get past those, you can get past the rest.

 

[joburnet]

charrison - just because you had trouble with discrete math dosen't mean that he will. I had no trouble and neither did most of the other people in the class.

 

[joohang]

I'm double majoring in History and Asian Studies and learned to stay away from CS for good.

There's no way I can maintain 2~3 part-time jobs, make a living, and take CS courses. I prefer to just to learn the stuff at home.

 

[Pretender]

<< Just because you are good with computers and interested in them doesn't mean that you will excel in a CS program. Some of the best programmers that I know couldn't tell the difference between a floppy drive and a hard drive >>

I think you're either making that up or speaking about 6 year olds who're using QBASIC. Knowing how a computer works is somewhat a prerequisite for actually becoming a semi-decent programmer. However, knowing how a computer works doesn't mean you'll be good at CS, so don't assume being good with computers will make CS the best choice.

 

[joburnet]

<< Just because you are good with computers and interested in them doesn't mean that you will excel in a CS program. Some of the best programmers that I know couldn't tell the difference between a floppy drive and a hard drive >>

I'm going to have to agree with that. Object oriented programming has nothing to do with the actual computer. You do have to know a little about a computer, but really not much. Although you do have to realize that a hard drive is much slower when accessing data then the computers memory, you do not have to be able to install a hard drive or even know what it looks like or how it works.

 

[charrison]

<< charrison - just because you had trouble with discrete math dosen't mean that he will. I had no trouble and neither did most of the other people in the class. >>




These are typical weed out courses. In my experience these 2 topics caused more students to change majors than any of the others.

 

[vi edit]

Pretender, you have your opinion, I have mine.

I just know of many programmers that couldn't reassemble a PC if their life depended upon it, yet, they could crank out a fully functional program in no time at all.

Many of the programmers that I have supported through help desks simply have to know how to operate a computer, NOT how a computer operates. I will admit that much of the programmers that I supported were in the business software/AR software field. It would be much different if you were writing an OS or something that required the use of multiple parts of a PC - IE a game requiring the Open GL API as well as writing in the algorithms for taking advantage of a 3D Sound Card.

But for end business software, knowing the ins and outs of a PC is not neccessary. Helpful yes, required no.

 

[virtuamike]

Actually I think you do need to know more than basic hardware knowledge in order to excel at CS. One of my upcoming upper division classes is one in computer architecture, learn how to optimize code based on CPU design and memory configuration.

For example, the difference between lousy PS2 games and good ones is that the good programmers have figured out how to use the hardware efficiently and how to get around limitations. The hard part isn't writing the program and getting it to work. It's trying to get it to work efficiently (the difference between Windows and Linux, bloatware and stream-lined code).

 

[frail]

While we're on the subject of majors...of each computer related major, which is best to take to um, how should I say this? Get a well paying job, to put it straight forward.

And also, which comp. related majors have an easier time finding jobs right after college?

 

[joburnet]

frail - I don't think it matters too much. For electrical and computer engineering students at virginia tech the AVERAGE salary coming out of school is about $45k/yr. But for the past couple years 100% of CS majors had a job after graduation.

 

[Cerebus451]

You don't have to know squat about computer architecture to complete a CS major. It all depends on what you concentrate on in the higher level courses. Most of what a CS major will learn is how to properly structure code, data structures, and the like. I completed my CS major without knowing 1 thing about how the internals of a computer worked, and that included a course in 3-D programming. You may have to know the Open GL API to write a 3-D game, but you still don't have to know squat about how the video card works. That is the whole point behind an API. You CAN take classes that require that you learn more about the architecture, but it will not be a requirement in most CS schools. I did have to take 1 introductory EE class, but it was a basic circuits class and had nothing to do with computer architecture.

As far as what is the most difficult, it is purely dependant upon the person. Math classes were a breeze for me, but then again I was a double major. The stats class I had to take was the toughest for me. It will vary greatly from school to school and from person to person. If you have a tough time in math in high school, you will have a tough time with it in college. If you've never written a program in C or C++, you will have problems at first in college, but it may be a breeze for you. I had never written a single program before going to college but programming was by far the easiest thing I had to do in college.

 

[charrison]

Cerebus451,

I will have to disagree. You have know about the hardware to write effective software. Everyone on the board complains about bloatware, but now we have people who think you dont have to know about the hardware. The less you know about the hardware the worse the code gets.

It is unfortunatly that you only learned opengl and not the low level stuff behind it. I was fortunate enough to have to write my own low level tools in the graphics class I took. It makes me appreciate opengl that much more.

 

[misle]

I'm majoring in CS. I have to take a ton of math ( Calc 1-3, Diff Eq, Discrete Math, and 3 or 4 higher level math courses). It's not math I have trouble with though. I had almost no programming experience prior to this and C programming is kicking my ass. I'm gonna teach myself over the summer.... hopefully.

Matt