View Full Version : What courses in university should I take?
TheWeakSleep
August 23rd, 2010, 02:16 AM
I'm starting college in a week, I'm just taking a business administration course.
It's only a two year degree, and I was thinking that afterwards I would like to take some classes in university.
Lately I've been learning to write in python, c++, and java (JUST started learning), and I was wondering what kind of courses I should be looking for to get into computer programming?
What kind of pre-requisites are there?
Anybody here a professional programmer? What did you take :D
I thought about posting this in programming talk, but i figured this is more about university than help with programming :p
Comzee
August 23rd, 2010, 03:54 AM
Take a "Computer Science" degree sheet from whatever university your thinking about going to and see whats on it. Their pretty copy/paste type degrees. The only thing your going to really have to pick out for yourself is the electives.
earthpigg
August 23rd, 2010, 05:31 AM
1) math math math math math
2) play around with humanities stuff in your spare time if you feel like it
3) build the future
4) ???
5) profit
Little Bones
August 23rd, 2010, 06:06 AM
From the people I know in ECE (electrical and computer engineering) and Comp Sci, math would be a good place to start. Picking up a humanity would be good too, but the best thing to do really would be looking up a few schools that interest you and finding out what they want.
NovaAesa
August 23rd, 2010, 07:37 AM
Computer science is basically applied mathematics. If you really want to get into programming (e.g. game programming or application programming), you probably want software engineering.
That's how things are at my university anyway.
matthew.ball
August 23rd, 2010, 08:57 AM
1) math math math math math
2) play around with humanities stuff in your spare time if you feel like it
3) build the future
4) ???
5) profit
Yeah, lots of mathematics and perhaps some philosophy courses (keep it analytic of course).
They really complement each other.
kamaboko
August 23rd, 2010, 12:40 PM
If math doesn't totally excite you, pass on the CS or CE degree. Every CS dept has a countless array of student bodies strewn all over the place that couldn't cut the math. I'd suggest walking into the college bookstore, head straight to the math section, pick up a calculus book, and if it doesn't give you goosebumps for all the right reasons, look into another major.
fatality_uk
August 23rd, 2010, 12:55 PM
I would suggest seeing a professional careers councillor as well as taking advice here. They will be able to give you a more detailed assessment of your abilities and needs.
Zorgoth
August 23rd, 2010, 01:19 PM
If math doesn't totally excite you, pass on the CS or CE degree. Every CS dept has a countless array of student bodies strewn all over the place that couldn't cut the math. I'd suggest walking into the college bookstore, head straight to the math section, pick up a calculus book, and if it doesn't give you goosebumps for all the right reasons, look into another major.
Eh, I don't know about that; math is definitely important, but except in a few areas, calculus is probably irrelevant; I would think it's courses like symbolic logic (which may be math and/or philosophy), discrete math, set theory that are probably the most important. Linear Algebra is another good one (although you will probably find it boring as hell). Any pure mathematical course is probably somewhat helpful (in making you think the right way), but don't despair if you aren't good at a few of them. If you can take a course in Numerical Analysis (the art of efficient number crunching on a computer) or Algorithms, jump at it.
Now, my guess would be that you would have to take calculus, but being excited about it isn't a prerequisite to passing it. If you can't pass calculus, then I would rethink a career in programming, but not if it just doesn't particularly appeal to you. As long as you keep out of scientific programming and 3D graphics there aren't many areas where you'll have to use it (off the top of my head, can't think of any at all).
And I don't think not being excited about calculus would be good evidence that you won't like programming. A lot of programmers are also math lovers, but there are definitely programmers who are not all that excited about calculus. As a final note, most math textbooks are very boring and very dense and reading it one time through might not give you a grasp of everything and will likely not be fun. So whether you like reading a textbook is probably not all that good of an indicator of whether you will like calculus.
Of course, if you *do* like math, then that is all the better!
kamaboko
August 23rd, 2010, 03:59 PM
And I don't think not being excited about calculus would be good evidence that you won't like programming. A lot of programmers are also math lovers, but there are definitely programmers who are not all that excited about calculus.
I'm just saying of the people that I know who got washed out of the CE/CS programs, it was math, and in particular, calculus, that spelled the beginning of the end. They didn't enjoy it, much less enjoy the struggle through it. Those that did get through actually had a history of enjoying math and it had always been their strongest academic subject.
mendhak
August 23rd, 2010, 05:39 PM
One of either: C/C++ or Java or .NET (but definitely not VB6)
Also: any database development course
Also, some of: Compilers, Algorithms, Data Structures
But don't worry too much about it, none of what you learn will be used in the real world.
mips
August 23rd, 2010, 05:57 PM
You should take courses you are interested. What the forum thinks is pretty much irrelevant.
mosshorn
August 23rd, 2010, 06:08 PM
I was actually interested in this when I first got into university. I was like "hey, programming isn't too bad, let's try a CS major". I saw the classes needed and nearly choked. I asked my professor (Doc in CS and knows more programming languages than I care to think of) "WHY DO I HAVE TO TAKE ALL THESE HARD CLASSES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH COMPUTERS?!"
She replied to me, "Simple, to weed people out."
In other words, masochists only need apply
TheWeakSleep
August 23rd, 2010, 06:18 PM
Thanks for all of the replys guys :D that helps a lot. There's definitely a lot to think about, but I still have two years in college.
Now, I kind of expected a lot of math to be involved. It's not particularly my favourite thing to do, but I don't mind it.
@NovaAesa Software engineering? I haven't seen anything like that around here, could you explain it a bit more for me? :)
@mips Thanks :) I was really just wondering what classes were relevant or what should i take for what im interested in :p
kamaboko
August 23rd, 2010, 07:08 PM
You should take courses you are interested. What the forum thinks is pretty much irrelevant.
Well, except for my comments. :p
LowSky
August 23rd, 2010, 07:25 PM
From all my time at college I found that many of the classes they make you take are later irrelevant to the work you will do in the years after.
My advice is to take the classes that are fun and exciting to you. If you like history or think a class in pottery will feel good, then take them. Dont worry on what others might think or if it will land you a good job. Because it doesn't matter in the end.
phrostbyte
August 23rd, 2010, 08:32 PM
Eh, I don't know about that; math is definitely important, but except in a few areas, calculus is probably irrelevant; I would think it's courses like symbolic logic (which may be math and/or philosophy), discrete math, set theory that are probably the most important. Linear Algebra is another good one (although you will probably find it boring as hell). Any pure mathematical course is probably somewhat helpful (in making you think the right way), but don't despair if you aren't good at a few of them. If you can take a course in Numerical Analysis (the art of efficient number crunching on a computer) or Algorithms, jump at it.
Now, my guess would be that you would have to take calculus, but being excited about it isn't a prerequisite to passing it. If you can't pass calculus, then I would rethink a career in programming, but not if it just doesn't particularly appeal to you. As long as you keep out of scientific programming and 3D graphics there aren't many areas where you'll have to use it (off the top of my head, can't think of any at all).
And I don't think not being excited about calculus would be good evidence that you won't like programming. A lot of programmers are also math lovers, but there are definitely programmers who are not all that excited about calculus. As a final note, most math textbooks are very boring and very dense and reading it one time through might not give you a grasp of everything and will likely not be fun. So whether you like reading a textbook is probably not all that good of an indicator of whether you will like calculus.
Of course, if you *do* like math, then that is all the better!
I totally agree that you don't have to be excited about Calculus. It's not the most interesting of mathematics IMO, especially the way some professors teach it. It's pretty easy though.
Calculus is really a building block to other mathematics which are important to Computer Science. (Eg: Fourier analysis and probability). I've never heard of a CS program that didn't make you take Calculus because of this.
Mostly it's important to know what an integral is and the fundamental theorem of calculus. You'll never have to actually solve integrals by hand, so basically 3/4 of a typical Calculus course is pretty, um, useless. :) I guess it does help you think analytically to do them by hand though, but it's not practical knowledge. A lot of math instruction is just training you to think analytically really, which is hugely important in CS. All software engineering (even LoB apps which contain no real math) are analytical problems in disguise.
phrostbyte
August 23rd, 2010, 08:46 PM
From all my time at college I found that many of the classes they make you take are later irrelevant to the work you will do in the years after.
My advice is to take the classes that are fun and exciting to you. If you like history or think a class in pottery will feel good, then take them. Dont worry on what others might think or if it will land you a good job. Because it doesn't matter in the end.
I don't agree at all. If you WANT to be a software engineer or work in computers, you should go for a CS or CE degree. Pottery or underwater basket weaving might be enough to get a college degree, but you will be seriously disadvantaged. This is true for any kind of Engineering/Science type field. Obviously the most extreme case is Medicine, but Civil Engineers are expected to be educated in Civil Engineering, etc..
You kind of have to pick early too, because as others have said, you often don't get many electives in these majors. I know CS was like 2 years of full mandatory classes for me, not including the prereqs (Physics and Calculus). If you don't start taking some of the prereqs in your AA, you are going to be in university for more then 2 years, probably around three years.
BA type professions may be different, of course.
Of course you can do what I did and switch your major like four times, but that isn't smart either. You're just wasting time and money. If it's your parent's money then go right ahead and do that. :)
Zorgoth
August 23rd, 2010, 09:41 PM
I *think* that in CS in practice you probably just need to remember a few rules about FTs/FFTs, and you'll want to remember the derivation of the FFT algorithm. That will require a pretty good knowledge of the *properties* of integration and differentiation and complex exponential functions (easy), but apart from the complex exponential/trigonometric functions, I doubt you need to remember/solve any specific integrals, and those ones are very easy. I could be wrong though. I am a math major and know way too much Fourier Analysis to tell you how much you might need to know.
Probability you definitely want to be OK with integrals for. Again you don't need to know how to symbolically solve specific integrals except for really simple ones. Even if you did have to symbolically solve integrals, there is always integrals.com :D.
On a computer if you do end up integrating it will usually be a simple numerical method (like, you probably won't usually even need to use the trapezoidal rule normally, let alone fancy quadratures). Usually the functions cannot be readily symbolically integrated at writing time anyway (and programs to do symbolic integration are pretty complicated).
@phrostbyte:
BY THE POWER OF GIMP!
NovaAesa
August 23rd, 2010, 11:47 PM
@NovaAesa Software engineering? I haven't seen anything like that around here, could you explain it a bit more for me? :)
Here's the quote from my university's website:
"Software engineers are concerned with all aspects of building large, complex, software systems for applications in most areas of society including commerce, engineering, government and research. Software engineering is closely related to computer science, however is directed more towards the development of software systems rather than the theories and principles of computing."
phrostbyte
August 23rd, 2010, 11:51 PM
@phrostbyte:
BY THE POWER OF GIMP!
Nooooooooooooooooooo!
TheWeakSleep
August 24th, 2010, 07:39 AM
Hey you guys are great :p
thanks for all of the help!
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