What major to look into?

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: Zakath15

Originally posted by: Codewiz

Yeah but at my university that was only one class. Only BS(me included) majors were required to take it.

Of course every university is going to be different but I think he gets the idea of what each major involves.

Keep in mind that I am not a CS major, but I have a couple friends that are... through my discussions with them, what the UW program stresses is the ability to learn how to program - i.e. how to pick up new languages, algorithm efficiency, etc. Anyone can learn C++, but not everyone can make algorithms more efficient, or pick up a new language every year.

Learning the language is the easy part. It is the same as writing a novel. Just because I know english doesn't mean I can write a best selling novel.

Same goes for programming. Some Joe Blow may know the syntax and basic language of Java but that doesn't mean he can design and implement an application.

 

[gopunk]

Yeah but at my university that was only one class. Only BS(me included) majors were required to take it.

Of course every university is going to be different but I think he gets the idea of what each major involves.

yea i guess i misinterpreted what you meant by programming, i thought you were talking about simply learning programming languages. i agree that a lot of CS courses incorporate some form of programming, in the general sense of the word. also, see above for edit on how programming is just a tool... a tool to reach the math

i'll leave you all with a dijkstra quote that made me laugh out loud:

It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.

 

[axelfox]

General Education...like Shaq

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: gopunk

Yeah but at my university that was only one class. Only BS(me included) majors were required to take it.

Of course every university is going to be different but I think he gets the idea of what each major involves.

yea i guess i misinterpreted what you meant by programming, i thought you were talking about simply learning programming languages. i agree that a lot of CS courses incorporate some form of programming, in the general sense of the word. also, see above for edit on how programming is just a tool... a tool to reach the math

i'll leave you all with a dijkstra quote that made me laugh out loud:

It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration.

I learned Pascal as my first language then I learned Basic(in high school).

I purposely pissed off my CPSC teacher my freshman year in college. I wrote a Java program using GOTO statements I thought he was going to kill me. He failed me for the program but let me rewrite it.

I found Basic to be very fun to write with because you can write code that is SO hard to follow. I also happen to think that Basic helped me in learning Assembly

 

[GaiDaigoji]

I'm currently finishing up my sophomore year in Computer Engineering. Coming out of high school I originally wanted to go into CS because I had taken allot of programming courses and enjoyed them, but a presentation in my physics class from the University of Pittsburgh school of Engineering changed my mind.

I've found CoE is much broader than CS. In CoE you can focus on programming, hardware, or a mixture of both, while CS focuses only on programming and programming related subjects. I personally felt that I wanted to go towards the programming end of the spectrum, but after taking some Digital Logic and Computer Architecture courses my interests have skewed towards hardware. Yes it's true that freshman year sucks for engineers. I had to take Chemistry 1 & 2(YUCK!!), Calculus 1 & 2, Physics 1 & 2, plus electives. In the end though, it's worth it.

 

[Codewiz]

Originally posted by: GaiDaigoji
I'm currently finishing up my sophomore year in Computer Engineering. Coming out of high school I originally wanted to go into CS because I had taken allot of programming courses and enjoyed them, but a presentation in my physics class from the University of Pittsburgh school of Engineering changed my mind.

I've found CoE is much broader than CS. In CoE you can focus on programming, hardware, or a mixture of both, while CS focuses only on programming and programming related subjects. I personally felt that I wanted to go towards the programming end of the spectrum, but after taking some Digital Logic and Computer Architecture courses my interests have skewed towards hardware. Yes it's true that freshman year sucks for engineers. I had to take Chemistry 1 & 2(YUCK!!), Calculus 1 & 2, Physics 1 & 2, plus electives. In the end though, it's worth it.

I think freshman year sucks for any good major. I had to take all the courses you mentioned at the end. Although I didn't hate Calc. I actually minored in math

 

[wfbberzerker]

the two majors i'm looking at are computer science at uw-milwaukee, and computer engineering at minnesota. what exactly are the differences between the two, and what are your opinions about each of these?

thanks again,
wfbberzerker

 

[Indolent]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
the two majors i'm looking at are computer science at uw-milwaukee, and computer engineering at minnesota. what exactly are the differences between the two, and what are your opinions about each of these?

thanks again,
wfbberzerker

There's alwayse the option of either one of those at MSOE just down the road from UWM. Unless you're not into the private college idea which costs quite a bit more. If you have decent ACT scores and G.P.A. in the upper 3's, they give you a ton of help in the grants and scholarships area. It's a tough school but they have a 99% placement rate within the first year for those that get through it.