I got into Computer Science

[dejai]

I recently got accepted into First year Computer Science, I am 16. Its quite fun, and yes its proper first year and I don't have to pay anything "Yay!" Only 8 guys got selected out of like 100.

[MarauderIIC]

Cool. Just remember CS != "making gamez!!!!"

[Falco Girgis]

and... I'm being completely serious when I say this.

CS != competent programmer.

[trufun202]

and... I'm being completely serious when I say this.

CS != competent programmer.

As much as it pains me to say this, you're right... I went to school with SO many CS majors that had no damn clue wtf they were doing.

I heard a great quote, which I've found to be so true - "There are billions of programmers out there...and most of them suck at it."

[Falco Girgis]

Rofl, it's completely true. And I'm honestly not hating on CS majors. There are plenty of engineers who scrape by from clinging to other students' and copying their work.

Lots of EE students don't know what the hell is going on. I only know of maybe 4 other CPE students at my university personally, so I can't speak for them as much. CPE is a rarity here. Everybody either chooses all hardware or all software. CS and EE have the most students, almost nobody is CPE.

[Trask]

People in general avoid learning most aspects about all of this, they concentrate on one thing as in OO, or a certain language and ignore the concepts and don't take time out to get familiar with hardware, electronics, or beneficial langauges. It takes a lot of time to learn this stuff properly and I feel that it's not just ignorance, but there's a ton of pressure out there. I had 4 years of programming in HS(1 BASIC, 3 C++) < which taught mostly syntax, my Associates which was again mostly C++ which went more into OO as a concept, and now my 4 years for my Bachelor's(CS) which is on hold at the moment which is finally blending the two, but no mention of electronics or hardware really. All of that other stuff would have to be self taught and applied through something meaningful in terms of a project, which for me isn't the easiest thing to do which especially back when i was starting out I couldn't afford the books and there weren't as many online resources as there is today. I have to concentrate on what they're giving me, which is obviously lacking on some fronts.

Now, I have a 2 year son, a fiancee, a 40+ hr job, my online college, health issues, etc... it's a bit difficult to find the time to try and master C\C++, pick up on some ASM, work on projects, and self teach myself these side concepts. So yeah, I know what I need to pick up on, I know and feel guilty that my knowledge of everything isn't absolute, but now I feel like I'm playing catch up to 14 year olds who have nothing but spare time(nothing against the ones that you know... actually take time to use more than Game Maker). x.x /rant

So to get back to my point, the degree really means nothing... it's what you do with it. The stuff that Falco describes with his degree interests the hell out of me, but I feel that I'm in too deep to switch majors, plus of all the above ranting. Now I'm just anxious for some entry level position to get me out of tech work and to allow me to enforce what I've learned by doing it day in and day out.

[K-Bal]

I'm studying electrical engineering with a specialisation in computer science.

Today, we met for a programming project we have to make in a group of five people.

Well, I was the only one that has ever used subversion before. I mean, what the hell! They are specializing in CS and have never used THE programming tool?

I hope this works out well :D

[dejai]

I am not sure what the courses are like in America but in Australia Computer Science is very concept driven. We are learning C and Assembly, the syntax of which is besides the point it is the concepts behind that which drives our comprehension of the subject matter. Our teacher doesn't care how much we know but we have to be able to apply it to situations. For example on a 8 bit microprocessor we had to write a program which converted numbers into binary without division, multiplication or mods. And on a 4 bit chip we had to produce a program to determine whether a value was great or equal to 8. The latter was much easier but it was given to us on week 1... Both rather trivial programs but it teaches you to think, on the spot under pressure and really develop your skills. Anyway I am really enjoying the course it is great fun. I have really committed to learning how to program I have moved away from reading a book on a languages syntax etc as it really gets you no where. Programming to me anyway is all about concepts and applying those concepts to develop solutions to problems. Its interesting they actually encourage the use of Linux systems and I love that! Everything is compiled with gcc and we use text editors. I personally use vim instead of IDE to develop programs. Currently I am optimizing a Sudoku solver and next week we are developing AI for a card game where we will verse each others programs to see who has the best strategies.

I haven't been programming in C++ for ages but after I finish the course I hope to put further study into the language and finally get around to reading the two books I have on OpenGL. Anyway congratulations on your game Elysian Shadows. Keep up the great work I will be sure to keep up with it.

[dejai]

Cool. Just remember CS != "making gamez!!!!"

Thats fine I want to go into operating system design and artificial intelligence. The latter does not imply an affiliation to gaming. Still games are a great way to push the limits thanks for your input.

[dani93]

Its interesting they actually encourage the use of Linux systems and I love that! Everything is compiled with gcc and we use text editors. I personally use vim instead of IDE to develop programs.

Programming on Linux seems much easier to me than on Windows. You have there everything you need. It is just one command to install libraries like SDL.
When I'm bored I use nano as editor, but normally gedit. I hardly use codeblocks in C, but most often in C++.

[Falco Girgis]

Cool. Just remember CS != "making gamez!!!!"

Thats fine I want to go into operating system design and artificial intelligence.

The former is computer engineering while the latter is computer science.

[sparda]

Thats fine I want to go into operating system design and artificial intelligence.

The former is computer engineering while the latter is computer science.

Hahahahaha, I lolled so hard at that statement. The fact is, that the most powerful chain of operating systems (linux, Unix) were developed by, you guessed it, Computer Science majors

Linus Torvalds (Linux)

Torvalds attended the University of Helsinki from 1988 to 1996, graduating with a master's degree in computer science.

Unix was developed by a slew of CS majors: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie , and more. Not to mention they also developed the language that SO MANY CPE majors hold dear because of the low level attribute: The C Programming Language. Ironic I think

I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Gates also majored in CS before he dropped out of Harvard.

Falcy, Just face it already, we CS majors OWN!

[K-Bal]

Thats fine I want to go into operating system design and artificial intelligence.

The former is computer engineering while the latter is computer science.

Hahahahaha, I lolled so hard at that statement. The fact is, that the most powerful chain of operating systems (linux, Unix) were developed by, you guessed it, Computer Science majors

I guess that was not what Gyro meant.

[sparda]

I guess that was not what Gyro meant.

Perhaps, but there has always been the CPE vs. CS major thingy here in the forums, so I'm just playing into it

[MarauderIIC]

I dunno, operating systems is one of my "four pick two" required courses. And I'm taking it and the 500-level of it.