TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Hi I thought this would be as good as any place to ask but Im about to start a degree in computer science and I was just wondering if there was any one in the audience who could answer a few questions?

I think there is.

How far have you gone?

What do you want to know?

Well I suppose just generally what does the avarge course for an honours degree in computer science consist of?

Is it a very hard course?

Just general info about it if you would please phant. Thanks

Well, that would vary enormously.

However, lets start with what it will NOT consist of, probably, if it really IS computing science:

Opening PCs and playing with them,
Talking about the technology behind hard drives and graphics cards,
Messing around with screwdrivers in ANY way,
Installing operating systems
Installing software and games
Studying new hardware and what it does
You may get one or two modules in networking, but that will be all


Basically.... drum roll....

NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN THIS SITE AT ALL....!

Please be sure about this.

"Computing" means a HELL of a lot of things.

What you might think of as computing is something that someone else might not. You might be a complete expert in some things, and be rubbish at or even HATE some other things WITH A PASSION!

You have to be very careful now about what you choose, because you will have to do it for several years, and not give up, unless you are convinced that you have made the wrong choice.

And so you must think very hard right now about making the correct choice.

Here is what you will probably be doing in your first year computing science degree:

Programming concepts
Program design concepts, organised into charts and diagrams showing relationships between datatypes like classes and other such things,
Project management
Things about machine code, assembly language, basic, etc
Starting to code in languages like C, C++ and Java.
Internet technology courses, dealing in internet theory
Programming in HTML to design a web page of your own
Using Microsoft Office, and showing that you understand word documents, spread sheets, etc.

Of course, what your university may offer may be completely different. And, indeed, you might well find a computing hardware or networking course no problem, but computing science is likely to be something like the above.



Basically, you will be writing computer programs that will model how to play chess games and stuff, and also talking about programming design concepts like classes, etc. You will have to model class relationships. Do you even know what a class is?

Be VERY sure that you know what you are doing, and, if you don't listen to one word I say, do listen to this:

TALK TO YOUR POTENTIAL LECTURERS BEFORE YOU START ANYTHING, AND FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT THE COURSE ENTAILS BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

In life, I have walked into so many things so blindly, thinking I knew what it was going to be like and being completely wrong. Please don't make the same mistake as me and find out NOW what your choices will entail.

ANYTHING you do in life that's worth doing is hard. Anything. Its not about that.

Its about whether what you are choosing is right for you, and whether you want to work at it. Of course it will potentially be hard. Its full of things you do not already know, otherwise you would not ask that question.

Don't let difficultly put you off, rather think about whether its WHAT YOU WANT or not. Whatever you decide, in life there will always be hard work and very tough choices to make. And of story.

God that was a heart felt speach thanks phant.

Ok, good for you for looking into this at this time. Its about 6 or 7 months ahead of when I started looking into education after HS (assuming you are a year away from going to a college/univesity).

One thing you might/should consider doing is visiting university websites and finding out what they have to say about computer science. Of course they are going to glorify it a bit cause they want you to go to their school, but you will get some good information out of it. You should be checking out their course plan for the degree so you will know what you are getting into. Like Phant says it shouldn't be about how difficult the courses are, you can pass any course on an undergraduate level if you try hard enough.

I came up with a couple links from where I went to school (didn't do CS as a degree there) to get you started on some things you might look for (this goes for any degree too):

University of Missouri-Rolla: computer science

http://www.cs.umr.edu/

url fixed
--Mictlantecuhtli

Is computing what you want to do with your life? If you didn't work with computers, then what do you think you would do?

I cant believe that huge long for ye accedentlly deleted, no time at the moment to retype but have a look at these if you would please phant.

Here is the University.
Here is the course.

Hey shnig, I am a Comp Sci major here in the US. I looked through the CS curriculum at your school. It doesn't seem much different than the stuff we take around here. Looks pretty typical. In regards to difficulty I think you will find that some classes are harder than others. Its all relative to what you find interesting. I say if you are interested in Comp Sci, go for it. But take what phant said into consideration. I hope this helps and good luck in college.
-Lalaji

Man, I love assembly. I hate high level languages though. That's why I'm in ECE