If you're a CS/CE student and your college fits at least 3 of the following red flags you should consider dropping out/moving to a new university/course.
>lectures in languages other than C or it's derivatives
>shallow VB classes
>over half of the students in class managed to enroll in the course even though they had less then average performance during HS
>teacher writes more code than explain what's good practice/what's bad what you should learn and most important: how the algorithm works
>laboratories filled with macintosh machines without at least bootcamp entries for windows or parallels/vmware/vbox installed
>political agenda forced upon students/classes interrupted due to protestants that follow a peculiar political agenda
>USA community college
Daily reminder
in which college did get your CS degree user?
Honestly, any CS curriculum that isn't theory heavy is bound to be shit
>going to college
Cringe and bluepilled
>>lectures in languages other than C or it's derivatives N
>>shallow VB classes N who is still using VB anyway
>>over half of the students in class managed to enroll in the course even though they had less then average performance during HS Y
>>teacher writes more code than explain what's good practice/what's bad what you should learn and most important: how the algorithm works sometimes Y or N
>>laboratories filled with macintosh machines without at least bootcamp entries for windows or parallels/vmware/vbox installed N
>>political agenda forced upon students/classes interrupted due to protestants that follow a peculiar political agenda N lol
>>USA community college N
*less than average
Also, I forgot to mention:
>students forced to use 1/2 languages for their projects even after learning the basics because teachers don't know/are too lazy to bother with the intricacies of other languages
>lecturer wastes time talking about his/her life or anything that isn't relevant
>when prompted a question you feel is relatively simple the teacher doesn't really feel like explaining things right away or asks you to email him/her
>teacher doesn't answer to emails
>over half of the students in class managed to enroll in the course even though they had less then average performance during HS
why would this even matter for a freshman class. they'd just fail out anyways
OP here. I'll be soon graduating in CS. We started with C then once we finished the basics we could write our projects on any language (most people used Java some used Python and others used C++). I heard they now teach Java for the beguinners which is fine I guess, Java is okay. We had opengl classes in which we could use either C++, C# or Java (JOGL). They also teach MIPS and when we learn about operating systems they teach minix. I think most of this course is standard CS (a project to write a simple compiler, pi/arduino projects, regex, automatas, "write a turing machine that...", oop classes, networking classes explaining tcpip, protocols, infrastructure, packets, etc...)
I would add if the course they offer doesn't have the following:
- Theory of Computation
- Programming Paradigms/Functional v. Non-Functional Programming
- Data Structures and Algorithms
- Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms (as an elective)
- Light on math. Should have discrete math, linear algebra and calc 2
- OS system design
- an elective on computer hardware
this or otherwise its a glorified coding bootcamp
in some countries that will just let anyone in and keep standards high so who fails fails
but it can be sign that you're in a diploma mill where they just want peoples money and will drop standards so that a majority of people can pass
this happens in a lot of places like usa, uk, europe and australia
> We started with C then once we finished the basics we could write our projects on any language (most people used Java some used Python and others used C++).
We dabble in C for my OS concepts class but thats it the rest was python, c++ and java.
> I heard they now teach Java for the beguinners which is fine I guess, Java is okay. We h
ad opengl classes in which we could use either C++, C# or Java (JOGL). They also teach MIPS and when we learn about operating systems they teach minix. I think most of this course is standard CS (a project to write a simple compiler, pi/arduino projects, regex, automatas, "write a turing machine that...", oop classes, networking classes explaining tcpip, protocols, infrastructure, packets, etc...)
In my computer science "course" we didn't do have of these things. no minix, mips, opengl, compilers, regex, automata, turing machines
I completely regret it and i didnt go to a crappy school either. people should just double check the course program of the school they want to study cs at
>thinking that there are any standards for introductory comp sci
ok dude keep thinking this
>due to protestants that follow a peculiar political agenda
what
While we were learning about data structures in C (memory allocation, stack, trees, tree lookup algorithms etc...) there were:
-logic classes
-calculus (1 to 3 if you're studying civil engineering they require you to learn up to calculus 4 lel)
-linear algebra
-discrete math
-numerical analysis
Fun stuff lol
who honestly goes to college to learn how to program. just buy a discrete math book, K&R C, and sedgewick's algorithms book. the idea that you need anything else other than that is a scam.
people don't go to "learn". they go to get certified.
>HURR DURR I can't understand quicksort need some professor 2 step thru code 4 me, why swap twice? DUUUURRRRR
I agree completely with you
those all you really need to be a semi-good programmer and you'll get better with experience
but a course like this will make you a better programmer and much more capable
> people don't go to "learn". they go to get certified.
That's a big issue how else can you get your foot in the door nowadays
meant for
What country and if you can say what school did you attend?
i still don't know why a person couldn't just buy a calculus textbook (stewart for easy, apostol for more difficult), a linear algebra book (strang), and a discrete math book that has chapters on logic and numerical analysis.
it would cost about $200, you'd have more time to learn and do the exercises, and you would be done in about a year to a year and a half if you push it.
im an IQ brainlet and i taught myself plug n play calculus, and linear algebra. mathematics does not lend itself to modern pedagogy. a lot of it, shockingly, is sitting in a room by yourself doing exercises.
school is a racket. there is no purpose to school other than to be conditioned for another 4 years to being a good little indebted bitch, and get licensing so morons in hiring departments don't throw out your resume.
> i still don't know why a person couldn't just buy a calculus textbook (stewart for easy, apostol for more difficult), a linear algebra book (strang), and a discrete math book that has chapters on logic and numerical analysis.
You're right and that is what I am having to do now. I am currently working but in my free time I going over this stuff.
Hopefully I can warn people.
> it would cost about $200, you'd have more time to learn and do the exercises, and you would be done in about a year to a year and a half if you push it.
No way just pirate the books on Library Genesis.
> im an IQ brainlet and i taught myself plug n play calculus, and linear algebra. mathematics does not lend itself to modern pedagogy. a lot of it, shockingly, is sitting in a room by yourself doing exercises.
And there are a heap of free full length lectures on Youtube too. I agree with your last statement. Very rarely did something just all of a sudden make sense to me while I was in a lecture. It was when I was scouring the textbook, youtube and my notes that came to me.
> school is a racket. there is no purpose to school other than to be conditioned for another 4 years to being a good little indebted bitch, and get licensing so morons in hiring departments don't throw out your resume.
You sound like a self-starter and I respect that but in your case if you ever need a certified (which is bs since stanford's cs course isnt certified) degree in CS for cheap go to western governors university. Its all online and you can do it for cheap too. Or Arizona State University. They also do it online.
> Hopefully I can warn people.
Even though I regret going to the school I went to I at least have an accredited degree and as you said my resume won't get insta-trashed for it. So it will have opened some doors and if I join a big company I won't be denied promotion because I lack the qualification.
The issue is that there is an oversaturation of work in every market including software development. Companies have no quarrel bringing H1B1 visas over to take local jobs. To stand out a degree matters.
Also if anyone is reading this. The ranking of your school is important if its in the top 10-20. Otherwise just go to the closet, cheapest school with a solid CS course.
I have outlined what a solid CS course is but if you are unsure there are places on the internet you can compare it with and ask about it.
But college is "free" where I live user.
Well, that's because people pay taxes for it but still...
This one applies specifically to CompE:
if you're program isn't just CS on steroids with way more math and EE electives dabbled in, you're not gonna make it.