Computer science

maughantourig

What kind of skills/knowledge do you need before you enter the course?

sleepyescapade

Hi,

None at all are required, but it would be a big help to visit http://www.w3schools.com/ and do some small tutorials in HTML, CSS and PHP as these are the main languages you focus on in first year.

OMG Its EoinD

A logical and rational thinking mind and a decent ability to break down and solve problems. And dedication to attend lectures coz that's what passes you

maughantourig

Thanks

mk6705

You'll have to attend lectures, and then at night work on the stuff yourself. You need to constantly experiment with everything to make it work. If you don't like to be precise, then you probably won't like this course. You need to make sure that you understand everything as you go along, so you really have to give a crap about it. Showing up is definitely important. Any practical work is practical for a reason, you have to learn by doing. A good knowledge of a few languages and of computing in general (not turning it on and using a web browser, moreso what's going on in the background) would help, but isn't essential. It's not like day-to-day computing where everything is made to be easy for you. You're working on making the stuff that makes it easy to use. So if you think it's going to be similar to everyday computing, you're quite wrong. Personality and discipline are more important considerations than what you know beforehand.

maughantourig

Are there any books you would recommend to learn about 'what's going on in the background' of a computer. I have programming for dummies which goes over the principles of programming.

Neodymium

Could anybody tell me what programming languages are taught in first year. I presume java would be the main oop language that you do in your degree but is there any C# or C++ taught? Also just wondering do you do any web programming languages like php and javascript, I know they're fairly easy to pick up yourself but just wondering if they are taught.

Thanks

Ricky91t

Neodymium wrote: »

Could anybody tell me what programming languages are taught in first year. I presume java would be the main oop language that you do in your degree but is there any C# or C++ taught? Also just wondering do you do any web programming languages like php and javascript, I know they're fairly easy to pick up yourself but just wondering if they are taught.

Thanks

PHP is the main language in first year, Java in second.
Javascript is also taught in second if you do usability engineering, In third year depending on which CS branch you chose(Straight or web systems) you may or may not do more Javascript/Java(web based).

To be honest, after you've learnt OOP there's nothing stopping you learning C# as it's pretty similar to Java, and put a bit of work in and you'll know C and C++ in no time.

x43r0

Ricky91t wrote: »

To be honest, after you've learnt OOP there's nothing stopping you learning C# as it's pretty similar to Java, and put a bit of work in and you'll know C and C++ in no time.

Did you mean Objective-C? Because straight up, 'traditional' C is process based as opposed to OO. We learned it it second year but I'd be shocked/disappointed if they still taught that relic language nowadays

Ricky91t

x43r0 wrote: »

Did you mean Objective-C? Because straight up, 'traditional' C is process based as opposed to OO. We learned it it second year but I'd be shocked/disappointed if they still taught that relic language nowadays

I've not learnt C so not sure, but I assumed C++ was pretty similar, obviously C isn't OOP. But I though It'd be easy enough to pick up after trying C++?

Eliot Rosewater

x43r0 wrote: »

Did you mean Objective-C? Because straight up, 'traditional' C is process based as opposed to OO. We learned it it second year but I'd be shocked/disappointed if they still taught that relic language nowadays

I find that strange too. In maths (1st and 2nd) and elec eng (1st) you learn C instead of C++ - it makes no sense to me. Especially in maths, where C++'s user-defined types allow you create all of the math objects like matrices and complex numbers.

Ricky91t wrote: »

I've not learnt C so not sure, but I assumed C++ was pretty similar, obviously C isn't OOP. But I though It'd be easy enough to pick up after trying C++?

Once you know C++ you know the C synthax. The only difficulty is doing memory management, which you mightn't have done in C++. Stroustroup remarks in The C++ Programming Language that every program fragment in The C Programming Language book compiles as a valid C++ program!

Cows Go µ

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I find that strange too. In maths (1st and 2nd) and elec eng (1st) you learn C instead of C++ - it makes no sense to me. Especially in maths, where C++'s user-defined types allow you create all of the math objects like matrices and complex numbers.

We did C++ in maths, have they changed that in the past year or so?

Redisle

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

I find that strange too. In maths (1st and 2nd) and elec eng (1st) you learn C instead of C++ - it makes no sense to me. Especially in maths, where C++'s user-defined types allow you create all of the math objects like matrices and complex numbers.

Engineering has completely changed now to being a basically common first year and C is no longer being taught. I believe there is a common language being taught to all 1st Eng now, possibly Visual Basic.

However in terms of Elec Eng C is still an important language considering that the majority of microcontrollers are programmed using C or a variant thereof. It would be rare to see any OOP when it comes to micros.

In reality though that C module in First year was badly taught and was a waste of time. It would have been far more useful to have an actual microcontroller module. (Which Elec Eng dosen't have at all, yet it's probably one of the most important things in industry). Actually heard recently that 3rd yr CS are doing some work with Arduino's this year which is more than most people in my class have ever done with micros! (3rd Yr Elec)

Manach

As Mature student I'd say, C is still important in niche areas, used in socket/networking areas. So it would be handy to have.
Core programming skills in industry are Java/C++. As a secondary language, Visual Basic is fairly handy to have if you go into the QA route or are responsible for generating reports. Finally, Perl/Python are excellent choices for sysadmin activities, Powershell is a tad too restrictive.

Jayo_M

You don't need any working knowledge of programming starting CS. Things will be thought from the ground up. I don't subscribe to the idea that to do well in CS you have to attend every lecture, do every practical and constantly work on your own time. Sure, it would help but it's not a necessary. CS is just like most other courses in that respect. The more you put in, the more you'll get out, but you don't have to be a swot or attend every lecture to do well! I do recommend starting personal projects, they really will stand to you more than course work in the eyes of employers.

I'm not sure what the course content is now, but last year I think PHP was the only programming language that was thought to last years first years. If you are inclined in learning things in your own time, I'd advise looking at JavaScript, CSS, HTML5 - web development really is the future and is probably has the easiest learning curve in terms of programming. Unfortunately, the majority of web dev taught in UCC is **** (apart from Derek Bridge apparently, never had him though!).

jpm4

Jayo_M wrote: »

You don't need any working knowledge of programming starting CS. Things will be thought from the ground up. I don't subscribe to the idea that to do well in CS you have to attend every lecture, do every practical and constantly work on your own time. Sure, it would help but it's not a necessary. CS is just like most other courses in that respect. The more you put in, the more you'll get out, but you don't have to be a swot or attend every lecture to do well! I do recommend starting personal projects, they really will stand to you more than course work in the eyes of employers.

I'm not sure what the course content is now, but last year I think PHP was the only programming language that was thought to last years first years. If you are inclined in learning things in your own time, I'd advise looking at JavaScript, CSS, HTML5 - web development really is the future and is probably has the easiest learning curve in terms of programming. Unfortunately, the majority of web dev taught in UCC is **** (apart from Derek Bridge apparently, never had him though!).

od

Stupid advice, particularly with regards to the practical work - that attitude might have worked for you but not for everyone.

Advice from someone who did this years ago (not all may be relevant these days):

Don't do the course if your interest in computing is limited to logging onto Facebook
Do all the practicals
Study your hole off in the month off
Avoid idiots latching onto your group project, even if they are your friends
Chose your supervisor carefully for your final year project

Jayo_M

The point I was trying to make was that the course isn't as intense as some people try to make out. You aren't going to do much damage to your grade by missing a couple of practicals during the year.

AwayWithFaries

maughantourig wrote: »

What kind of skills/knowledge do you need before you enter the course?

Essentially none because it is taught as if you know nothing. I started out the course without knowing any programming languages and I got on fine.

But saying that is worth noting that this is not a course for the casual computer user (a suprising amount of people make that mistake) but if you have a healthy interest in all things computing and actually want to work in the industry you should be fine, even if you start out with very little skills/knowledge.