programming student

[cypher1919]

Hi ya'll, just wanted to know some things.

i am in college right now, and i was wondering what i needed to go into... i am wanteing to get into a field where i can design programs for a.i. any thoughts??? all help is appreciated.

thanx

[Markoman01027]

Helly Cypher,

Your best bet is to take Computer Science. That involves a lot of math and a lot of programming. That is your best way to go if you want to be a computer programmer.

[DragonNOA1]

i agree w/ Marko, Computer Science for programming

[Sabre Khan]

Is Computer Science = Software Engineering?

[DrZaius]

Is Computer Science = Software Engineering?

Part of CompSci is Software Engineering, but there is a lot more.

[grasshopperbe]

i currently do graduate IT
(information technologies, right?)
i dont know if its the same course
(belgium) but here we get in first year
-c/c++
-hardware and networking
-html ,Java/script
-data organizing
-economy and basic bookkeeping
-Operating system (unix/linux)
-english
-math/logica(eg how to code a game like 'lingo'
-progress
-oracle
-programming techniques
some courses last 3 months, (like java and html) some last from september to june)
some courses also go on over three years.

is it the same over there?

[piasabird]

We had a class which was basically how to construct Algorithm based flowcharts. The first class used a really basic compiler that did both a rudimentary machine type language, and assembly. Later we used Pascal. A lot of what was taught helped explain computer theory and what really happens inside a computer.

At my community college we went back to teaching C and then
Visual C++ because both are needed. I also took a class at the university called Software design where they taught Rule-based Programming where we used Java. The object was to discover what all the rules were first and then design a program to cover all possible outcomes. One thing we did is to build a model for our own callendar class. We had to develop all the rules for a calendar. It may seem simple, but it is quite complex. We had to have a way to add and subtract days, months and years. I found this to be a very informative exercise in logic.

I was already working as a COBOL programmer, so I could see little things that might help me. Granted COBOL is a very rudimentary language, but I could see how an object oriented program really helped im building classes and objects to handle dates. It could be easily applied to other things like combining graphical objects to make a representation of a spinning slot machine roll. Often objects contain objects that contain objects etc. I found a neat slot machine program in a book on the borland C compiler that was rather interesting.

It could easily take more than one year to really learn C++ programming. It takes a month or two just to grasp the basics to be able to start doing object oriented stuff.

[LoveJones]

I am a computer science and engineering student. Basically the only difference between computer science and computer science and engineering, is that CS&E does a little more Electrical engineering and hardware studies. Not to mention we get to call ourselves engineers =p.

Computer Science is not just software engineering, it's a lot of logic and statistics. I really don't know why we have to take calculus, but I guess they have to cater to everyone and there are definately some applications for analytical calculus in graphics programming. We also take a class on basic Differential Equations.... which again, 90% of us will never use, but the fact of the matter is that if you program to do anything relatively science related you are going to run into Differential Equations all over the place as models of real world phenomena.

Anyhow, go to a good University and do Computer Science. I do have to warn you though... It seems to me that it's a national trend to weed out Computer Science students. What I mean by this is that there are a huge influx of people trying to be CS students. This means that the jobs don't pay as well as other engineering positions (yet they are just as hard in school imo), and it also means that lower level programming classes are going to be Hell. Lots of work, lots of hours programming to try to frustrate students and get them to change majors.

Anyhow, it's been well worth it if you truly like programming. I wish you the best of luck!