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2 Questions Concerning CS and Programming

 
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2 Questions Concerning CS and Programming, From a guy who plans on majoring in CS
Moonbat
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 12:25 PM
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I've read through a few syllabi for programming-related courses in CS from some universities. I've seen that they will usually be done in C++ or Java. This got me thinking a little bit.

1. Will .NET languaes like C# and VB.NET make it into CS programs within the next few years?

2. If they don't, will I actually be able to learn C++ and/or Java proficiently from the university? Or should I just start learning now?
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William_Wilson
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 03:39 PM
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1. many schools will have courses on these languages, but they may not be in the main stream, you will have to take them as an elective course.

2. At least in my experience, NO! I've learned more about any language from self teaching than I have from school. They only teach you the fundamentals. If you are interested in programming you will need to do most of the learning on your own.
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baavgai
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 04:34 PM
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1. Yes. However, it depends on the nature of the class and the concepts involved. C# slides easily into a Java based class, but you have to ask why? What will it offer? For CS fundamentals anything will do. For application development, it's a moving target; what's hot today can be dead in a few years. Even the .NET of today is quite different from the initial version.

2. Anything useful you'll have to learn on your own. It will be nice if it's covered in a class, but don't rely on it. In the real world, the ability to teach yourself cannot be underestimated.

Makes me think, in college most classes I took were in pascal. The assembly class was half 8086, half IBM mainframe (370?). Point is, those languages are nearly completely worthless in the modern market. The concepts, however, haven't changed. Be prepared, in the future, to learn stuff you haven't even heard of yet. It's the nature of the field.
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Moonbat
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 07:21 PM
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Thanks for the replies smile.gif

I guess I'll have to start picking up on C++. Oh God...

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William_Wilson
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 07:26 PM
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haha, i love that cartoon smile.gif

I'm in software engineering, yet we engineer very little software... Most of my courses are theory, math, and the software process.
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KYA
post 28 Sep, 2008 - 08:17 PM
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That cartoon is awesome!
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Locke37
post 29 Sep, 2008 - 08:37 AM
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Oh xkcd...LOVE IT. Such funny cartoons for nerds/some other people.

I learned more about Java on my own than I ever did from my class, mostly because my teacher couldn't help me much. He came to me for help once! tongue.gif

I taught myself basic VB.Net off of my VB6 knowledge(which I had the same teacher for, everyone came to me, not him, for help). You can do anything as long as you put your mind to it.

I am a CS Major, taking a C++ class right now, and I've delved a little further into the book than the rest of the class. I'd like to say that I am much more advanced than some of my classmates, but I don't know for certain.

Just try different things, learning from a class is how some people learn more efficiently. It just depends on how interested you actually are, and how well you can pick up a language.

And don't worry...C++ won't hurt you...much.tongue.gif It's not bad if you understand basic programming concepts.

Hope this helps! smile.gif

This post has been edited by Locke37: 29 Sep, 2008 - 08:38 AM
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homemade-jam
post 30 Sep, 2008 - 03:18 AM
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The point of cs isn't to learn thousands of langauges but to be able to understand a couple and then have the ability to pick up languages on the fly as you need them (after a bit of practice).
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Locke37
post 30 Sep, 2008 - 06:32 PM
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QUOTE(homemade-jam @ 30 Sep, 2008 - 04:18 AM) *

The point of cs isn't to learn thousands of langauges but to be able to understand a couple and then have the ability to pick up languages on the fly as you need them (after a bit of practice).


Exactly. It's not knowing the languages that counts. It's how fast you pick others up. They're not teaching you a language to use forever, they're teaching you how to learn languages. Many concepts transfer over from language to language, such as recursion.
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