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I'm a blank slate when it comes to coding, can I Major in CS?

ClassicClassic
edited February 2008 in Technology
I just relistened to the "How not to suck at College Pt 1" and I'm wondering if it's possible to survive majoring in Computer Science with no prior knowledge of coding?
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Comments

  • ZeehatZeehat
    Isn't the purpose of schooling to be taught and to learn?
  • ClassicClassic
    I know, but it seems like I should know a thing or two before I start. I get this feeling like it could be really fun but it might be over my head as well.
  • ProfPanglossProfPangloss
    My guess is that it's certainly possible to survive a major in CS without any prior knowledge, but you'll certainly be at a disadvantage. I'm not actually IN college yet, but I have taken a college bio course with a minimal backing in high school bio. Considering that I got a B for the course, I'm pretty sure that it's possible, to say the least.

    Obviously, you should take the advice of someone with more experience in CS, specifically. Anyway, besta' luck.
  • AndrewAndrew
    edited February 2008
    I know, but it seems like I should know a thing or two before I start. I get this feeling like it could be really fun but it might be over my head as well.
    All colleges with a reputable program will start off with the basics and work up. I don't think there is a school which requires any prior knowledge. I wouldn't worry about not having enough knowledge to take any major, colleges understand that many high schools don't offer certain classes, CS especially. However, if you want to get a jump start, I recommend this book (Links to PDF).
    Post edited by Andrew on
  • ClassicClassic
    I know, but it seems like I should know a thing or two before I start. I get this feeling like it could be really fun but it might be over my head as well.
    All colleges with a reputable program will start off with the basics and work up. I don't think there is a school which requires current any prior knowledge. I wouldn't worry about not having enough knowledge to take any major, colleges understand that many high schools don't offer certain classes, CS especially. However, if you want to get a jump start, I recommend thisbook(Links to PDF).
    I was thinking I should start with something like C++? I may be very wrong, of course.

    I've been checking out books on C++. The books have been no help. I respond better to being shown how to do things once and then doing it myself.
  • AndrewAndrew
    I was thinking I should start with something like C++? I may be very wrong, of course.

    I've been checking out books on C++. The books have been no help. I respond better to being shown how to do things once and then doing it myself.
    First off, there are several types of programming languages. C++ is generally used as an Object-Oriented language while Python, the language in the book I showed you, is interpretive. Most of the universities either teach first year students Python or Java (an Object-Oriented language). I suggest that you start off learning either of those as they are the best ones to start out with.
  • UsagimaruUsagimaru
    Computer Science, I see (from my 1/2 year Intro and 1/2 of AP CS classes in high school) that it's either you will get it and you'll do very well and want to do more, or you'll just not understand anything and think it's the most frustrating thing you've done.

    I'm not the greatest in anything but math class, while I have a friend that gets A's on pretty much everything. I had over 100% by the end of the class, and he couldn't get better than an B.

    That being said, I would listen to the Geeknights episode "Getting into Programming", read the "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" book (which is basically an Intro CS class), and take a community college C++ class in the summer to make sure you're doing something that you'll enjoy later on.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    The answer is maybe. Good coding is like an art form, and from what I've seen you'll either get it or you won't. It really does astonish me at times because coding is pretty simple, the computer does exactly what you tell it to do in the order you tell it to do it. And yet some many people struggle or flat out can't do it. Take some intro courses at a community college and if you get it you'll easily surpass the majority of your peers. In my compsci 101 class I did nothing but show up for tests all semester (which I aced) and did all the semesters projects in the 2 hours before the final and I got an A.

    Oh, and that episode has some excellent advice on how to handle college. Take it from me, I learned most of those things by making those mistakes.
  • ClassicClassic
    I'm working on reading the book ASAP. Must find that episode though.
  • AprecheApreche
    Technically speaking, yes it can be done. However, it will be very hard. People who have coded in the past have a much easier time in their CS classes. I know this seems kind of obvious, and it would be true for any major. However, the head start in CS is so much more dramatic than in other fields of study.

    Also, even though it might be possible to do it, you might not want to do it. Make sure you like coding before you decide you want to spend piles of money learning it. This is very important. Even if you get good grades, if you don't like it, what's the point? You're paying for it, make sure it's something you like.
  • InfinityInfinity
    I dunno, it depends on how technical you are. For instance, I'm taking C++ right now with about a bit of background in Pascal, and I'm doing fine at it. It's not college level, but I'm sure you could do it.

    Do you have any knowledge in coding at all? If not, I would at least recommend trying it out first.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    IMO, I'd start by playing with Java. It's structured a lot like C++ (the defacto language for many things), but with all the really hardcore stuff taken out (memory management).
  • ClassicClassic
    I dunno, it depends on how technical you are. For instance, I'm taking C++ right now with about a bit of background in Pascal, and I'm doing fine at it. It's not college level, but I'm sure you could do it.

    Do you haveanyknowledge in coding at all? If not, I would at least recommend trying it out first.
    Honestly, I have no experience coding at all.

    I was in college about 2 years back, majoring in business administration and realized that I hated it. Money down the drain an all that. I just recently finished paying off the loan I had and I want to go back to school. I know I want to do something computer related, but I have no specific desire to do anything right now. I would like to start this fall though. So here I am, asking questions.

    I'm hoping that by asking questions I can avoid hating whatever I end up picking later.
  • ChrisChris
    Either take the introductory C++ or VB course at a county school or try and teach yourself HTML or VB so you can find out if you enjoy coding. HTML really won't help you much later on, but at least you'll know how you feel about coding at a very basic level.
  • ......
    Here they explicitly stated you didn't have to know anything to be able to major.

    If you understand the high level technical episodes, like the Logic Gates and the Flip Flop one, you'll be fine from an understanding stand point. 1 is true, 0 is false. Also, to practice try something like Java or Python. Visual Basic, (X)HTML, PHP, Pascal, etc, are either not (real) programming languages (in the classical sense of the word), like (X)HTML and PHP, or are not that useful/easy to learn as a first language. I haven't seen any mentioning of Visual Basic in the program, so yeah. Most colleges probably teach Java first. Good luck.
  • raquorraquor
    I had next to no prior knowledge before I got to college. My story goes a little something like this:
    11 years ago I got a PC and discovered QBasic. Found a book about QBasic in the local public library and messed around enough to write a quarterback Rating Calculator (the hard part is interpreting the formula more so than writing the code).

    From there I didn't go much farther, I bought Visual Basic 6 for an obscenely high price on ebay. I proceeded to barely get any use out of this copy, creating...another iteration of my QB rating calculator this time with a graphical interface.

    From there I changed majors within Business several times in my first few years of college before finally going back to what had been my initial desire of Programming. Graduated 4 years ago (I did the 5 year tour of college) and doing pretty well so far.

    My personal thought if you want to dip in to test the water would be to try picking up Javascript. It's kind of broken but it's similar enough to the "real" languages to get a good idea what you could be getting into as well as offering a simple way to write code that can be quickly tested and produce results that are fun to play with. Javascript requires no compiler, just a simple text editor of your choice (I recommend UltraEdit), and a bit of HTML knowledge so you can embed your javascript into a webpage for testing.
  • ......
    just a simple text editor of your choice
    That goes for everything programming related. Just grab a text editor with syntax highlighting. I recommend notepad++ on Windows, Vim on Linux. (or Gedit if you want to get on your way fast since Vim requires practice)
  • RymRym
    LISP!
  • AprecheApreche
    just a simple text editor of your choice
    That goes for everything programming related. Just grab a text editor with syntax highlighting. I recommend notepad++ on Windows, Vim on Linux. (or Gedit if you want to get on your way fast since Vim requires practice)
    I suggest vim on all operating systems.
  • fawpodcastfawpodcast
    edited February 2008
    When I started college I was a blank slate too. I started in IT and slowly worked into web development (classic ASP at first, then PHP, now ASP.NET/C#). I found web development easier to practice outside of class because I could work on real-world web projects rather than diving into full-bore programming. Sometimes I feel I learn faster when confronted with real problems, not just "hello world" applications.

    By the way....XHTML is not a programming language. :-)
    Post edited by fawpodcast on
  • fawpodcastfawpodcast
    edited February 2008
    That goes for everything programming related. Just grab a text editor with syntax highlighting. I recommend notepad++ on Windows, Vim on Linux. (or Gedit if you want to get on your way fast since Vim requires practice)
    Also, Microsoft has released "express" versions of all their their flavors of Visual Studio. They're designed for people learning who don't have the resources or need to purchase their products.
    Post edited by fawpodcast on
  • ......
    I suggest vim on all operating systems.
    On Windows?
    How? And why foul Vim by putting it on Windows?
    or need to purchase their products.
    There is never a need to buy something like software. The only need is food. And using programs which help you with syntax and all those things don't help you to learn the language. You learn faster in notepad.
  • AprecheApreche
    How? And why foul Vim by putting it on Windows?
    If you're forced to use Windows why suffer with an inferior editor?
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    edited February 2008
    LISP!
    I think lisp would have broken me if I tried to start with it. That, or I would have worn the characters off the 9 and 0 keys by now.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • fawpodcastfawpodcast
    There is never a need to buy something like software. The only need is food. And using programs which help you with syntax and all those things don't help you to learn the language. You learn faster in notepad.
    There may never be a "need" for "you", but ALOT of organizations use Microsoft. These business offer jobs to people that know Microsoft and pay these people well. Therefore, if you'd like a job that requires these skills, Microsoft provides a way for you to learn them without paying for them. I don't want to get into a Open Source vs. Microsoft debate, but one can make a good living learning Microsoft.

    Besides, Visual Studio isn't a bad IDE if you already have windows.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Visual Studio is actually one of the best, and C# is a very handy language in our modern world where the lines between web-apps and stand-alone apps have been blurred.
  • fawpodcastfawpodcast
    edited February 2008
    Visual Studio is actually one of the best, and C# is a very handy language in our modern world where the lines between web-apps and stand-alone apps have been blurred.
    I couldn't have said it better. I like it ASP.NET/C# better than PHP because it feels like programming and not procedural scripting. I know you can do object oriented stuff with PHP, Ruby on Rails, etc; but why torture yourself?

    Besides, C# is just a Java rip-off ;-)
    Post edited by fawpodcast on
  • AprecheApreche
    Working with Microsoft stuff is incredibly painful and not fun. The same is true for doing Oracle DBA stuff. However, if you decide to learn any of these boring and painful technologies, you will have opportunity to make lots of money if you are willing to move to a major city.
  • ......
    If you're forced to use Windows why suffer with an inferior editor?
    True, now the how.
  • AprecheApreche
    If you're forced to use Windows why suffer with an inferior editor?
    True, now the how.
    Duh.
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