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Tips for becoming a great Computer Scientest!

I'll be starting my BSc in Computer Science on Monday.

I'm looking for some useful tips off those of you who know what it takes and what a person needs to excel at this course.

I'm completely new to programming, hit me!

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Reply 1

K the Failure

Brush up on your discrete maths!

And learnt other languages in your spare time if possible.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

-WhySoSerious?

Spellcheck your thread titles

Reply 3

Cexy

Spend every waking hour of your day thinking about computers and software design. Learn new programming languages for fun - especially low level and functional ones like Lisp and Haskell. Work on open-source software in your spare time.

The best computer scientists, web devs and software designers that I know (and I know a lot) have been doing this for most of their lives - in some cases since they were teenagers.

Quick question: if you're new to programming, why on earth are you doing a degree in Computer Science?

Reply 4

Cexy

-WhySoSerious?

Spellcheck your thread titles

Aren't we the funny one.

Reply 5

K the Failure

Cexy

You don't have to know how to program in order to do a degree in Computer Science? I'm sure if you ever did a Bsc in Comp. Sci. you'd know that.

Reply 6

Planto

Cexy

Quick question: if you're new to programming, why on earth are you doing a degree in Computer Science?

You have literally no idea what you're talking about, do you?

OP, I would say the following:

- Get a good book on algorithms; read it and understand it.
- Implement the ideas taught on your course. If you can implement a concept (without copying it from somewhere) then you know you understand the concept. In terms of algorithms, this could mean programming several different algorithms to achieve the same thing and then analysing their runtimes, for example.
- Make sure for everything you learn from your course, you understand all of the hows and whys behind it. It's easy just to learn information and regurgitate it - less so to fully understand its conception and meaning.

Generally, just take an active interest. Programming practice is useful but in no way is it crucial.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 7

greatmonte

insert TSR style insult to your intelligence due to spelling mistake

Reply 8

shadow99

You will need to eat sleep and breathe computers, love maths and programming and not worry about command line stuff.

Reply 9

TheQueenOfComputerScience

I would agree the best Computer Scientists I know do love initially (tends to fade after 10+ years the business!). However, you don't NEED to love it to do well so if you can't then don't worry. I personally see it as work, I don't love work, I love my hobbys and outside interests.

Reply 10

sunspoon

I'd like to echo what some people above me have already posted: love your course, the subject area, and analyse your approach in everything you do - in your projects etc. Always strive to see whether you can find a more optimal or succinct solution to the problem that's been put in front of you.

Reply 11

FranticMind

Just take a genuine interest in computers. To be honest not being able to program is not the end of the world. But it is a SERIOUS DISADVANTAGE not understanding how it all works and being able to apply the learned concepts into practice. I love programming assembly, C/C++, python, some scripts and VB/VC#/VC++. Good fun, I'm a bit of a nerd though.

Reply 12

Cexy

Planto

You have literally no idea what you're talking about, do you?

K the Failure

You don't have to know how to program in order to do a degree in Computer Science? I'm sure if you ever did a Bsc in Comp. Sci. you'd know that.

I'll put it this way. If I think of all the successful comp sci grads that I know (the ones who are now in academia, or in well-paying developer jobs, or running their own companies with million dollar backing) they were all good or even great programmers before they arrived at university.

If I think of all the people I know who had never programmed before they started their comp sci course, they're now in poor or mediocre jobs in IT support, or town planning, or something equally dull or irrelevant to their degree.

Choose which of those two groups you want to be in.

Reply 13

K the Failure

Cexy

According to this guy OP, you're screwed.

Reply 14

TheKlassicsKid

I'd suggest to practice talking to no girls immediately

Reply 15

sunspoon

Cexy

I'm in this boat. But I'm doing fairly well for myself so far.

Around half of the people from my course go to tech departments - specifically front office application development - in investment banks once they graduate. Every year, over half the fresher intake has never programmed before.

(edited 13 years ago)

Cease washing.

K the Failure

Brush up on your discrete maths!

And learnt other languages in your spare time if possible.

Hey.. Do you have any good resources/materials for discrete maths? Any books/website you'd highly recommend?

If anyone else has anything please do share with the rest of us. :smile:

Thanks

Reply 18

Cexy

sunspoon

Around half of the people from my course go to tech departments - specifically front office application development - in investment banks once they graduate.

This may be a key distinction between Imperial and Royal Holloway.

Reply 19

Planto

Cexy

Well, I'll put it this way. I had no programming experience prior to uni, yet I have gotten consistently top grades in all programming-related modules. In the past two years I have become competent in Python, Java, C#, Matlab and C - among other languages - and have already (before even finishing my degree) been employed in a full-time temp position as a software engineer in embedded systems for a global, market-leading company.

Your wishy-washy (and probably fabricated - when exactly did you memorise the programming backgrounds of all of these "friends" of yours?) anecdotes are meaningless and there is absolutely no reason why not having prior programming experience before undergrad is necessarily going to be any kind of barrier. Even all of this is on the assumption that all CS-related degrees are programming-oriented, which they are not.