Can't program but doing Computer Science

Hi guys i was just wondering if i would struggle alot with the Computer science course that i will start at kings college london soon if i have not really grasped programming that well. I studied computing in the first year of college and we did visual basic and i pretty much know the basic's of that but nothing more...
I am really looking forward to the maths part of computer science as that's my strongest point.
So, the question is really can I get away with not knowing much programming when i begin my course and be able to catch up to the rest quickly or must i attempt to learn programming during the holiday before the course?

Reply 1

kka25

18

I advise you to learn the programming part as well too :smile:

Reply 2

Thomas2

16

Do you enjoy programming even if you don't feel it's your strongest point?
If so, try to find from the course tutors what level you will be starting at. The more practice you get the better obviously.
It just occured to me that if you really like maths, why not do a maths degree? You are far more likely to do well in a course you really enjoy as you will naturally want to put in the time and effort. We live in a country where, sadly, the classification of your degree matters much more than the subject it's in.

Reply 3

iisjman07

1

They don't really expect you to have any prior knowledge so don't worry about it

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Reply 4

Dirtybit

OP

20

Original post by Thomas2

Do you enjoy programming even if you don't feel it's your strongest point?
If so, try to find from the course tutors what level you will be starting at. The more practice you get the better obviously.
It just occured to me that if you really like maths, why not do a maths degree? You are far more likely to do well in a course you really enjoy as you will naturally want to put in the time and effort. We live in a country where, sadly, the classification of your degree matters much more than the subject it's in.

I do like maths but not enough to do a maths degree because i will not what to do with a maths degree once i'm done..

Reply 5

Dirtybit

OP

20

Original post by kka25

I advise you to learn the programming part as well too :smile:

I will do

Original post by iisjman07

They don't really expect you to have any prior knowledge so don't worry about it

okay thanks :biggrin:

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Reply 6

askew116

17

Original post by Dirtybit

Hi guys i was just wondering if i would struggle alot with the Computer science course that i will start at kings college london soon if i have not really grasped programming that well. I studied computing in the first year of college and we did visual basic and i pretty much know the basic's of that but nothing more...
I am really looking forward to the maths part of computer science as that's my strongest point.
So, the question is really can I get away with not knowing much programming when i begin my course and be able to catch up to the rest quickly or must i attempt to learn programming during the holiday before the course?

My flatmate is doing computer science. He's in the first year, and already there is a lot of programming in different languages, such as PHP and Javascript. I believe in the 2nd and 3rd years more languages are covered.

Reply 7

anonymouse01

Original post by iisjman07

They don't really expect you to have any prior knowledge so don't worry about it

Posted from TSR Mobile

Really? I'm in the same sort of position as the OP. I'm at AS level and I dislike programming. I take the lazy routes when I need to program things at home by googling for answers, it's just quicker than experimenting. But I'm fairly certain that I want to study computer science at university.

I absolutely love technology, just not programming,

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Reply 8

Thomas2

16

Original post by Dirtybit

I do like maths but not enough to do a maths degree because i will not what to do with a maths degree once i'm done..

A Ph.D followed by a highly paid job in an investment bank...
It was just a thought, for a lot of grad. schemes you just need a degree graded 2:1 or above...

Reply 9

Dirtybit

OP

20

Original post by anonymouse01

Really? I'm in the same sort of position as the OP. I'm at AS level and I dislike programming. I take the lazy routes when I need to program things at home by googling for answers, it's just quicker than experimenting. But I'm fairly certain that I want to study computer science at university.

I absolutely love technology, just not programming,

Posted from TSR iPad

pretty much the same with me

Reply 10

iisjman07

1

Original post by anonymouse01

Really? I'm in the same sort of position as the OP. I'm at AS level and I dislike programming. I take the lazy routes when I need to program things at home by googling for answers, it's just quicker than experimenting. But I'm fairly certain that I want to study computer science at university.

I absolutely love technology, just not programming,

Posted from TSR iPad

compsci will involve programming, but you'll start from the very bottom. The first thing you'll do is print 'hello world!', then you might move on and learn about variables, etc, etc. Some people who don't like programming don't like it because they have to learn using examples from the internet or they have poor teachers, which tends to happen less at university than at schools, so having things explained clearly may change your mind. Having said that, there's more to computer science than programming - don't think for a second that everyone who goes on to study a computer science related degree is an expert programmer, doesn't struggle at all, and has always loved doing it.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

bookshop13

Computer science is a completely different discipline to programming!

There are some compsci degrees (notable Cambridge), where they don't really teach *any* practical programming.

Reply 12

anonymouse01

Original post by iisjman07

compsci will involve programming, but you'll start from the very bottom. The first thing you'll do is print 'hello world!', then you might move on and learn about variables, etc, etc. Some people who don't like programming don't like it because they have to learn using examples from the internet or they have poor teachers, which tends to happen less at university than at schools, so having things explained clearly may change your mind. Having said that, there's more to computer science than programming - don't think for a second that everyone who goes on to study a computer science related degree is an expert programmer, doesn't struggle at all, and has always loved doing it.

Wow okay that sounds reassuring.

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Reply 13

mos182

6

Original post by iisjman07

They don't really expect you to have any prior knowledge so don't worry about it

Posted from TSR Mobile

I've heard some unis in England expect you to have some knowledge of programming. Programming is the key part in Computer Science, so if you can't program it's a big problem.

Original post by askew116

My flatmate is doing computer science. He's in the first year, and already there is a lot of programming in different languages, such as PHP and Javascript. I believe in the 2nd and 3rd years more languages are covered.

I'm currently in my first year as well. Are you sure he's doing Javascript and not Java? We're doing Java in our programming module while doing some PHP and SQL in our Database module.

Original post by anonymouse01

Really? I'm in the same sort of position as the OP. I'm at AS level and I dislike programming. I take the lazy routes when I need to program things at home by googling for answers, it's just quicker than experimenting. But I'm fairly certain that I want to study computer science at university.

I absolutely love technology, just not programming,

Posted from TSR iPad

I'd really encourage you to try and do it yourself, the easy way to get things done is to google it, however if you just use answers from google you must make sure you understand the logic in the code. If you don't understand it you'll get caught out in tests.

Hope my posts helps anyone who is considering Computer Science at uni. I'm enjoying it though would recommend giving yourself a head start in learning some Java as it'll help you when you start your course. There's some people in my course who have the advantage of doing A level computing and so basically have found everything we've done so far really easy.

Reply 14

askew116

17

I'm currently in my first year as well. Are you sure he's doing Javascript and not Java? We're doing Java in our programming module while doing some PHP and SQL in our Database module.

It may well be Java :colondollar:

Reply 15

Valentas

13

I recommend starting from c++ because it's harder than java, you will learn about pointers, structures and linked lists. These will blow your mind. But you'll go through them. After this, only java concurrency and some advanced stuff will be a challenge. In other words, learn c++ as much as you can, study STL library, learn to use it. Try to find out how STL works as it does. It's not a necessity but it will help to understand data structures. Nowadays, good programmer thinks in terms of data structures, rather than algorithms though I admit you can't use insertion sort if you' re maintaining Google search :biggrin:

Reply 16

exe

Learning C++ is both great advice and horrible, horrible advice.

If you can stick with it, you'll be by far the best programmer in your class barring anyone being some kind of savant.

But, it's so difficult that it puts off most people really really quickly.

I'd reccomend Python, it's a lot simpler, and learning any programming langauge decently is going to give you a massive headstart and will make most of your first year a doddle.

Reply 17

Valentas

13

exe, this is my reasoning. It's hard. But it will pay off at uni. Imagine that first year...breezing through the course and having all sorts of fun while others are biting their nails in front of PC :biggrin:

exe, the hard part is when a guy learns about pointers and then linked lists start. If you have not achieved some mastery in pointers, data structures are going to piss people off. Especially binary trees. I think no1 item every student of computers must have is a whiteboard. draw out nodes, draw arrows and it's a lot easier that way :biggrin:

However, c++ is widely used and a lot of good paying jobs are there. Also game programming for Windows is in c++.

exe, it depends what you call a doodle. Edinburgh uni 1st year students are learning more maths than programming. !st semester is linear algebra , 2nd calculus.

So if you have maths modules, than I don't believe first year is an easy one :biggrin:

Reply 18

anonymouse01