Computer Science at RHUL

Hi. I'm a CompSci student at RHUL. If you have any questions regarding Computer Science please don't hesitate to ask.

Btw information for current student can be found here as well, which has useful information such as reading list and course specifications.

Reply 1

kieran101090

Hi, sorry to bother, didn't quite get the course specification, what are the key modules that we study in first year and what should i mainly focus on as interms of course work and exam point of view?

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Reply 2

IHaveNoClue

Original post by kieran101090

CS1801 OOP is the key module, rest are introductory level. If you know how to program using Java (or know what OOP is) then it's piece of cake, otherwise you'll need to know basics of Java and OOP. I recommend reading Big Java (available in the library as well) if you have never programmed before. Personally I bought the book and read it thoroughly.

Apart from CS1830 Games, the assignment percentage is around 10%. So your written exam is very important. However since 40% is a pass mark it should be doable as long as you study for exam.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

tim_123

Hi,

What do the games and robotics labs involve?

do you write the games in any other languages?

Are the written exams in the form of code snippets or...?

Thanks

Reply 4

IHaveNoClue

Original post by tim_123

Hi,

What do the games and robotics labs involve?

do you write the games in any other languages?

Are the written exams in the form of code snippets or...?

Thanks

Robotics: You will build a robot and use Java to write program according to instructions given.
Games: You need to use Microsoft XNA to write a game according to instruction using C#.

Note that Java and C# are very similar, so you won't have problem if you know Java. You just need to learn about the basic structure of Microsoft XNA games but they will teach you this.

CS1801 OOP will ask you to write Java codes for exam, but apart from this the exams won't ask for codes much, and some exams will never ask for codes. Overall Computer Science exams focus on whether you understood the basics of what was taught, so memorizing codes will not help at all.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 5

Devilmoon

Hey there, I am an Erasmus Student coming to rhul and I will be studying CompSci, could you tell me how the oop course is taught? I have not passed this exam at my home university because the professor is a bit of a psycho and requires to do (pretty big) programs on paper, so a lot of code written by hand without chances of checking if it is correct. Since I should be following the course at rhul I was hoping I'd find someone less crazy, so please tell me I'm not going to regret putting oop in my study plan!!

Reply 6

IHaveNoClue

Original post by Devilmoon

Well basically they teach the structure of OOP so you need to know how OOP is used to relate classes with each other. Mostly this will be lectured as well as being given lab sessions/assignments.

The only time they will ask for written code for OOP is for mid-term test (not weighted afaik) and summer exams.

Since I don't have year 1 lecture slides any more (missing somehow) I can't show you, but generally speaking I recommend you to read 'Big Java' which is part of reading list for CS1800 OOP. That book covers everything taught for CS1800. Look up superclass/subclass (chapter 6-7 i think?) and that should cover OOP for first year n

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(edited 9 years ago)