Help with A-Level choices (leading to a CS degree)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 20

Glassy

Ok, thanks both of you :biggrin:

I've now settled on these as my A-level choices unless someone has any other suggestions:

Maths
Physics
Chemistry
Systems and control
Computing (I'll pick ICT as an option and talk to the head of ICT about doing a computing qual)

Regarding the programming, I can't see why he would say C++ teaches bad habits, as its probably the most widely used :s-smilie:

I know that languages such as Visual basic ( :banghead:

) do though :smile:

I was thinking of following this course (probably only the 1st + 2nd to begin with, and maybe the refernce book if I can convince my parents that its a necessary "educational aid" :biggrin:

):

http://www.cprogramming.com/books.html

Any thoughts?

Reply 21

Psyk

Glassy

Regarding the programming, I can't see why he would say C++ teaches bad habits, as its probably the most widely used :s-smilie:

He probably meant that you are likely to pick up bad habits if you teach it to yourself. Lots of people say that but I don't really get it personally. What bad habits do they mean? Surely it's not that hard to stop doing them when you learn a better way?

Reply 22

eggman

information communications technology is quite different from computing.
generally speaking computing is relevant for a computer science degree (programming, low level systems engineering, theory based...), and ICT is relevant to an information technology (designing, creating, less theory based) degree. But all universities do it differently.

As computer related job prospectus is concerned, a computer science degree is what you want to go for. I read an article on slashdot not long ago where a prospective student asked about doing a computer gaming degree over a CS degree and many employers responded saying they look for students with CS degrees. Id post a link to it if i knew it :s-smilie:

Reply 23

Glassy

Thx

As I say, as I'm planning on doing CS, I'll see if I can do a computing A-level in ICT classes.

Hopefully Maths, physics, chemistry, electronics and computing should be a nice set :smile:

Back to the programming, does anyone have any other opinions on C++. I was planning on buying those books today or tommorow.

Unless anyone feels that there is a better language to learn (not for simlicity, but for usefulness). I believe (possbly incorrectly) that C++ is the most versatile and widely used language, so may be a nice on to learn :biggrin:

Reply 24

eggman

its usually best to pick up languages (like c++ / java etc) at university. Most of the time, they start you from ground up and teach you how to program in general. Having done programming before is not going to help you much (it may even give you a disadvantage over people starting from scratch) so I wouln't bother buying any books yet.
If you really want to learn a language, go for python. It's very clean and perfect to start you off, it's also very well documented by the authors so thats a plus.
Good luck.

Reply 25

dragons_circle

C++ may be too low level to start out on. It's perfectly possible, but you'd need a lot of work and background knowledge before you can begin coding even the simplest of problems. I started out on Pascal, before moving to Delphi, learnt C# over the summer and now am learning Java at university.

Reply 26

Psyk

At Bristol C is the first thing you get taught. You don't need much background knowledge to start coding in that, assuming you're going to start with command line programs.

Reply 27

uluru252

I'm taking both Computing and ICT at A level...going on to do Digital Media with Computing in '07, so for me doing both suits me fine.
The only languages I know are Pascal and VB (well, VBA, had to do an access database for A2 Comp Coursework)
The Computing uni lecturers I've spoken too (to be fair, about 3!) have all said they start from scratch and assume no knowledge. Hope its true.
Uluru

Reply 28