Comp sci students / graduates

pooey

pooey

pooey

Associate
Joined
8 Mar 2004
Posts
722
Location
London
Yo folks,

I'm going to be staring a comp sci / software engineering degree (first year is the same for both) in September.

Is there anything I should be learning now to prepare?

I'm knocking about with Java and python so I'm good where coding is concerned i think..

What kind of math knowledge should i brush up on? I'm 26 and it's been a while since I've really done any :)

I'm installing linux as we speak so I can start getting familiar with that too.

If any of you have first year lecture notes or exam papers i could have a sneaky look at that would be awesome.

Thank yee :)
 
Where are you going to study?

I didn't read comp sci but spoke to someone who does (at Bristol). On the course there isn't any python, only java and then he learnt C as part of an optional module.
 
I'll be in Aberystwyth partly due to living here already and partly due to awesome bribery on behalf of the welsh assembly.

There's no python modules on the course but there's a lot of concepts that most languages share and I thought i'd play around with something that wasn't on the course so i wouldn't be bored out my mind in the first year going over things i already know quite well.
 
We did C, C++ and 68k Assembly in the first year so it must vary a lot by Uni.

Depends on your course but we ended up doing quite a lot with converting numbers between bases (decimal to hex, binary, oct and between each other), vectors, matrices etc.
 
During my first year we did a pretty wide range of modules that included oracle databases, C#, statistics, networking, security, introduction to linux and introduction to algorithms to name a few!
 
Pho said:
We did C, C++ and 68k Assembly in the first year so it must vary a lot by Uni.

Depends on your course but we ended up doing quite a lot with converting numbers between bases (decimal to hex, binary, oct and between each other), vectors, matrices etc.
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just finished my first year doing a CS/comp sci course at reading uni. it was actually Artificial intelligence and cybernetics, but all the computer sciency courses are practically the same in the first year.

i did all of the above, but i would say more emphasis on the C and C++ than the assembly.

if you want an easy time at uni i would brush up on A level maths, and have a look at A level further maths, because 99% of the maths you do in the first year is covered in that.

as for programming, i went in with absolutely no programming knowledge at all and am doing fine so far. we've only covered the basics of C and C++, the most complicated thing being classes and objects.

in software engineering terms i honestly couldnt tell you what we covered. both of my lecturers were the most boring people in the universe so pretty much no one came in after the first couple of lectures (generally about 30 people would turn up, when there was supposed to be 150+), and those who did either got on with their homework they forgot to do, or played spot the sleeper. by the end of the year i purposefully left my maths homework until that lecture so i could do it then with my mates

with linux, there was very little work with that, but being familiar with it will help you if you want to go for a year in industry as every sodding job out there wants you to be competent in linux, which i am really not.

i would scan my lecture notes for you, but i kinda didnt take many as all our lecture slides were online which was the perfect excuse not to bother doing anything at the time
 
Well speaking as a software engineering student at Aber (will be in my 3rd year this sept), start looking at Java and Object Oriented design patterns. Database stuff would be helpful.

If you e-mail my trust I could send you some of the lecture slides I have from 1st year.
 
pooey said:
Yo folks,

I'm going to be staring a comp sci / software engineering degree (first year is the same for both) in September.

Is there anything I should be learning now to prepare?

I'm knocking about with Java and python so I'm good where coding is concerned i think..

What kind of math knowledge should i brush up on? I'm 26 and it's been a while since I've really done any :)

I'm installing linux as we speak so I can start getting familiar with that too.

If any of you have first year lecture notes or exam papers i could have a sneaky look at that would be awesome.

Thank yee :)
Click to expand...

The coding will be fine, they will introduce you to a lot of languages but if you know any one of them fairly well the rest aren't exactly hard to pick up. Maths wasn't so intensive when I did it but I guess that depends on what modules you take.

In all the first year will most likely not be a challenge for you, it is entry level stuff for just about every aspect of computing meant more for the whipper snappers coming fresh out of A-Levels. So you will have more than adequate time through out to get to grips with any of the stuff you're weaker on.
 
I've recently finished my CS degree. It's hard to suggest topics without knowing what will be taught on your modules. Seeing as you're already learning some Java you may want to get your hands on some AS/A-level Maths material. If it's too much then move back down to some basic GCSE stuff (if you don't know it then you don't know it, no shame). You may want to get a feel for some popular educational algorithms such as Dijkstra's algorithm, mergesort and so on. Databases will probably come up at some point so get a feel for SQL. Keep my first point in mind though, it may not be relevant to your university's degree.

StringerBell makes a good point though, you've got three years of this stuff. Enjoy your summer :)
 
5 year Software Engineering MEng, yea I should just calm down and roll with it when it comes really.

I've got reading list books for the maths module I want to take on the way so I'll read them whilst playing with python and linux, never looked at SQL so might have a gander at that too..
 
Disco Boy said:
Where are you going to study?

I didn't read comp sci but spoke to someone who does (at Bristol). On the course there isn't any python, only java and then he learnt C as part of an optional module.
Click to expand...
If he went to Bristol and did G400 (BSc Computer Science), he'd have started off doing C in Intro to Computer Science, and then later on covered Java and Haskell simultaneously.
 
I am going into my third year so i'll see what advice I can come up with.

1. It helps to do your course research and make a start on the material before the course begins.

2. Don't get tied down to a particular programming language. A language is just a tool for the craftsman ( you ) to use. Focus on fundamentals.

3. Focus on discrete mathematics and boolean algebra.

Find out what courses you will be doing and focus on that material however if you want some book suggestions and resources I suggest the following.

Books I highly recommend:

Introduction to Algorithms
The C Programming Language
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
The Pragmatic Programmer
Code Complete

Other Resources:

StackOverflow ( check out the most voted questions for great advice )
Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years
 
There's a lot more to Comp Sci/Soft Eng than just programming...

Programming wise in first year we did Java, C, and x86 Assembler. Bit of Perl, PHP and mySQL too.

Maths wise (other than binary and hex addition/multiplication) we only did Discrete Maths. Logic, Sets, Functions, Relations, Matrices, etc.
 
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