Ben_H's forum posts

#1 Edited by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 12 days, 22 hours ago

If you want to succeed in computer science you have to be prepared to do a lot of work and teach yourself a ton, especially if you are taking it at a university. Computer science isn't so much about coding itself, because that is easy. It is far more about concepts and problem solving (and the difference with problem solving here is often you have to figure out where to start). If you take a IT or Networking related certificate at a vocational/technical school they might hold your hand a bit more but past first year in university, you are on your own and it can be quite challenging. At my university the dropout rate for comp sci is over 66% after the second year, many of those being are those that were either just in it because they wanted to make games but were clueless about the subject, people who were lazy, or those who were in it for the money and weren't passionate about the subject at all. The people who last past second year are either naturally really good at/passionate about the subject, or work their butt off non-stop. Of course there are those who are a bit of both like me, but that is how most of the people I know are in it.

Computer science isn't as heavily math based at the start but it is later on if you are doing research or once you get into theoretical computer science, then it can be hugely math based. Proofs and whatnot. I just finished a class on it. Stuff related to cryptography is also hugely math based. Other areas are too. You will need to learn calculus and linear algebra to do work in the field though, along with statistics. Much of comp sci is logic based more than anything. Making things that logically make sense or proving that concepts are logical. You will have to take a class on discrete mathematics and formal logic and look at things like Relational Algebra/Relational Calculus (which are hugely important when working with databases and using languages like SQL) and learn a bit of graph and tree theory (also, induction proofs, and a billion other kinds of proofs), since they are useful in network-related fields. There's a lot of abstract concepts that you have to get used to later on that can be kinda weird at first, like Test Driven Design, where you work almost backwards because you write tests for programs before writing the programs, and things like various architectures that you have to plan your program around. One of the biggest mindbenders you will learn early on will be Object Oriented programming and through that inheritance and polymorphism. Understanding those concepts is basically mandatory these days because so much is done using them now. We have 2 mandatory classes on Object Oriented at my university and a bunch of optional ones in third and fourth year.

One of the biggest things you will learn is that general concepts in computer science are much more useful than just learning programming languages. For our first year, we did a good chunk of our work in pseudocode (which we then implemented in C++, but all planning was done without a specific language in mind), which is not an actual programming language but instead a way to more generally show a programming concept. Once you have the concepts down strong enough you can pick up most languages outside of the more complex and tough to learn languages like Perl or Haskell pretty fast because all it is usually differentiated by is syntax in many cases (that is simplifying things a bit but for many cases it is true. I'm not going to get into procedural versus scripting versus functional because that is pointless here). I taught myself a fair chunk of Java in a day or so, and after that C# in about the same amount of time.

You could always take the introductory class and see how that suites you.

Also, it would be a good idea to learn UNIX either through Linux, Mac, or BSD. You WILL have to use it, and not knowing how it works can slow you down a ton. They will teach you how it works but you will be much better off if you know them going in. I did and it gave me a huge advantage over a large portion of the class who had only used Windows and were not comfortable on anything else.

#2 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 13 days, 11 hours ago

@psylah said:

Recently, Euro Truck Simulator 2.

That game is mad addicting. I played 20 hours of it in one week. Time just flies while you play it. It's so relaxing.

#3 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 14 days, 1 hour ago

Yeah that game was a ton of fun. I have been thinking of replaying through the single player using different cars.

#4 Edited by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 14 days, 7 hours ago
#5 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 14 days, 10 hours ago

Absolutely, just to hear him yell out the names of wanted people when he goes after them. That was always awesome.


#6 Edited by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 14 days, 22 hours ago

Bob Ross. Lots and lots of Bob Ross.

I used to have huge issues with sleep so I started watching Bob Ross or at least having it on in the background for a couple hours before I want to sleep and I was always so relaxed by the time I went to bed that I would fall asleep quickly.

#7 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 15 days, 22 hours ago

That Gamecube controller was pretty good. The whole idea of resting your thumb on A and only having to pivot it or move it a tiny amount to hit the other buttons was quite smart. Out of most "modern" controllers that is probably my favourite followed by the Xbox Controller S. I can't stand Dualshocks. Never have liked them.

#8 Edited by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 16 days, 2 hours ago

A rather large worm.

#9 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 18 days, 3 hours ago

Both. My dad is a militant fries first person though. It is usually his downfall at sitdown restaurants though.

#10 Posted by Ben_H (3035 posts) - 19 days, 2 hours ago

This is devastating news. Those movies were the foundation of my upbringing.