Which Computer Science course to pick (ck401, TR033,LM051)

x43r0

As you look at the list, the modules beginning with CS10xx are the ones being taught by the CS Dept to courses like Elec Eng and Arts.

Courses beginning with CS11xx and so on are taught to CS students.

The course was changed fairly significantly for the current first years so I don't think they would restructure it again next year.

In short, I think whats there is a safe bet for next year

Making It Bad

x43r0 wrote: »

As you look at the list, the modules beginning with CS10xx are the ones being taught by the CS Dept to courses like Elec Eng and Arts.

Courses beginning with CS11xx and so on are taught to CS students.

The course was changed fairly significantly for the current first years so I don't think they would restructure it again next year.

In short, I think whats there is a safe bet for next year

Ah right, I see, thanks. First year looks kinda dull now, although 2nd year looks good and challenging. Guess I'll just spend first year getting wasted instead, haha.

Jako8

Making It Bad wrote: »

Ah right, I see, thanks. First year looks kinda dull now, although 2nd year looks good and challenging. Guess I'll just spend first year getting wasted instead, haha.

I'll join ya.

Yeah, I think I'll keep CK401 as my no. 1 choice on my CAO. Thanks guys.

I have definitely been overthinking this one.

Making It Bad

Jako8 wrote: »

I have definitely been overthinking this one.

Same, got too much time on my hands. Everyone is there studying for their high point courses and i'd get mine if I took the LC now.

See ya in the pub :cool:

Liveit

So lads how many of ye have CS in UCC as No.1 in the CAO application.
I have.

Making It Bad

Well I kept it as no. 1, there are a couple of friends of mine who have it down too. Apparently, and I say apparently as I'm not sure if I believe it as it hasn't happened in like 5 years, the points are supposed to rise in courses like computer science this year due to the idea that there are still a surplus of jobs in the IT sector.

Kersmash

I've got it down as my No. 1 too, as do a few friends.

Liveit

Can anyone tell me the amount of hours a week for lectures,labs,etc and personal study?

bunnyfox7

You'd be looking at about 10-15 hrs of lectures anyway, it really depends if you are doing 5 or 10 credit modules though. Then labs would be another 6 hours, now that depends on how many lecturers are giving labs/tutorials. And you will always end up doing out of lab work. If you do the labs and assignments you should be fine when it comes to study. But like most courses, you'll be pretty busy for the week! The amount of lecture/lab hours usually decrease alot the further through the course you go.

Ricky91t

I'm a current first year student and finding the course good,The programming module isn't the hardest and I'm a complete begineer but I know other begineers are having issues in it,But it's more the algorithms and logic which you should keep an eye on,They might seem easy but missing one lecture can mean you're lost pretty quickly!

As for lecture hours:
Heres Semester 1;
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bw2yldPKaIR7MDIyYTE1NTQtODUwNS00Mzc1LWE1OTYtYWFhZGQ2MjE1N2Mz&hl=en
Semester 2;
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag2yldPKaIR7dHowOW85V1dwWkZzclItMjhSRUVfc2c&hl=en

Making It Bad

Ricky91t wrote: »

I'm a current first year student and finding the course good,The programming module isn't the hardest and I'm a complete begineer but I know other begineers are having issues in it,But it's more the algorithms and logic which you should keep an eye on,They might seem easy but missing one lecture can mean you're lost pretty quickly!

As for lecture hours:
Heres Semester 1;
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bw2yldPKaIR7MDIyYTE1NTQtODUwNS00Mzc1LWE1OTYtYWFhZGQ2MjE1N2Mz&hl=en
Semester 2;
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag2yldPKaIR7dHowOW85V1dwWkZzclItMjhSRUVfc2c&hl=en

Ouch, Monday looks nasty :eek:

Suppose it could be completely different for us anyway!

Liveit

Ricky91t wrote: »

I'm a current first year student and finding the course good,The programming module isn't the hardest and I'm a complete begineer but I know other begineers are having issues in it,But it's more the algorithms and logic which you should keep an eye on,They might seem easy but missing one lecture can mean you're lost pretty quickly!

As for lecture hours:
Heres Semester 1;
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Bw2yldPKaIR7MDIyYTE1NTQtODUwNS00Mzc1LWE1OTYtYWFhZGQ2MjE1N2Mz&hl=en
Semester 2;
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag2yldPKaIR7dHowOW85V1dwWkZzclItMjhSRUVfc2c&hl=en

Thanks for that, cant go into the second one but its probably around the same as the first one, so it's ok.

podgemonster

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

C in Elec Eng is an optional subject. In fact I'm in first year Maths Science and I'm doing the same Programming in C module that the Elec Eng people are doing. Theres about 80 - 100 people in Elec Eng over all but theres only about 20 in the C class asfaik.

Sorry but I have to correct this.
Programming in C is not optional in 1st year Elec Eng, it is a compulsory module (5 credit) ran in the second semester.
http://www.ucc.ie/en/eleceng/undergraduate/1styear/

Also there are not 80-100 people in 1st year. The department could barely contain and organise labs for 70.
There are 42 students in Elec eng 1 this year. Are you maybe getting mixed up with civil?

The reason why there are 20 ppl in the C class sounds about right, due to poor attendance levels of many elec engers, didn't go much myself. :cool:

metalfest

Making It Bad wrote: »

Ouch, Monday looks nasty :eek:

Suppose it could be completely different for us anyway!

monday is 3 hours of lectures and 3 hours of labs, its not that much :P

Jeebus

Just to warn you guys, second year is a HUGE step up from first year.

On Mondays, we have 5 hours.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I am on 9-6 straight. 1 hour for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, no break Wednesdays.
Friday is 9-3 straight, no breaks.

All the content covered is much harder, and there is much, much more of it. You will need to put in a lot of study time to pass (hence why I am up at 2am).

I'm pretty sure we have the most hours of any second year course. Going back to study now, good luck ! Send me a PM if you have any troubles, I might not get back to you for a while, but...do anyway sure !

Great course if you're into it, very easy in first year, insanely difficult thereafter. Make sure you're learning your electronics if you're doing physics as well. Comes in handy .

Jeebus

Just had a quick glance through the thread. The person saying the course is watered down is an idiot and/or troll.

The UCC course is pitched at a very high level, hence the incredibly high dropout rate (highest in Ireland, I believe). That alone should speak for itself.

Obviously Elec Eng has certain strengths and so does CS. Claiming CS is a joke because "HURP DURP THEY DONT DO C" is idiotic and childish. It's a programming language, there are lots of them, all of them with varying usage and difficulty. Learning it is not important. Learning how to learn it is. Luckily in CS, you do learn how to do this, very well.

But look, I am well overdue to go back to my study now. Night all.

JohnyDarko

Obviously Elec Eng has certain strengths and so does CS. Claiming CS is a joke because "HURP DURP THEY DONT DO C" is idiotic and childish. It's a programming language, there are lots of them, all of them with varying usage and difficulty. Learning it is not important. Learning how to learn it is. Luckily in CS, you do learn how to do this, very well.

Because learning one of the most widely used programming languages in the world (the closely related C++ being in the top 3 too on most lists) wouldn't be useful at all to us. It'd be a lot handier to us as graduates and when looking for work experience than knowing XHTML, PHP and possibly even Java.... almost every non-web systems company looking for interns, especially the "big" ones like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and so on want you to know C (well, C# or C++ usually) as it costs them time and money to train you from scratch. I mean I was selected for Intel, and since I had no time to do any prep for the interview, did pretty poorly in it and turned up in tattered jeans and a hoody the only reason I can see why they would select me over some of the better students in my year is the fact I have some experience with the language. Of course I'm doing straight CS so I may be a little biased.

And yes, you can always learn it yourself, but you are kept pretty busy throughout 2nd year, and after the exams in 3rd year with the team software project (which is usually a website, so not much chance to find a reason to use it). IMO they should teach php in web dev and java in a separate module in 1st year as an intro to OO (and take some of the pressure off of 2nd years), then C in 2nd year, and keep 3rd the way it is with only theory modules and very little coding.

Ricky91t

JohnyDarko wrote: »

Because learning one of the most widely used programming languages in the world (the closely related C++ being in the top 3 too on most lists) wouldn't be useful at all to us. It'd be a lot handier to us as graduates and when looking for work experience than knowing XHTML, PHP and possibly even Java.... almost every non-web systems company looking for interns, especially the "big" ones like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and so on want you to know C (well, C# or C++ usually) as it costs them time and money to train you from scratch. I mean I was selected for Intel, and since I had no time to do any prep for the interview, did pretty poorly in it and turned up in tattered jeans and a hoody the only reason I can see why they would select me over some of the better students in my year is the fact I have some experience with the language. Of course I'm doing straight CS so I may be a little biased.

And yes, you can always learn it yourself, but you are kept pretty busy throughout 2nd year, and after the exams in 3rd year with the team software project (which is usually a website, so not much chance to find a reason to use it). IMO they should teach php in web dev and java in a separate module in 1st year as an intro to OO (and take some of the pressure off of 2nd years), then C in 2nd year, and keep 3rd the way it is with only theory modules and very little coding.

Third year sounds great!

To be honest, I think if UCC had Java and PHP in first year the drop out rate would rocket, I know of plenty of people who thought PHP was plenty and if we had Java as well it would be a joke.

I've looked at C code and there isn't a massive difference. I think the combination of PHP and then Java gets you used to the basics of programming, which means after you've done a year of both it's pretty easy to pick up a new language with the knowledge from these.

JohnyDarko

Ricky91t wrote: »

Third year sounds great!

To be honest, I think if UCC had Java and PHP in first year the drop out rate would rocket, I know of plenty of people who thought PHP was plenty and if we had Java as well it would be a joke.

I've looked at C code and there isn't a massive difference. I think the combination of PHP and then Java gets you used to the basics of programming, which means after you've done a year of both it's pretty easy to pick up a new language with the knowledge from these.

Well it might give people a taste of what the course is really like.... I mean over 90% of our year failed at least one module last year, first year was far too easy compared to the overall course. PHP is about as different as you can get being a scripting language, and C allows a far greater range of options like calls to system libraries, using low-level system facilities opposed to a virtual machine and is function orientated rather than object orientated and so on.... I mean take even just hello world!

#include<stdio.h>
int main(void){
printf("Hello\n");
return 0;
}

public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String[] arg){
System.out.println("Hello");
}

Anyways...... 3rd year is a nice break after 2nd alright, even if half your class seems to have vanished! If everyone passes this year out of the ~70 that started in 1st year there'll only be around 20 (original) students graduating next summer! :eek:

Raskolnikov

JohnyDarko wrote: »

It'd be a lot handier to us as graduates and when looking for work experience than knowing XHTML, PHP and possibly even Java.... almost every non-web systems company looking for interns, especially the "big" ones like Microsoft, Intel, Oracle and so on want you to know C (well, C# or C++ usually) as it costs them time and money to train you from scratch. I mean I was selected for Intel, and since I had no time to do any prep for the interview, did pretty poorly in it and turned up in tattered jeans and a hoody the only reason I can see why they would select me over some of the better students in my year is the fact I have some experience with the language. Of course I'm doing straight CS so I may be a little biased.

And yes, you can always learn it yourself, but you are kept pretty busy throughout 2nd year, and after the exams in 3rd year with the team software project (which is usually a website, so not much chance to find a reason to use it). IMO they should teach php in web dev and java in a separate module in 1st year as an intro to OO (and take some of the pressure off of 2nd years), then C in 2nd year, and keep 3rd the way it is with only theory modules and very little coding.

You don't have very much real world experience if that's what you think.

I graduated from CS a few years back and out of my class of 60, just 1 person went on to work with C. The vast, vast majority of us haven't gone anywhere near C, or even C++. Career and money wise, that kind of low-level stuff is a dead-end.

If anyone in CS wants some real world advice on getting themselves a fantastic, well-paying career then they would be best served being the best Java programmer you can possibly be. There's all sorts of great, Java-related stuff (Web Services, Spring, Hibernate, Servlets, etc.) out there that employers are literally dying for. One of my friends has gone down this avenue and after only a few years he's working in the States for Citigroup. He's an associate vice president and is on over $150k a year, that's before his bonus which would be about 20% of his salary. I have heard of one colleague who had written their own enterprise system and sold it onto the company for millions. This sort of stuff is exception, but I am just illustrating that the sky really is the limit.

Raskolnikov

Ricky91t wrote: »

To be honest, I think if UCC had Java and PHP in first year the drop out rate would rocket, I know of plenty of people who thought PHP was plenty and if we had Java as well it would be a joke.

That is the biggest shame about the new CS course. Back in first year, we had Joe Manning who taught the Object Orientated Programming with Java course. At the time, I was constantly giving out about why Manning used to use some sort of bastardised version of Java and had using doing these silly programs that didn't really do anything. With hindsight, I recognise that he was teaching a course in OBJECT ORIENTATED programming, not a Java course. It's a shame that it I only realised it when I went into the workplace, but his OO Programming course was probably the most practical module I had taken in the whole course.

JohnyDarko

I'm not saying Java is bad and C is good, we should just know both. Especially for placement where a lot of companies told us they want us to be familiar with it.

You don't have very much real world experience if that's what you think.

http://langpop.com/

1. C
2. Java
3. C++
4. PHP
5. Javascript

Of course any site gives you a different set of results, but C, C++ and java are always in the top 3. So it might be kinda useful to know it, you know? :rolleyes:

Webmonkey

Jobs in C/C++ are not as popular as JAva/C#.Net in my experience. However, as for popularity for being used, well then I guess C/C++ are still very popular in terms of usage.

Raskolnikov

JohnyDarko wrote: »

So it might be kinda useful to know it, you know? :rolleyes:

I can promise you that in the real world, C is almost useless to have. Ring any recruiter or go look at any job site and scroll through the listings for software development. You will see nothing for C and everything for Java/.net with a smattering of stuff for php/asp/actionscript/c++/javascript/etc. If you don't believe me, throw up a poll in the Programming forum asking professionals what language they code in on a day to day basis. I would put money on C coming out at less than 5%, and possibly as low as 1-2%. If you want to be obstinate to prove a point, then so be it! All I am trying to do is offer some advice.

Big Tone

I would've thought Objective C would be much higher up the list as thats the language behind Apple apps. It will be in the near future anway.

rememberthis

They are changing the CS course ??!1!! Please say it's not true

lemon_remon

rememberthis wrote: »

They are changing the CS course ??!1!! Please say it's not true

Read the post dates, they changed it a couple of years ago.

I'm in CS first year UCC now and I wish we did Java. The PHP on its own is very easy mode but there are people who are still struggling, however perhaps they weren't cut out for the course in first place.

Jayo_M

lemon_remon wrote: »

Read the post dates, they changed it a couple of years ago.

I'm in CS first year UCC now and I wish we did Java. The PHP on its own is very easy mode but there are people who are still struggling, however perhaps they weren't cut out for the course in first place.

Don't write people off in first year. For most, the contents of the course are unlike anything they've seen before and coupled with the first year college experience, it can be tough for people (myself included) to put in the hours needed. I was a complete **** up in first year. It just takes longer for some people for everything to click.

x43r0

Big Tone wrote: »

I would've thought Objective C would be much higher up the list as thats the language behind Apple apps. It will be in the near future anway.

That's the thing though. Its the language behind Apple apps and only apple apps. They consider it to narrow in scope and would prefer to teach a more broadly used technology

When I was in CS 4th year last year I would have killed for them to teach it because I had to teach it to myself to do my FYP