Computer Science & BIS

Danger781

I'm considering changing my first option on CAO form from BIS to Computer Science. I'm hoping I can gain some information here. :pac:

What exactly would I be studying in Computer Science? How long are the hours each week?

How much computers are actually involved in BIS? To be honest I'm not very interested in business or economics etc. so it doesn't seem like the course for me..

Eliot Rosewater

Danger781 wrote: »

To be honest I'm not very interested in business or economics etc.

Then put Computer Science above it. The most important thing is that you like your course. If you like computers there's no point doing BIS, in my opinion. But you really have to like computers to to Computer Science, many people don't like it and still go into it, hence the high dropout rate.

Danger781

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

Then put Computer Science above it. The most important thing is that you like your course. If you like computers there's no point doing BIS, in my opinion. But you really have to like computers to to Computer Science, many people don't like it and still go into it, hence the high dropout rate.

I love computers and all things technical. I'm a complete computer geek sometimes :P. I'm the guy friends & family turn to when they need something fixed.

Yeah I put down BIS simply because it seems like a good course and it invovled computers. Then I actually began to think about what was involved. I always hated accounting in Junior Cert. I'm doing Economics now, and I hate it. I'm also doing Business, and I actually kinda like it sometimes but I can't see myself working in the business field. :eek:

Danger781

Found a handy thread that explains everything I need.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055589988

Eliot Rosewater

Danger781 wrote: »

I love computers and all things technical. I'm a complete computer geek sometimes

Glad to hear it! :pac:

You should definitely do CS in that case, in my opinion.

Redisle

Id say go for CS.

Speaking from experience here, I started out with BIS last year but didn't stay long, put BIS down first because of all the advertising and because it was meant to be a great course etc.. and Im sure it is, just not for me. (Im also very much into computers etc, Im actually doing Elec eng now though)
While I was only doing it for a few weeks I didn't like it at all. There was labs devoted to learning/using office type applications and that just killed me, Plus very basic computer explanations etc.. Believe me if you already know lots about computers it will be very boring at the beginning at least (can't comment on how it develops of course)

I think CS starts out in much the same way (no computer experience expected) but Id imagine you would enjoy it a lot more than BIS as it goes on. Just make sure you like programming, there will be lots of programming!

Danger781

Redisle wrote: »

Id say go for CS.

Speaking from experience here, I started out with BIS last year but didn't stay long, put BIS down first because of all the advertising and because it was meant to be a great course etc.. and Im sure it is, just not for me. (Im also very much into computers etc, Im actually doing Elec eng now though)
While I was only doing it for a few weeks I didn't like it at all. There was labs devoted to learning/using office type applications and that just killed me, Plus very basic computer explanations etc.. Believe me if you already know lots about computers it will be very boring at the beginning at least (can't comment on how it develops of course)

I think CS starts out in much the same way (no computer experience expected) but Id imagine you would enjoy it a lot more than BIS as it goes on. Just make sure you like programming, there will be lots of programming!

Well that settles it. I'm changing my first choice to CS.

I've never really gone into much programming other than very basic HTML and other small things. However I have been told that in order to enjoy programming you need to like solving problems. It's almost like a puzzle that will need to be built into the final product. You need to have a mind that is capable of coming up with working solutions to problems you encounter. Would you agree with that?

Thankfully that is how my mind works. Many people find it very strange that I actually like maths, but I enjoy working around the problems in each question and I stick at it until I get the correct answer.

Jeebus

Danger781 wrote: »

Well that settles it. I'm changing my first choice to CS.

I've never really gone into much programming other than very basic HTML and other small things. However I have been told that in order to enjoy programming you need to like solving problems. It's almost like a puzzle that will need to be built into the final product. You need to have a mind that is capable of coming up with working solutions to problems you encounter. Would you agree with that?

Thankfully that is how my mind works. Many people find it very strange that I actually like maths, but I enjoy working around the problems in each question and I stick at it until I get the correct answer.

I am in first year CS and can tell you that with that mindset, you should be sorted !

It's a very good course, some of the lecturers are brilliant (and hilarious) as well. They will go the extra mile to help you, and are better and more entertaining/interesting than any teacher's I've ever had before - even when they're talking about relatively boring subjects !

Lectures start out with basic HTML, it seems simple, and you'll be walking out of the first 1/2 labs after about an hour, head held high ! Things start to get harder from there ! It also gets more rewarding, and more interesting as you go along though, and you will look back at the first two labs you did and think "Christ...I could do that in two minutes flat now".

Some things to bare in mind are not to do Chinese - you will get an introductory talk at the start of the year singing the Chinese elective module's praises - I decided to do it and it is verging on impossible, I don't think anyone who decided to do it is going to pass this year (literally - there isn't enough time to spend learning the characters and such). Apart from that there's all the obvious stuff - ask lecturers questions whenever you get them, if you fall behind you'll stay there, and the lecturer's are really helpful.

It is very like problem solving though, so you should be sorted, especially if you have an obsessive personality.

Send me on a PM if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help/refer you onto people who know more than me !

Danger781

Jeebus wrote: »

I am in first year CS and can tell you that with that mindset, you should be sorted !

It's a very good course, some of the lecturers are brilliant (and hilarious) as well. They will go the extra mile to help you, and are better and more entertaining/interesting than any teacher's I've ever had before - even when they're talking about relatively boring subjects !

Lectures start out with basic HTML, it seems simple, and you'll be walking out of the first 1/2 labs after about an hour, head held high ! Things start to get harder from there ! It also gets more rewarding, and more interesting as you go along though, and you will look back at the first two labs you did and think "Christ...I could do that in two minutes flat now".

Some things to bare in mind are not to do Chinese - you will get an introductory talk at the start of the year singing the Chinese elective module's praises - I decided to do it and it is verging on impossible, I don't think anyone who decided to do it is going to pass this year (literally - there isn't enough time to spend learning the characters and such). Apart from that there's all the obvious stuff - ask lecturers questions whenever you get them, if you fall behind you'll stay there, and the lecturer's are really helpful.

It is very like problem solving though, so you should be sorted, especially if you have an obsessive personality.

Send me on a PM if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help/refer you onto people who know more than me !

Thanks thats very helpful! I was actually considering doing Chinese for a while but I don't meet the requirements for it anymore since I dropped to pass German last week. [Need a C in any language except English]

Yeah I do have a bit of an obsessive personality :P If I find a problem with my PC I will just sit there until it's fixed no matter how long it takes. The day before my German oral exam, my PC got a virus. A pretty bad one too. I spent nearly the whole day trying to fix it rather than study. Probably not a very smart move thinking back on it :pac:. I don't like German anyway. xD

Aodan83

Danger781 wrote: »

I love computers and all things technical. I'm a complete computer geek sometimes :P. I'm the guy friends & family turn to when they need something fixed.

Yeah I put down BIS simply because it seems like a good course and it invovled computers. Then I actually began to think about what was involved. I always hated accounting in Junior Cert. I'm doing Economics now, and I hate it. I'm also doing Business, and I actually kinda like it sometimes but I can't see myself working in the business field. :eek:

Do CS. There is a slight emphasis on the IS modules in BIS, but if you hate the business subjects as much as you say you do, your better off with CS. In firstt year BIS you have to do 2 acounting modules, economics and you have to choose between a management or a marketing module. Theyre not that interesting. It is a good course, and i like it, but it just doesnt seem like itd be for you.

Fol20

Redisle wrote: »

Id say go for CS.

Speaking from experience here, I started out with BIS last year but didn't stay long, put BIS down first because of all the advertising and because it was meant to be a great course etc.. and Im sure it is, just not for me. (Im also very much into computers etc, Im actually doing Elec eng now though)
While I was only doing it for a few weeks I didn't like it at all. There was labs devoted to learning/using office type applications and that just killed me, Plus very basic computer explanations etc.. Believe me if you already know lots about computers it will be very boring at the beginning at least (can't comment on how it develops of course)

I think CS starts out in much the same way (no computer experience expected) but Id imagine you would enjoy it a lot more than BIS as it goes on. Just make sure you like programming, there will be lots of programming!

Cmon aido,you were only in it for like a month,its not like they can just throw you into the deep end of everything.Yes they thought some stupid office classes at the beginning but now for the most part,their stopped.Although Access,visio and excel are still used quite a bit for various modules,but its not like its piss easy.

Fol20

Aodan83 wrote: »

Do CS. There is a slight emphasis on the IS modules in BIS, but if you hate the business subjects as much as you say you do, your better off with CS. In firstt year BIS you have to do 2 acounting modules, economics and you have to choose between a management or a marketing module. Theyre not that interesting. It is a good course, and i like it, but it just doesnt seem like itd be for you.

Slight enphasis on IS?Sure half of the modules/credits is IS in first year,more in second year etc

Aodan83

Fol20 wrote: »

Slight enphasis on IS?Sure half of the modules/credits is IS in first year,more in second year etc

Ok, so maybe more than a slight emphasis, but we're still supposed to do all the accounting and economics stuff. Altho in 3rd and 4th year most of that is gone, and it is largely IS.

bunnyfox7

I'm in fourth year CS, within reach of my degree now! I have to say it has been the most challenging, and well rewarding course I could have ever done, bar all the moaning I've ever done about it! The lecturers as someone already mentioned are really sound, and you could go to their office and they will help you no problem without judging you. I have found that they have been very close acquaintances over the years. Don't be fooled by its' ability to just challenge you.. it is really difficult at times, and there is no point in making the course pretty to you to make you apply... you have to really want it. When I started there were about 95 people, in 2nd year 60ish people, and by 3rd year it had fizzled out to about 35. By the time you get to the end of the course you will feel like you earned your degree... I have managed to secure a graduate job now as well out of it thankfully, so it's a great well rounded path to take. I also did a 1 year placement in Intel which seriously benefited my personal development in the course. I wish you the best with the course... it's well worth it.

LC2010HIS

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

But you really have to like computers to to Computer Science, many people don't like it and still go into it, hence the high dropout rate.

Hey
I was gonna put down CS as a choice but my guidance councillor said theres lots of maths? Im not that good at maths Is that true? Thanks

samf

Well when I was in first year there was two options for maths, an easy module or a hard one. The easy one is fine apparently so dont worry if you're not great at maths, theres certainly not a lot in the course. You could easily get by on pass maths skills, its all about how good you are at programming, i.e. logical problem solving.

Eliot Rosewater

I'm not actually in computer science; doing maths myself. There is a bit of maths in computer science, although some of it can be avoided. Have tried a bit of computer programming?

Kersmash

Anyone know how many places there are for Computer Science? I've my heart set on it but I'm terrified the points will shoot up and I'll miss the cut.

Sepulchrave

About 200 max I believe. That is what the book of modules states for the various modules, but they don't have nearly enough computers for that in the two current first year labs, or even in our second year lab with 48 computers. They would probably have to open them up to other labs.

I am currently in second year, there are about 60 in my class. There were 70 in first year. What happened to the 10 I am not sure.

As for the maths, it is hardly difficult. The lecturer in the big "maths" module in first year, Foundations of Computer Science, is excellent, one of the best the department has to offer. He went to all our problem classes in first year and helped us all out every week personally. The only other thing that resembles maths in first year is Boolean Algebra, but that is not really maths per se, but you can use some maths with it to help.

Second year now this year is the first time the new course has been taught to second years, and to be honest it has been a bit of a balls. The layout was very poor. While the lecturers are mostly excellent, and the modules are good and interesting, the layout was awful. Most of us had 3 distinct modules in period 1, and 6 distinct modules in period 2, plus 1 other module that lasted all year, Software Development CS2500. So period 1 was very quiet, but period 2 was so crammed, they did not even have timetable slots to fill all the lab requirements for some modules. For CS2506 Operating Systems II, and CS2511 Usability Engineering, we only got 1 hour of lab time a week, instead of the prescribed 2. The last 2 weeks were simply a nightmare, with assignments due left right and center, while in-class tests were on, we hardly had a spare moment. The reason period 2 was so crammed, was because for CS2504 Algorithms and Linear Data Structures, you require a certain amount of Java, the same goes for CS2505 Computer Networking. Since you don't learn Java in first year anymore, only in second year, you would not have had the required standard of Java in period 1 to tackle those modules. There was no reason though that they could have put modules like CS2510 Web Servers and CS2511 in period 1 in my opinion, to spread it out a bit. Hopefully that might happen next year. I would not let that discourage you from taking the course, I love it, but you know you do have to work hard if you want to do well.

x43r0

LC2010HIS wrote: »

Hey
I was gonna put down CS as a choice but my guidance councillor said theres lots of maths? Im not that good at maths Is that true? Thanks

Theres f*** all maths if you don't want there to be. What I mean is the maths modules are optional. In the CS modules, a little arithmetic pops up now and again but nothing compared to the standard of the LC

UnknownSpecies

Yeah, if it's maths that's putting you off applying then don't worry, the standard is nothing too far from pass maths in the Leaving. I'm just finished first year myself, I chose the easier maths elective and without turning up for 10% of lectures, I'm confident I got 80%+ for the year It's a very good course though, I was skeptical about how good it would be or whether I would enjoy it but I really have gotten into it and I find the programming very rewarding and actually enjoyable once you get the hang of it So if it's mainly computers you're into, then I'd say go for computer Science!

Danger781

Thanks lads, this thread has been really helpful I've put Computer Science as my first choice so I'm praying I get it. How much do ye reckon the points will go up by, if at all? :eek:

Would it be beneficial if I had some prior programming experience, even if it is just the basics? I have a whole summer and no plans, so it would be the ideal opportunity to start some i guess. :rolleyes:

samf

Danger781 wrote: »

Thanks lads, this thread has been really helpful I've put Computer Science as my first choice so I'm praying I get it. How much do ye reckon the points will go up by, if at all? :eek:

Dont worry about points, theres nothing you can do about them - if they go up they go up, so just try and do as well as you can and you'll be fine. Aim for over 350 and you should be safe. Its still the lowest points course in UCC so count yourself lucky.

Danger781 wrote: »

Would it be beneficial if I had some prior programming experience, even if it is just the basics? I have a whole summer and no plans, so it would be the ideal opportunity to start some i guess. :rolleyes:

Well thats up to you, they start you from scratch so its not essential you know anything going into it, but it would certainly help. I'd recommend learning HTML and PHP, you can learn HTML here and PHP here. The only thing is you might find some lectures a bit boring if you know everything they're discussing.

Danger781

samf wrote: »

Well thats up to you, they start you from scratch so its not essential you know anything going into it, but it would certainly help. I'd recommend learning HTML and PHP, you can learn HTML here and PHP here. The only thing is you might find some lectures a bit boring if you know everything they're discussing.

Yeah I suppose it would be annoying getting explained something I already know :P How come you recommend HTML as a first to learn, considering thats not technically a language? Just to show me the basics? Friend of mine told me I should start researching a little bit about Python as well. :pac:

samf

Well because as far as I know (and perhaps a current 1st yr could back me up on this) HTML and PHP are the only languages really taught in first year, and they go hand in hand, and you should ideally have a good idea of html when using PHP. Also, PHP's a good basic language to start with and is really useful. If you're able to build a basic website with html, php and mysql by then end of the summer then you should fly through first year and have a chance to get some good grades. To practice all of that on your home computer you can install a local apache server like XAMPP which will allow you to test php files and databases.

If you really want to prepare you can start looking though some java tutorials also but I dont think you'll see much java until second year.

Danger781

samf wrote: »

Well because as far as I know (and perhaps a current 1st yr could back me up on this) HTML and PHP are the only languages really taught in first year, and they go hand in hand, and you should ideally have a good idea of html when using PHP. Also, PHP's a good basic language to start with and is really useful. If you're able to build a basic website with html, php and mysql by then end of the summer then you should fly through first year and have a chance to get some good grades. To practice all of that on your home computer you can install a local apache server like XAMPP which will allow you to test php files and databases.

If you really want to prepare you can start looking though some java tutorials also but I dont think you'll see much java until second year.

Okay thanks thats really helpful I'll start after my leaving!

starlit

I applied to BIS when I filled out my CAO but regret not having put down CS. Sounds to me the CS course is probably better than the BIS but then again I did a similar course to the BIS in an IT and that the BIS course here would be good in terms of work experience thats all I'd say but then again sometimes I think the course i did was probably better than the BIS but then again I feel sorry I didnt do the CS in ucc in the first place!

Ricky91t

Danger781 wrote: »

Okay thanks thats really helpful I'll start after my leaving!

Don't learn HTML! You'll regret it, If you want to learn something learn xHTML
http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_intro.asp

It's what we/you will actually learn in first year, and the lecturer, Derek really dislikes HTML... Along with other things like internet explorer, You'll also be validating web pages, so if you don't have firefox, download it. And then download this plug in: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60/

If you start doing a bit of coding and have a server, click Tools> Validate HTML and it'll show you all the errors(if there are any) and then you can figure out what went wrong.

If you're just coding on your PC and don't have a server you can upload them here

starlit

recently did a postgrad h dip in applied computing technology wasn't too bad and covered core subjects i missed out on in my degree. easy tip for starting to learn php. download easy php from sourceforge and take it from there! you'll learn more from it than having to be doing php when doing your assignments in the labs. being able to do it from home is less hassle than trying to do it in the labs as you don't have access to the servers outside of ucc! easy php downloads a server, apache, mysql all in one onto your laptop/computer at home! and its FREE! :cool:

samf

Ricky91t wrote: »

Don't learn HTML! You'll regret it, If you want to learn something learn xHTML
http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_intro.asp

Sorry yes when i said HTML above i did of course mean XHTML - thats the strict version of HTML you'll learn in college.

D'Agger

snuggles285 wrote: »

recently did a postgrad h dip in applied computing technology wasn't too bad and covered core subjects i missed out on in my degree. easy tip for starting to learn php. download easy php from sourceforge and take it from there! you'll learn more from it than having to be doing php when doing your assignments in the labs. being able to do it from home is less hassle than trying to do it in the labs as you don't have access to the servers outside of ucc! easy php downloads a server, apache, mysql all in one onto your laptop/computer at home! and its FREE! :cool:

Alternatively use WAMP, stands for Windows,Apache,MySQL,PHP - used it for my final year project having never used PHP before and have to say using WAMP in conjunction with online WAMP tutorials really helped me through it.

Ricky91t

PaulieC wrote: »

Alternatively use WAMP, stands for Windows,Apache,MySQL,PHP - used it for my final year project having never used PHP before and have to say using WAMP in conjunction with online WAMP tutorials really helped me through it.

WAMP seems to have issues on Windows 7 pro, or atleast it did for me...

D'Agger

Ricky91t wrote: »

WAMP seems to have issues on Windows 7 pro, or atleast it did for me...

I formatted my computer from Vista to xp to use the version I wanted of it - I found it works better with XP anyway but you're right it's known for compatability issues, if you can get over thm however it's a really good program to use imo