Computer Science

fear corcaigh

Has anyone recently started the CS coarse at UCC.
How do they find the coarse, what languages are they using, are the maths hard, are lecturers helpfull or do they just lecture and its upto yourself to learn. Would you require a good knowledge of computers to do the coarse.

I am thinking of applying as a mature student for 2012. I have moderate C++ skills and web site building. I could build a PC easily and locate a virus and delete it. I can use the DOS commands and have eperience with Linux. I have no proof of all this as I was in the building industry for 10 years.

Would people recommend it and is it etremely difficult.

Screaminmidget

fear corcaigh wrote: »

Has anyone recently started the CS coarse at UCC.
How do they find the coarse, what languages are they using, are the maths hard, are lecturers helpfull or do they just lecture and its upto yourself to learn. Would you require a good knowledge of computers to do the coarse.

I am thinking of applying as a mature student for 2012. I have moderate C++ skills and web site building. I could build a PC easily and locate a virus and delete it. I can use the DOS commands and have eperience with Linux. I have no proof of all this as I was in the building industry for 10 years.

Would people recommend it and is it etremely difficult.

I started the course this year, and Ive no complaints about it!! We learn HTML, CSS and PHP in first year, takes about 4 weeks to go through the HTML/CSS, and the rest is PHP. The maths isnt hard tbh, if your stuck the lecturer will go over it with you after class if you ask him. Most lecturers are very approachable, and the tutors in the labs are the same

I would reccommend it, but only if your willing to put in the work. It ammounts to about 25 hours of lectures/tutorials in the first semester, and then you have assignments and study on top of that. Certain parts of it are difficult and you just have to study and read up on different things to understand everything!

rebel girl 15

Screaminmidget wrote: »

I started the course this year, and Ive no complaints about it!! We learn HTML, CSS and PHP in first year, takes about 4 weeks to go through the HTML/CSS, and the rest is PHP. The maths isnt hard tbh, if your stuck the lecturer will go over it with you after class if you ask him. Most lecturers are very approachable, and the tutors in the labs are the same

This year??? Must be in the same class as my brother so :P

He's loving the course - but his comment was that its not for people who enjoy just being on the computer. There is a lot of work in it, but if you have an strong interest in it, then go for it

EyeSight

i find the UCC one to be very badly organised. e.g you'll repeat the exact same classes a couple of times throughout your 4 years.
They also seem to organise the labs terribly. Budget cuts are their main excuse for a lack of tutors or labs big enough to fit a whole class into. IMO when you pay to go to college(or for any service) you shouldn't be told "expect half assed resources because we have debt"

also by the end of it you'll be sick of making website. even if you don't do the web stream...

either way languages are:
1st year: php, mySQL
2nd year: java, XML (and a revision on mySQL again) and some basic bash scripting and assembly
3rd: no new languages, its mainly core computer science stuff, however you will use java . you may do JSP if you pick the web stream but its basically java.
4th: depending on what modules you pick you may do C or haskell

Screaminmidget

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Screaminmidget wrote: »

I started the course this year, and Ive no complaints about it!! We learn HTML, CSS and PHP in first year, takes about 4 weeks to go through the HTML/CSS, and the rest is PHP. The maths isnt hard tbh, if your stuck the lecturer will go over it with you after class if you ask him. Most lecturers are very approachable, and the tutors in the labs are the same

This year??? Must be in the same class as my brother so :P

He's loving the course - but his comment was that its not for people who enjoy just being on the computer. There is a lot of work in it, but if you have an strong interest in it, then go for it

I dare not ask his name, could prove awkward :P

Liveit

EyeSight wrote: »

i find the UCC one to be very badly organised. e.g you'll repeat the exact same classes a couple of times throughout your 4 years.
They also seem to organise the labs terribly. Budget cuts are their main excuse for a lack of tutors or labs big enough to fit a whole class into. IMO when you pay to go to college(or for any service) you shouldn't be told "expect half assed resources because we have debt"

also by the end of it you'll be sick of making website. even if you don't do the web stream...

either way languages are:
1st year: php, mySQL
2nd year: java, XML (and a revision on mySQL again) and some basic bash scripting and assembly
3rd: no new languages, its mainly core computer science stuff, however you will use java . you may do JSP if you pick the web stream but its basically java.
4th: depending on what modules you pick you may do C or haskell

Only in 1st year myself aswell so I can't comment on classes getting repeated over the years. In my experience the labs are organised well, there are plenty of tutors in all the labs and they are more than willing to help. I couldn't think of better facilities for us to be honest, in first year we have our own dedicated lab which is open all day until 10:30 at night which is in addition to the other computer rooms in the building which we can go into. It has at least 80 computers which are maintained very well and quicker than any other campus' I bet.
The whole year doesn't need to fit into the timetabled labs at once because we are divided into 2 groups, though we did have one module which ran for the first semester where some people had to share a computer the odd time (< once a week), didn't really need a computer for each person anyway.

Back to the op's post:
-Course is grand but you definitely have to keep upto speed.
-HTML, CSS, php, MySQL
-The maths aren't really your usual maths, more maths in a logical sense.
-They lecture, but then there are the labs where you are talking to them 1-to-1 and you can ask them any questions you want.
-Computer knowledge definitely helps but nothing is assumed as being known already, judging from what you've wrote, you should be grand

EyeSight

Liveit wrote: »

Only in 1st year myself aswell so I can't comment on classes getting repeated over the years. In my experience the labs are organised well, there are plenty of tutors in all the labs and they are more than willing to help. I couldn't think of better facilities for us to be honest, in first year we have our own dedicated lab which is open all day until 10:30 at night which is in addition to the other computer rooms in the building which we can go into. It has at least 80 computers which are maintained very well and quicker than any other campus' I bet.
The whole year doesn't need to fit into the timetabled labs at once because we are divided into 2 groups, though we did have one module which ran for the first semester where some people had to share a computer the odd time (< once a week), didn't really need a computer for each person anyway.

we were the same in first year. but as the years go on you'll find that in most labs/tutorials there will only be 1 person there to help, and they stop splitting up the class into 2 seperate sessions.
i'm currently in 4th year and we have to share a lab with 3rd years. the lab can't fit an entire class of 4th years, let alone both 3rd and 4th years. they have given us some small overflow labs, but most people just use them to talk and play with their friends. as a result its near impossible to find a quiet lab to do work in, which is a complete joke! we have complained and all we get back is "budget cuts...."

Ricky91t

I've not read the above posts but I'll say firstly that I do recommend it.

First year is a broad sample of most of the areas of computer science, It's where hopefully you'll figure out what you enjoy and be able to make the choice between the Web stream and straight CS, I was told by a lecturer in first year that if you're good at the maths side then straight CS is for you, I wasn't and also didn't enjoy boring sets, and big O notations and what not.

Second year is the toughest supposedly, but there's a bit of a difference between the Web stream and straight CS.

Third year, which I'm current in. There's quite a big difference, Straight CS(List of lectures here!) do things like theory of computation and the Web Stream do Java servlets, Client side programming and Advanced XML(List of lectures here!).

I think overall the Web Stream has a slightly easier going course, but that shouldn't put you off. I really enjoy it and in my free time I've learnt other languages which I probably wouldn't have been able to do If I was doing straight CS.

If I could do it again I'd still pick web systems but I'd choose to sit in on the Algorithms lectures in 2nd and 3rd year of the Straight CS course!