strand choices CS and IT

danielgalway

Hi all,
just wondering does anyone have any info on the two strand choices in 2nd year of CS and IT like what the subjects in each strand involve or like what direction it will take you in the course.
I really dont know which one to go for .

I'v been told doing strand two opens up the possibility of doing maths as a masters but i am not sure if this is true

I am not the worst at maths but definitely am not the best.

I did honours maths in first year so I am eligible for each strand


Stream 1 subjects (All students are eligible to take Stream 1)
l MA204Discrete Mathematics 5ECTS. Exam Sem 1
l MA203 Linear Algebra 5ECTS Exam Sem 2
l CT2** Next Generation Technologies II 5ECTs Exam Sem 2
l CT248 Introduction to Modelling (Matlab) 5 Exam Sem 2

Stream 2 subjects (Only students who have taken MA190 (Honours Maths) in 1BCT are eligible to take Stream 2):
l MA284 Discrete Maths 5ECTS Exam Sem 1
l MA283 Algebra 5ECTS Exam Sem 2
l MA286 Analysis I 5ECTS Exam Sem 1
l MA287 Analysis II 5ECTS Exam Sem 2


PLease help !

PaulR666

I'm going into first year in this course, and I put down honours maths , I did honours maths in the leaving cert and just passed, if I find it too difficult can I drop down?

Eogclouder

Hey guys, I'm a final year in this course so I think I'll be able to help.

What happens is that groups of your optional subjects each year that you have to choose from, will be all maths subjects (prefix MA). Unless you're sure you want to do maths and you're doing it for a GOOD reason (specific specialization or field in mind). Then go for it. Otherwise, I'd advise against it from what I've seen during my time in the course.

People in the maths stream have a much larger workload than the others, they miss out on other optional subjects that really massively supplement your CS skills. (if you do maths, you don't take the programming paradigms class in 3rd year. Experience and knowledge from this class pretty much cemented my work placement.) A lot of lectures for maths clash with other subjects and they spend half their time trying to re-organize their timetable.

Remember that though mathematics is very relevant (CS is a subset), your course is focused on teaching you to be a software engineer. That's your MAIN focus, not maths. If not, do a maths degree!

This is my opinion and how I've seen it unfold. Every-time the options come out, I felt like people in maths were left out of a lot of relevant/important or interesting stuff.

If you guys have any more questions about the college or the course, PM myself or post here as I'd be happy to answer.

danielgalway

So if i want to focus on maths more do stream2?
And focus more on CS and IT , i should do stream1?

PaulR66
sorry for late reply,
yes you can drop down

I got a B1 in honours maths in the leaving and i did honours in first year but i did find it very difficult.. if it wasn't for SUMS (help centre) i i would have scraped a pass! I got a first class honour

Eogclouder

danielgalway wrote: »

So if i want to focus on maths more do stream2?
And focus more on CS and IT , i should do stream1?

PaulR66
sorry for late reply,
yes you can drop down

I got a B1 in honours maths in the leaving and i did honours in first year but i did find it very difficult.. if it wasn't for SUMS (help centre) i i would have scraped a pass! I got a first class honour

From what I've seen, the work involved is not worth it. I would not do honors maths. In fact, I'd say your left at a disadvantage overall as you miss subjects that will give you exposure and experience to other languages and technologies.

For example, you wont sit through programming paradigms, game design or any of the other Extra IT modules. I learnt more about porgramming in these classes than I did in any other, so I'd highly reccomend those over maths.