Computing ITT 2016

Strong Life in Dublin

What is this course like and how difficult is it for someone with only basic programming experience

Volturnus

I just finished first year and it's pretty easy if you put even the smallest bit of effort in & are interested in what you're learning. I got like 30% attendance in one of my subjects & still a B+ so yeah first year is easy anyway you should have no trouble. I had no programming experience prior. Just make sure you go to the labs.

Strong Life in Dublin

Volturnus wrote: »

I just finished first year and it's pretty easy if you put even the smallest bit of effort in & are interested in what you're learning. I got like 30% attendance in one of my subjects & still a B+ so yeah first year is easy anyway you should have no trouble. I had no programming experience prior. Just make sure you go to the labs.

Hi Volturnus, thanks for the reply. I've been learning python myself, I just know the very basics like while loops etc. How much have you covered in your programming classes?

Also how did you find the maths, this is my weakest link

Volturnus

Strong Life in Dublin wrote: »

Hi Volturnus, thanks for the reply. I've been learning python myself, I just know the very basics like while loops etc. How much have you covered in your programming classes?

Also how did you find the maths, this is my weakest link

You only do Java in first year sdev but they start from the very beginning so you shouldn't have a problem once you just pay attention. The Maths isn't hard, like 40% you can get from class tests, he does 12 tests(one every week for 4%) and you count your best 10. You spend like 40mins doing an example of what will be on the test and he'll explain something to you if you don't understand it & then he'll hand you the test for 10mins. Everyone pretty much just learns it in that 40mins. He's always holding repeats as well if you're not happy with what you got that week.

Strong Life in Dublin

Volturnus wrote: »

You only do Java in first year sdev but they start from the very beginning so you shouldn't have a problem once you just pay attention. The Maths isn't hard, like 40% you can get from class tests, he does 12 tests(one every week for 4%) and you count your best 10. You spend like 40mins doing an example of what will be on the test and he'll explain something to you if you don't understand it & then he'll hand you the test for 10mins. Everyone pretty much just learns it in that 40mins. He's always holding repeats as well if you're not happy with what you got that week.

Thanks for the answer, is there just maths in the 1st semester?

Volturnus

Strong Life in Dublin wrote: »

Thanks for the answer, is there just maths in the 1st semester?

Yeah, you just do Discrete Maths 1 & then Statistics in semester 2 which is the same format as Discrete Maths.

Strong Life in Dublin

Volturnus wrote: »

Yeah, you just do Discrete Maths 1 & then Statistics in semester 2 which is the same format as Discrete Maths.

Oh cool. I'm excited about entering first year but just nervous I'll mess up or find the work too difficult haha

Volturnus

Strong Life in Dublin wrote: »

Oh cool. I'm excited about entering first year but just nervous I'll mess up or find the work too difficult haha

You'll be fine. Last year there was so many people at the beginning that there wasn't even enough seats. There was like 200 & now there is like 100-80. Most of those people just seemed like they weren't interested.

Strong Life in Dublin

Volturnus wrote: »

You'll be fine. Last year there was so many people at the beginning that there wasn't even enough seats. There was like 200 & now there is like 100-80. Most of those people just seemed like they weren't interested.

Yeah most people don't realise how difficult it is

DukeAwesome

I can't speak from experience as I'm starting this course this year too and I'm sure Voltrunus has done more than enough to calm any suspicions you had but just to add:

Based off talking to friends who are in the course and from tutors who I've talked to about it, they start from scratch. So if you even have the slightest bit of knowledge on the subject, you're already ahead. However, take note that apparently after year 2, there is a noticeable increase in difficulty. So even if year 1 turns out to be complete piss, make sure you're doing work outside of college but I'd say you already know this

And also that the drop out rate is high enough but that's apparently common with in computer courses. Everyone seems to be unaware with how maths heavy the course really is.

Best of luck anyway

CarlG

I'm going into 1st year of the bsc hons degree, does anyone know when the course usually starts?

DukeAwesome

CarlG wrote: »

I'm going into 1st year of the bsc hons degree, does anyone know when the course usually starts?

I think it started mid September last year, like on the 15th. So I'd imagine around that date for us.

CarlG

DukeAwesome wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

I'm going into 1st year of the bsc hons degree, does anyone know when the course usually starts?

I think it started mid September last year, like on the 15th. So I'd imagine around that date for us.

Oh cool, have you received a letter yet about registration?

DukeAwesome

CarlG wrote: »

Oh cool, have you received a letter yet about registration?

Nope, I'd say they'd be sent out after the round one acceptances closing date, which is tomorrow. So I would hope I'd get it in the next week, at least

Strong Life in Dublin

CarlG wrote: »

Oh cool, have you received a letter yet about registration?

I think they will email or send a letter this week

CarlG

DukeAwesome wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

Oh cool, have you received a letter yet about registration?

Nope, I'd say they'd be sent out after the round one acceptances closing date, which is tomorrow. So I would hope I'd get it in the next week, at least

Strong Life in Dublin wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

Oh cool, have you received a letter yet about registration?

I think they will email or send a letter this week

Awesome, is everyone excited about starting the course and do you guys have much experience with programming?

DukeAwesome

CarlG wrote: »

Awesome, is everyone excited about starting the course and do you guys have much experience with programming?

Super excited I did a level 5 computer programming PLC just this year so I have a bit of experience but nothing extreme. I have a basic grasp of C++ and Java when it comes to actual code. A lot of the stuff I learned in the PLC is apparently very similar to the content of the first year of this course, so that's nice to hear I guess :pac:

Still a lot to learn though, but I'm looking forward to that

CarlG

DukeAwesome wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

Awesome, is everyone excited about starting the course and do you guys have much experience with programming?

Super excited I did a level 5 computer programming PLC just this year so I have a bit of experience but nothing extreme. I have a basic grasp of C++ and Java when it comes to actual code. A lot of the stuff I learned in the PLC is apparently very similar to the content of the first year of this course, so that's nice to hear I guess :pac:

Still a lot to learn though, but I'm looking forward to that

Ah cool, I'm the same I just completed a PLC programming course so I have some experience with OOP.

But in saying that my experience is very limited, as we wrote basic programs for assignments.

gemin1

CarlG wrote: »

Awesome, is everyone excited about starting the course and do you guys have much experience with programming?

I'm going to be starting this course with a Lvl.5 Computer Networking Cert. I hope it's more or less the same with what I did last year in the PLC because I really enjoyed it Do you guys learn C or Java language mainly?

CarlG

gemin1 wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

Awesome, is everyone excited about starting the course and do you guys have much experience with programming?

I'm going to be starting this course with a Lvl.5 Computer Networking Cert. I hope it's more or less the same with what I did last year in the PLC because I really enjoyed it Do you guys learn C or Java language mainly?

We learned c++ and we also done a bit a Java in our computer architecture module

gemin1

CarlG wrote: »

We learned c++ and we also done a bit a Java in our computer architecture module

What do you think is the language we're going to be learning in this college?

DukeAwesome

gemin1 wrote: »

What do you think is the language we're going to be learning in this college?

Based off the content of the course shown here , it seems like it will primarily consist of C++ and Java with some HTML.

CarlG

gemin1 wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

We learned c++ and we also done a bit a Java in our computer architecture module

What do you think is the language we're going to be learning in this college?

I believe we will be learing Java in 1st and 2nd year. Then I think we will be doing c++ for 3rd and maybe 4th.

gemin1

Alright. Thanks a ton guys See yous in September!!

thedumbone

Ehm, finished first year computing and you have nothing to worry about even if you don't know what programming is. In 2 months you could learn everything we've covered during first year. But.. if you are still afraid, you can go through java basics course (eg thenewboston on youtube) and you'll be owning everyone. If you find any difficulties with java let me know

you'll also have some HTML, css, plenty of SQL and some assembly

DukeAwesome

thedumbone wrote: »

Ehm, finished first year computing and you have nothing to worry about even if you don't know what programming is. In 2 months you could learn everything we've covered during first year. But.. if you are still afraid, you can go through java basics course (eg thenewboston on youtube) and you'll be owning everyone. If you find any difficulties with java let me know

you'll also have some HTML, css, plenty of SQL and some assembly

Hey thanks for the info Do you know what year it is you can choose to what to specify in? Like software development , IT Management etc?#

And also, was there any mention of theory in year one?

thedumbone

DukeAwesome wrote: »

Hey thanks for the info Do you know what year it is you can choose to what to specify in? Like software development , IT Management etc?#

And also, was there any mention of theory in year one?

in second year, computing and IT management have the same classes for the first year then you make a decision.

There was a theory, java theory (eg what is a class, signature of method etc) which is fine, OS(Operating system) theory (eg what is stored in ROM, sequence of booting process etc) is boring and not that easy to remember and OOP(object oriented programming) is pretty easy as long as you follow the lectures.

DukeAwesome

thedumbone wrote: »

in second year, computing and IT management have the same classes for the first year then you make a decision.

There was a theory, java theory (eg what is a class, signature of method etc) which is fine, OS(Operating system) theory (eg what is stored in ROM, sequence of booting process etc) is boring and not that easy to remember and OOP(object oriented programming) is pretty easy as long as you follow the lectures.

Oh awesome, thanks! I'm actually fond of theory so it's good to hear that there's at least some.

What was the drop out rate like for your year? Apparently it's meant to be pretty bad.

CarlG

DukeAwesome wrote: »

thedumbone wrote: »

in second year, computing and IT management have the same classes for the first year then you make a decision.

There was a theory, java theory (eg what is a class, signature of method etc) which is fine, OS(Operating system) theory (eg what is stored in ROM, sequence of booting process etc) is boring and not that easy to remember and OOP(object oriented programming) is pretty easy as long as you follow the lectures.

Oh awesome, thanks! I'm actually fond of theory so it's good to hear that there's at least some.

What was the drop out rate like for your year? Apparently it's meant to be pretty bad.

I think most cs courses have a very high drop out rate, maybe about 20% of the class will drop out by the end of first semester

DukeAwesome

20%? Damn.

Does anyone know anyone who transferred to another college from this course?

thedumbone

DukeAwesome wrote: »

Oh awesome, thanks! I'm actually fond of theory so it's good to hear that there's at least some.

What was the drop out rate like for your year? Apparently it's meant to be pretty bad.

I have no idea but there was time when 40 students were sitting in a room and few months later there was only 10.

CarlG

thedumbone wrote: »

DukeAwesome wrote: »

Oh awesome, thanks! I'm actually fond of theory so it's good to hear that there's at least some.

What was the drop out rate like for your year? Apparently it's meant to be pretty bad.

I have no idea but there was time when 40 students were sitting in a room and few months later there was only 10.

That's crazy, do you think most people drop out because they fall behind early on

Volturnus

thedumbone wrote: »

I have no idea but there was time when 40 students were sitting in a room and few months later there was only 10.

That was like that in my class but it was mostly because people just didn't want to go to pointless lectures but at the tests there was a lot more.

DukeAwesome

Volturnus wrote: »

That was like that in my class but it was mostly because people just didn't want to go to pointless lectures but at the tests there was a lot more.

Which module consisted of the pointless lectures?

Volturnus

DukeAwesome wrote: »

Which module consisted of the pointless lectures?

The problem I had with a lot of the lectures were that a lot of them were unbelievably boring. The only lecture that I always went to was sdev & that was because I found it interesting, I also attended most of the Maths(you need to be there to take down notes) lectures & Operating Systems because again it was interesting. But you'll find out yourself that you don't need to attend the majority of the lectures because all they seem to do either talk about what you will do in the labs or stuff you can all learn a day before your exam. I didn't attend one Object Oriented & got a B+ by just revising a few hours before the exam to give you any indication, same with Databases.

DukeAwesome

Volturnus wrote: »

The problem I had with a lot of the lectures were that a lot of them were unbelievably boring. The only lecture that I always went to was sdev & that was because I found it interesting, I also attended most of the Maths(you need to be there to take down notes) lectures & Operating Systems because again it was interesting. But you'll find out yourself that you don't need to attend the majority of the lectures because all they seem to do either talk about what you will do in the labs or stuff you can all learn a day before your exam. I didn't attend one Object Oriented & got a B+ by just revising a few hours before the exam to give you any indication, same with Databases.

This sounds identical to what happened during my level 5 PLC. Then again, the first year is only level 6, so I doubt there'd be much of a difficulty spike.

Thanks for the replies man, much appreciated

CarlG

Volturnus wrote: »

The problem I had with a lot of the lectures were that a lot of them were unbelievably boring. The only lecture that I always went to was sdev & that was because I found it interesting, I also attended most of the Maths(you need to be there to take down notes) lectures & Operating Systems because again it was interesting. But you'll find out yourself that you don't need to attend the majority of the lectures because all they seem to do either talk about what you will do in the labs or stuff you can all learn a day before your exam. I didn't attend one Object Oriented & got a B+ by just revising a few hours before the exam to give you any indication, same with Databases.

What is the OOP exam like? Do you have to write programs on paper and define some OOP terms, for example define inheritance and Encapsulation.

Volturnus

CarlG wrote: »

What is the OOP exam like? Do you have to write programs on paper and define some OOP terms, for example define inheritance and Encapsulation.

We did that in the sdev exam we had for semester 2 and had to write about what it seemed like 40 setter & getter methods. In Object Oriented Systems Analysis we just had to do lots of diagrams of how you would design a class using inheritance with the superclass & stuff, very simple once you sit down & learn it.

CarlG

Volturnus wrote: »

CarlG wrote: »

What is the OOP exam like? Do you have to write programs on paper and define some OOP terms, for example define inheritance and Encapsulation.

We did that in the sdev exam we had for semester 2 and had to write about what it seemed like 40 setter & getter methods. In Object Oriented Systems Analysis we just had to do lots of diagrams of how you would design a class using inheritance with the superclass & stuff, very simple once you sit down & learn it.

Doesn't sound too bad, but I'm not sure what setter & getter methods are haha

LesVerts

Anyone know when we're supposed to pick the option?

Volturnus

LesVerts wrote: »

Anyone know when we're supposed to pick the option?

At the end of 1st year.

LesVerts

Volturnus wrote: »

At the end of 1st year.

I it not an new thing this year , where you pick at the start from Computing with Software, Computing with IT Management, Computing with Data Analytics or Computing with Languages.

Thats what it had on the CAO offer.

Volturnus

LesVerts wrote: »

I it not an new thing this year , where you pick at the start from Computing with Software, Computing with IT Management, Computing with Data Analytics or Computing with Languages.

Thats what it had on the CAO offer.

Maybe. I'm not too sure about this year, just what I had to do last year.