SF Computer Science (BA mod) subject changes

Yook

As most of you know who are on our class list, i've sent around an e-mail about subject changes. Anyone have any views?

Dest

yeah im a bit disappointed to see that we wont be doing Digital Electronics or the Programming Project. Would have been nice to use all the information i crammed for DLD :P Once i actually got to grips with it i found it quite interesting. although im sure that will be covered in the other courses to some extent. As for the programming project i think it would have been pretty cool to come away from the year with a solid (possibly even usefull) program to show for our efforts. A pity methinks.

Owen McNally (for people that dont know)

regi

DLD was fun, when I did SF CS. Did they take out the hideous 2ba5's subject? That was one of the final straws for me.

Crash

as i said in the email - it isnt that the course is being changed, its that the course has changed. the last SF class was doing BA CS course, with a ICT course alongside it. ours is BA CS(merged), which means they're kinda revamping it as it goes along. I'm non too happy being the first year to go through the new course, as i dont wanna have to deal with hiccups etc. - and i am vaguely missing the idea of the programming project - though i have a feeling there might be a large significant project probably tied in with programming techniques or somesuch.

Thing that pisses me off mainly is that i've been checking the CS site quite regularly to see if they're going to put up any information at all about the courses we'll be doing, and theres nothing yet. such a Lazy department :rolleyes:

not exactly looking forward to having to do that next year, and the year after.

Boston

Cs department doesn't even have a site for computer engineering. When I pointed thsi out to some department heads they where abit shocked.

Yook

e-mail from Michael Doyle to class list:

Just thought I'd give my two cents on this matter.

Even before we began the JF year I was worried that something like this was
going to happen. My fears escalated when I discovered that a lot of the
electrotech course had been substituted with a much easier Telcoms module. That
coupled with the absence of ASL in DLD really indicated something was up.

Somebody said that this really was the course we signed up for. The course
content information pages have not been updated for quite a while and have
indicated otherwise until very recently. I really think that these alterations
should have been advertised a lot better. In fact, I feel this is negligence on
the part of the department.

The inclusion of yet another Telcomms course, and the ommission of a large
Programming Project and Digital Electronics particularly angers me. Hopefully
others are less disgruntled than I am.

We signed up for a Computer Science course. There is a profound distinction
between CS and IT type courses in terms of the philosophy and aims of each. Yet
I feel the course is declining in to something that can only be described as the
latter.I don't mean to put ICT folk down, I'm just saying that we didn't sign up
for ICT.

My theory is that this is being done to more suit the skills that are required
in the Irish workforce at the moment. However, this is not necessarily true in
other nations. Irish universities are struggling to keep up with foreign
universities in terms of quality of graduates and graduate courses. On the
international stage, we're losing out here. Its quite ironic actually, because
we have been recently offered places in foreign language courses.

Dumbing down is a scourge that can only be bad for us in the long run.
Unfortunatley, its widespread these days (Leaving Cert, A-levels in Britain
etc). I'd love to here a few more points of view on this.

Thanks

Michael

Yook

e-mail from Eoin Cunneen to class list:

While Im cheesed tha stnadard of the degree may be diminishing, its still at a
high enough standard that warrants a creditation from the Irish Engineers
something or other.

We will still have an honours degree at the end of our 4 years here (which'll
have the Trinity emblem on it) so I dont think we're going to have problems.

The thing that does botherr me is that if you look at the points for the course
over the ast years its has plummeted from 480 to 350 in half a decade...maybe
that has something to do with the astronomical drop out rate of the course.

All in all, I dont think there is need to get too worried about the changes
overall to be honest! Sure the telecomms might be easier than electrotech but
has anyone thought about the the fact that its MORE CENTRAL to computing that
electrotech and therefore more appropriate to study it??

eoghan

Chardee MacDennis

well as an JS ICT i am not very happy while it doesnt affect me at the moment i have repeats next month and if i fail i will have to study a completely different(and harder) course which is very annoying.

Crash

no you wont - if its entry to fourth year it wont affect you at all.

the course is currently 1st and 2nd year only.

rsynnott

What, they pulled DLD? I can't help being very glad that I entered the year I did (going into JS this year). I don't like the sound of this new course...

Crash

The new course for first year is the same except with ASL lacking in DLD and with half of eletrotech becoming telecoms.

second year course changes are, from what i can tell, as follows (correct me if my assumptions are wrong here btw )

Programming Project dropped.

Computers and Society dropped (i think) and replaced with compulsory Broad Curriculum/language option(? still not too sure what exactly they're doing there, thats really really odd)

2ba1 mathematics unchanged.

Programming techniques unchanged.

Systems programming unchanged.

Computer Architecture 1 -> microprocessor systems for semester 1, Computer Architecture for semester 2 (wondering about the details of this, but cant find more info)

Digital Electronics dropped in favour Telecoms and Information Management.



https://www.cs.tcd.ie/courses/ba/StructureAndContent.php <---seems to be the current layout of the new course (i think).

update on computers and society:

• Broad Curriculum To broaden the experience of students, a course must be taken from a different discipline during the Senior Freshman (2nd) year. This course can be a language module which will assist those students who wish to spend the third year studying abroad, or can be from a wide range of other subjects.
  

now this doesnt bother me at all, seeing as i was gonna be doing a BC course anyhow, but thats the one change that i find very odd overall.

rsynnott

Ooh, weird. No, don't like the look of the new one. It seems to have become more practical get-you-a-job and less interesting theoretical things.

nut

Would agree with Neil on the use of the words "dumbing down". *Hopefully* these new changes wont effect the value of the course, and some of the new stuff might even add to it.
Still, it would of been nice of them to let us know about computers and society, so we can apply for the broad cirriculm thingy (does anyone know when applications have to be in for?, just found out BC is compulsory about an hr ago!) Ok, I didnt like computers + society much, but I have very little interest in ANY of the BC cources on offer, plus I suck at languages.

The only thing that I'd miss a lot would be the programming project, I was actually looking forward to it, and it would of been a great thing to do. I can see no reason for getting rid of it, other than lazyness.

Regarding what Colin was saying about hardware/software, I would think we have a good mix, I came into the course wanting to do software, but after computing have started looking at hardwere and would like to keep my options open.

Just out of intrest, what BC courses are ppl going for?

Crash

I'd already signed up for BC Film: the history, context and detail before hearing that we had to

Dest

probly gona do the psychology one myself. is it definately compulsary or what?

Crash

*shrug* anyone wanna put together an email and ask?

Dermo

Neil, I was talking to Hugh Gibbons the other day and he says he only has 1 semester of teaching you Eiffel this year, with the second half of the year taken up by advanced Java or something.
That's what he thinks anyway

rsynnott

I'd just like to draw peoples' attentions to this:
http://www.bazza.com/sj/QotW/archive/

In particular, see Hugh Gibbons' and Mícheal Mac an Airchinnighs' quotes.

Crash

Is Hugh Gibbons the one who came out to Bruxxies that night dermo?

rsynnott

Almost certainly.

Chardee MacDennis

i beg to differ crash, i know someone who repeated 2nd year and the course was completly different, and this years 3rd year will be different if i have to repeat.

Yook

Dermo wrote:

Neil, I was talking to Hugh Gibbons the other day and he says he only has 1 semester of teaching you Eiffel this year, with the second half of the year taken up by advanced Java or something.
That's what he thinks anyway

Yea, i've heard stuff about this aswell. It's kinda a worst case senario for me, i realy REALY ****ing hate java.

C'mon Neil, this has to be enough to piss you off (well I know you're pissed about the programming project), but it has to be enough for you to want to take action.

Nietzschean

Yook wrote:

i realy REALY ****ing hate java.

good man.

Crash

Since when did this come a personal battle against neil? If you want to take action, go ahead, or if the general consensus is to take action(though what in the name of **** that'll achieve i'll be intrigued to see) then i'll go along with it - but, and this is just me, now this may sound crazy.....

i'd actually like to hear something like that confirmed by the department before it take action. the grapevine doesnt have the best ears.

Ron DMC

Will this affect me in any way, shape or form?

Dermo

crash_000 wrote:

Is Hugh Gibbons the one who came out to Bruxxies that night dermo?

no no, that was David Gregg

Chardee MacDennis

ah the legend that is david gregg!!! bueller bueller bueller...