Engineering in TCD

brownacid · 26-08-2010 12:12PM

The 5 year degree incorporates a masters into the programme as Engineers Ireland from next year will not allow graduates without a masters t be chartered.

Jonathan · 26-08-2010 12:32PM

brownacid wrote: »

The 5 year degree incorporates a masters into the programme as Engineers Ireland from next year will not allow graduates without a masters t be chartered.

If you do not have a masters, you can still become chartered by completing additional CPD.

gearoidof · 26-08-2010 02:26PM

This is a tl;dr, sorry in advance

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

I've been thinking for awhile that I'll do the Computer Science degree, but then I thought employers would think it's better to have a "Computer Engineering" degree as opposed to "Computer Science". Engineer just sounds better, more intelligent and more prestigious.
Also, I know I shouldn't take points into account but the Computer Science degree is only around 350 points and I'm hoping to get over 500 and I feel it's a bit of a waste.

University isn't just about getting a good job, you're always better off doing what interests you. And on the points thing, CS is 350 because the course didn't fill. Of more interest is the average points of students enrolled, which is at 430 for CS and 480 for engineering. In CS, I think, people who go in thinking it's an easy course because it's only 350 points get a nasty surprise.

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

My only problems with the Engineering degree are:
- I was reading on the Trinity website that it's changed to 5 years now to get an Engineering Degree? Is that for all aspects of Engineering or just some of them? If so it would mean an extra year compared to CS. And then if I wanted a Master's.. How long would it take?

What acually has happened is that to become a CPD engineer, you have to do a Masters. So basically TCD engineering have incorporated this, and strongly encourage students to do a 1 year masters immediately afer graduating.

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

- I don't do Physics or Applied Maths so I'm afraid I wouldn't be able for general engineering.
- I do Technology and find Electronics a bit hard to understand as well.

In 1st and 2nd year, Engineers do an omnibus course. 10% of the course is CS and electrical, 20% mechanical and civil, %20 maths, and 20% "engineering stuff". (These are very rough figures). If you don't like electronics, and you don't like physics, are you sure you want to do Engineering?
That said, Physics isn't a prerequisite for Engineering. The main thing is to be good at maths, and they teach Physics and Chemistry in 1st year. People who haven't done Phys/Chem in the LC will find those courses difficult, but that just means putting a bit more work into them.

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

- I'm worried I wouldn't be taught as much detail in Computer Engineering because there's less time to cover it compared to CS.

Engineers don't get taught as much detail as CS. But we have a broader education, which means that we can use experience from other fields to solve problems!

AnneElizabeth · 26-08-2010 10:36PM

Thanks! I do Honors Maths and Chemistry, I always liked Chemistry a bit more than Physics and was limited with my options, that's why I didn't pick Physics. My brother is very good at it though so I regret not doing it..

gearoidof wrote: »

University isn't just about getting a good job, you're always better off doing what interests you. And on the points thing, CS is 350 because the course didn't fill. Of more interest is the average points of students enrolled, which is at 430 for CS and 480 for engineering. In CS, I think, people who go in thinking it's an easy course because it's only 350 points get a nasty surprise.

I don't expect it to be easy, but at the same time, you get a title with doing an Engineering Degree.. Like you're officially an Engineer. Are there any other bonuses of doing an Engineering Degree over a CS Degree?

Engineers don't get taught as much detail as CS. But we have a broader education, which means that we can use experience from other fields to solve problems!

That's good if I decide I don't like computers (I don't actually know too much about programming). But bad if I do really like it and hate the other stuff.

So how long would it take me in total to complete the Engineering Degree?
I assume CS is 4 Years, and then can you can do a 1 year Masters?

gearoidof · 27-08-2010 12:09AM

Engineering and CS are both 4 year courses.

However, Engineers are strongly encouraged to do a 1 masters straight after graduating, as Engineers without masters are under qualified these days.

On getting an engineering title, consider that if you don't like it, you won't work as hard at it. So is a 2.1. Engineer better than a 1st CS?

Anyway, if you're not sure if you'd like to do CS, then you have a bit of a get out clause in Engineering.

AnneElizabeth · 27-08-2010 05:50PM

Thanks for all the help. I'm still unsure of which I'll pick. I was planning on doing a Master's in CS, if it's possible(?), so the courses are the same length then, least that's one less thing to worry about.

Jonathan · 27-08-2010 06:08PM

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

Thanks for all the help. I'm still unsure of which I'll pick. I was planning on doing a Master's in CS, if it's possible(?), so the courses are the same length then, least that's one less thing to worry about.

Out of interest, what do you think computer engineering involves? Many people get a shock when the enter because it is totally different to what they believed it to be.

AnneElizabeth · 28-08-2010 01:46AM

Jonathan wrote: »

Out of interest, what do you think computer engineering involves? Many people get a shock when the enter because it is totally different to what they believed it to be.

Haha this is where I will make a fool of myself. Anyone want to explain properly?
I've read through everything on Qualifax in the TCD and UCD Computer Science, as well as read about it on Career Directions, been to a course on basic introduction in computer science, done a Mock Interview on CS, and I still don't fully know :P

The basics is learning Programming and Languages I think? Which involves Maths and Algorithms, I know you do Maths classes in CS.
Then there's smaller things like Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (not sure if they're the same thing xD), Virtual, Hardware stuff and maybe some stuff on Holograms and Graphics? And there's other stuff but I can't think of any.

Is that basically it or am I way off?

EDIT: Just realized you said Computer ENGINEERING, Not Computer Science. Haven't looked up much on Computer Engineering. I assume it's more hardware based but pretty much the same thing..? Care to fill me in? xD

awja · 02-09-2010 12:50PM

I'm in 6th year and am interested in computers. I've been thinking for awhile that I'll do the Computer Science degree, but then I thought employers would think it's better to have a "Computer Engineering" degree as opposed to "Computer Science". Engineer just sounds better, more intelligent and more prestigious.

Hahahah. Ahem! As someone nearly finished their CS degree, I feel obliged to reply to this. You actually have it backwards! While not dissing Engies (they just have a different focus than us) CS is leagues beyond CEng. In CS you'll be learning lots of different programming languages, building computers from the ground up (From actually putting resistors on circuit boards to writing the operating system for your computer), and taking maths and algorithms classes. In third year you get to pick two of your classes yourself, and in fourth year you get to pick three. On the employment front, I've been employed several times in the CS industry before even leaving college, so that speaks for itself. If you just want a job doing hardware stuff, then Ceng. might be better, but if you want a software job, you just won't know enough for the majority of places. It's really not about what "sounds good". Employers in the field know what different degrees are like and will hire people accordingly. If you actually look at the list of courses accredited by the IEI, you'll see that CS in Trinity is one of them! This means that after your CS degree you're also an accredited engineer.

Also, I know I shouldn't take points into account but the Computer Science degree is only around 350 points and I'm hoping to get over 500 and I feel it's a bit of a waste.

This is actually very weird. I can assure you that CS is not for people who manage to scrape the 350 points, unless they were just lazy or happen to be geniuses. It's a hard course, with a big failure rate.

My only problems with the Engineering degree are:
- I was reading on the Trinity website that it's changed to 5 years now to get an Engineering Degree? Is that for all aspects of Engineering or just some of them? If so it would mean an extra year compared to CS. And then if I wanted a Master's.. How long would it take?
- I don't do Physics or Applied Maths so I'm afraid I wouldn't be able for general engineering.

You won't be able to escape physics in any degree like this, I'm afraid. Even pure CS has a physics course in first year, you need to know it to understand how computers work. Don't worry, it's not terrible!

- I do Technology and find Electronics a bit hard to understand as well.
- I'm worried I wouldn't be taught as much detail in Computer Engineering because there's less time to cover it compared to CS.

I wouldn't worry about finding electronics hard to understand. Everybody finds electronics the hardest thing initially. However, in first year in Trinity CS you'll have one of the best introductory hardware courses in the country, IMHO, and after that it usually just "clicks" for most people.

Sorry for the massive post! Any questions to ask a CS student?

AnneElizabeth · 02-09-2010 11:41PM

awja wrote: »

Hahahah. Ahem! As someone nearly finished their CS degree, I feel obliged to reply to this. You actually have it backwards! While not dissing Engies (they just have a different focus than us) CS is leagues beyond CEng. In CS you'll be learning lots of different programming languages, building computers from the ground up (From actually putting resistors on circuit boards to writing the operating system for your computer), and taking maths and algorithms classes. In third year you get to pick two of your classes yourself, and in fourth year you get to pick three. On the employment front, I've been employed several times in the CS industry before even leaving college, so that speaks for itself. If you just want a job doing hardware stuff, then Ceng. might be better, but if you want a software job, you just won't know enough for the majority of places. It's really not about what "sounds good". Employers in the field know what different degrees are like and will hire people accordingly. If you actually look at the list of courses accredited by the IEI, you'll see that CS in Trinity is one of them! This means that after your CS degree you're also an accredited engineer.

This is actually very weird. I can assure you that CS is not for people who manage to scrape the 350 points, unless they were just lazy or happen to be geniuses. It's a hard course, with a big failure rate.

You won't be able to escape physics in any degree like this, I'm afraid. Even pure CS has a physics course in first year, you need to know it to understand how computers work. Don't worry, it's not terrible!

I wouldn't worry about finding electronics hard to understand. Everybody finds electronics the hardest thing initially. However, in first year in Trinity CS you'll have one of the best introductory hardware courses in the country, IMHO, and after that it usually just "clicks" for most people.

Sorry for the massive post! Any questions to ask a CS student?

Thanks that was really really helpful!!

Still worried about the Physics though, I don't want to try and take it up for 6th Year though cause I have enough work with 7 other subjects.

Oh and seeing as there's a high drop-out rate, what are the reasons for the drop-outs? Like would it be people like me, who didn't do the right LC subjects and can't pick it up who drop out?
I don't think I'd drop out, but you've kinda scared me, I don't know if I'll be able for it now :pac:

Any suggestions for stuff I should do/learn before I start the course?

awja · 04-09-2010 01:55PM

Oh, sorry, looks like I made a mess of explaining the physics thing! When I said you wouldn't be able to escape physics, I meant you won't be able to escape being taught it! There's a physics class in first year CS that'll bring you up to speed. Just from my own experience, I'd say at least half of my year haven't done physics for the LC. If a LC class is really important for a course, it'll be a requirement, and the only CS requirement is a C3 or better in higher level maths. If you do physics for the LC you definitely have a slight advantage, but the only physics you need for CS is electrical physics. If you're a really motivated student, you could read up on basic electrical physics the summer before college. I think it's only one question on the LC paper :P

With regard to dropping out, I don't think I know anyone who dropped out because they hadn't done the right combo for the Leaving. As long as you have higher level maths you're pretty well sorted. There seem to be a good few people with no idea at all of what'll be going on in the course, and they get a bit spooked by the learning curve.

If you really want to be well prepared, you could read this or any similar books you can find. Basically though, if you know what programming is, you'll have the jump on about half your class :P

The first year CS course does a decent job of introducing people to the field, and even parts of second year are still introductory, so I wouldn't worry about not being able to handle it until you try it out. Worst case, you can probably switch into an Engineering course, I know some people who've switched into CS from Engineering and vice versa too.

Something to think about if you're more mathematically oriented, and something I didn't know until I was well past halfway through my degree is that if you do Maths in Trinity, you're allowed to choose CS subjects as your options in third and fourth year, which is cool.

AnneElizabeth · 04-09-2010 02:59PM

awja wrote: »

Oh, sorry, looks like I made a mess of explaining the physics thing! When I said you wouldn't be able to escape physics, I meant you won't be able to escape being taught it! There's a physics class in first year CS that'll bring you up to speed. Just from my own experience, I'd say at least half of my year haven't done physics for the LC. If a LC class is really important for a course, it'll be a requirement, and the only CS requirement is a C3 or better in higher level maths. If you do physics for the LC you definitely have a slight advantage, but the only physics you need for CS is electrical physics. If you're a really motivated student, you could read up on basic electrical physics the summer before college. I think it's only one question on the LC paper :P

With regard to dropping out, I don't think I know anyone who dropped out because they hadn't done the right combo for the Leaving. As long as you have higher level maths you're pretty well sorted. There seem to be a good few people with no idea at all of what'll be going on in the course, and they get a bit spooked by the learning curve.

If you really want to be well prepared, you could read this or any similar books you can find. Basically though, if you know what programming is, you'll have the jump on about half your class :P

The first year CS course does a decent job of introducing people to the field, and even parts of second year are still introductory, so I wouldn't worry about not being able to handle it until you try it out. Worst case, you can probably switch into an Engineering course, I know some people who've switched into CS from Engineering and vice versa too.

Something to think about if you're more mathematically oriented, and something I didn't know until I was well past halfway through my degree is that if you do Maths in Trinity, you're allowed to choose CS subjects as your options in third and fourth year, which is cool.

Thanks

Yeah I plan to read up about the Physics over summer (I hope). There are some small watered-down aspects of Physics in Technology I think, so at least I have something. So is there no other aspects of Physics in CS besides Electrical?

I still don't get how people dropped out though, because surely they'd have looked into it a little bit? What's the big shock they get? Like everyone who does it has done HL maths, so they're far from idiots..

With regards maths, I was always good at maths and enjoyed it, but I'm finding LC Honours Maths a bit difficult (not so bad that I'd need to go to Pass) but at the same time, I don't think I'd be able for a Maths degree, especially seeing as I only do maths and no other maths-orientated subjects like Physics or Applied Maths. Thanks for the info though.

awja · 04-09-2010 03:16PM

To be honest, LC maths does a terrible job of preparing you for any seriously mathematical course. In particular, different branches of logic are a massive component of CS/Maths that's just ignored on the Leaving Cert. I wouldn't say it's more difficult than LC maths, but it is quite different, and that throws some people off. In first year in Engineering or CS, there's usually a class where you just go back over leaving cert stuff relearning it properly

AnneElizabeth · 04-09-2010 10:42PM

Thanks again ^^
I have another question: For CS: PC or Mac? I've always had PC's but I wonder if I'd need a better machine seeing as my whole course is centred around computers.
(I won't be buying until next summer if I do need a new one, the laptop I have at the moment is pretty decent though).

Groinshot · 04-09-2010 10:53PM

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

Thanks again ^^
I have another question: For CS: PC or Mac? I've always had PC's but I wonder if I'd need a better machine seeing as my whole course is centred around computers.
(I won't be buying until next summer if I do need a new one, the laptop I have at the moment is pretty decent though).

doesn't matter, it's preference really. macs have a nice text editor (smultron) but so do PC's (newest version of wordpad is lubly)
you won't need anything more powerful than what you use to surf the net on, and if youi do, there's computers in college with the software you need on it.

kthnxbai · 05-09-2010 12:45AM

If you do CD/D stream in TCD you'll get a free lappy...

We got 13" macbook pros...

You don't need to worry at all about getting a powerful machine...You don't even really need one as you don't do a whole lot of coding or any substantial CStype projects ... well, not till you get to third year anywhoo...

I'm just headed into 4th year computer engineering and I'd really recommend it...

Sure, we cover a little less than the CS guys, but we actually shared a couple classes.. and imo, the broader knowledge you get from engineering is better... you're taught better skills... like, once you know how to code you can always learn a new language or new algorithms...

@awja

there's really not that huge of a difference between the CEng and CS... we build comps from the ground up putting resistors on the board too y'know... and we did it in 5 weeks as opposed to your 12....

I'd say eng would have a harder maths course... now maybe I'm wrong... but it's just that even in third year, the different engie streams share maths, so you'll be doing some stuff not entirely relevant to computers but it's not that bad...

I know a couple lads in CS and from what I've seen, they seem to have a higher work load... but less hours in lectures...

As for doing a CS masters, so long as you get good results, they'll take a engie as quick as a CS... at least this is what I tell myself as I'm hoping to get one myself...

AnneElizabeth · 05-09-2010 12:53AM

kthnxbai wrote: »

If you do CD/D stream in TCD you'll get a free lappy...

We got 13" macbook pros...

You don't need to worry at all about getting a powerful machine...You don't even really need one as you don't do a whole lot of coding or any substantial CStype projects ... well, not till you get to third year anywhoo...

I'm just headed into 4th year computer engineering and I'd really recommend it...

Sure, we cover a little less than the CS guys, but we actually shared a couple classes.. and imo, the broader knowledge you get from engineering is better... you're taught better skills... like, once you know how to code you can always learn a new language or new algorithms...

What's CD/D stream? I want a free Macbook!

...Ah just when I had decided on CS someone recommends Engineering again :pac: This is so confusing! But don't you really need Physics for Engineering?

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 01:06AM

your LC courses really don't matter for computers all that much. Hons maths is about all that you really need, mostly from an aptitude POV than any course content.

You could always of course do mathematics, way more career options at the end than either comp eng or comp sci

At the end of the day in my experience if you want to get a good job in computer's developing software of any sort do CS. I know good comp eng's, but generally CS people have an easier ride into good jobs than they do.

While as pointed out once you know the skills to learn languages and algorithms in computers you can pick up any really, CS is directed preparation at this. And doing a masters isn't nearly as required for a decent job as comp eng. (Having an awesome final year project can be emensely important though, along with doing internships in your summers instead of being a bum)

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 01:12AM

Groinshot wrote: »

doesn't matter, it's preference really. macs have a nice text editor (smultron) but so do PC's (newest version of wordpad is lubly)

For the record, the new version of wordpad is an abomination, if you want to use a plain text editor on windows the 3rd party free Notepad++, TextPad or Sublime are much much better.

H/w in a laptop won't matter a lot, not that you'd be doing serious dev early in a degree but for any serious level of C++ programming the nicest IDE has to be visual studio 2008 (2010 is still kinda pants slow) + visual assist which is obviously windows only.

kthnxbai · 05-09-2010 01:12AM

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

What's CD/D stream? I want a free Macbook!

...Ah just when I had decided on CS someone recommends Engineering again :pac: This is so confusing! But don't you really need Physics for Engineering?

CD is a mix of computer engineering and electronic engineering... so you get to choose certain subjects.. so if you find you're better at elec, you can lean towards that..
D is straight computer engineering... we have a tiiiiny class... we don't get a choice in subjects... We do some of the same subjects as the CS guys in 3rd and 4th year...
you pick your engineering stream at the end of second year... there's also A - civil - and B - mech

eh, I dunno... like, 1st year courses pretty much cover everything you need...

Lots of people don't have physics... it'd be a help alright, but if you're mathematically minded, it shouldn't be a problem...

Honestly, I prefer engineering... I would say we do a LOT more maths... well at least more varied, and from what I can see, we do electronics from a different perspective... but engineering gives you more options... and I don't mean just in the course... but when you've got your degree, you can do more with it... I know that I thought I would've wanted to do electronic when i was just going into 1st year, and I bloody hate the stuff... When you're actually studying it, it's a lot different to what's in the course descriptions

If you really want to do engineering, not having physics shouldn't be a problem... you're obviously a smart girl if you're aiming over the 500 mark...
The physics that we do it not all that complicated at all

It depends why you think you'd prefer CS over Engineering?

As regards final year projects, I get to pick from the same ones as the CS guys, so I don't think that really matters...

kthnxbai · 05-09-2010 01:21AM

also.... eclipse > visual studio anyday

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 01:35AM

kthnxbai wrote: »

CD is a mix of computer engineering and electronic engineering... so you get to choose certain subjects.. so if you find you're better at elec, you can lean towards that..

You can lean towards electronics subjects in CS also, and do a masters in it if needed. Your basically 2 years behind CS by the time you guy's specialise. The computers courses you do in 1st and 2nd year are not exactly advanced, and only a fraction of the course. Back in my day(woot i'm old i can say stuff like that), the motorola 6800 assembly was done by CS in first year and comp eng in 3rd year. Thats a large gap to just ignore, multi-threading was only introduced in 3rd year also.

but engineering gives you more options... and I don't mean just in the course... but when you've got your degree, you can do more with it

If she wants more options outside computers then she should really do something like Maths.

Options really don't matter all that much tbh, you can do a masters to re-specialise in somewhat related areas easily enough. Unless you have some strong interest in elec eng the extra options don't seem all that useful upfront...

... I know that I thought I would've wanted to do electronic when i was just going into 1st year, and I bloody hate the stuff... When you're actually studying it, it's a lot different to what's in the course descriptions

Its also worth baring in mind that unless things have changed in tcd you can change courses up to xmas in 1st year if you have the points and there's space. Don't know if the semesterisation is wrecked that though...

As regards final year projects, I get to pick from the same ones as the CS guys, so I don't think that really matters...

Ah, thats changed since my time. Though 2 years down of relevant internships and contacts building imo is still a big deal. I know of several students who had themselves jobs ensured by the end of summer of 2nd year in good tech companies.

kthnxbai wrote: »

also.... eclipse > visual studio anyday

Ha. No. Eclipse is terrible, the only corporation i know who use it heavily are IBM themselves. Then you've the java users. But beyond that VS is king in industry for win32 C++/C/C#...

AnneElizabeth · 05-09-2010 01:38AM

kthnxbai wrote: »

CD is a mix of computer engineering and electronic engineering... so you get to choose certain subjects.. so if you find you're better at elec, you can lean towards that..
D is straight computer engineering... we have a tiiiiny class... we don't get a choice in subjects... We do some of the same subjects as the CS guys in 3rd and 4th year...
you pick your engineering stream at the end of second year... there's also A - civil - and B - mech

eh, I dunno... like, 1st year courses pretty much cover everything you need...

Lots of people don't have physics... it'd be a help alright, but if you're mathematically minded, it shouldn't be a problem...

Honestly, I prefer engineering... I would say we do a LOT more maths... well at least more varied, and from what I can see, we do electronics from a different perspective... but engineering gives you more options... and I don't mean just in the course... but when you've got your degree, you can do more with it... I know that I thought I would've wanted to do electronic when i was just going into 1st year, and I bloody hate the stuff... When you're actually studying it, it's a lot different to what's in the course descriptions

If you really want to do engineering, not having physics shouldn't be a problem... you're obviously a smart girl if you're aiming over the 500 mark...
The physics that we do it not all that complicated at all

It depends why you think you'd prefer CS over Engineering?

As regards final year projects, I get to pick from the same ones as the CS guys, so I don't think that really matters...

Thanks but now I am totally unsure of which course to pick :pac:

I like computers and want to know how they work and learn programming. But I don't know too much about other aspects of engineering, so maybe I would like it better..

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 01:41AM

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

T
I like computers and want to know how they work and learn programming. But I don't know too much about other aspects of engineering, so maybe I would like it better..

I'd learn some programming before you start so

There are some easier languages that a few online tutorials and a day playing around at home will get you going on. Lua i guess would be a pretty good place to start, small language, can get going pretty fast too.

AnneElizabeth · 05-09-2010 01:51AM

Nietzschean wrote: »

I'd learn some programming before you start so There are some easier languages that a few online tutorials and a day playing around at home will get you going on. Lua i guess would be a pretty good place to start, small language, can get going pretty fast too.

Thanks, I've never even heard of that language before!
I don't think I'll start learning programmes until after LC though because I have enough work as it is :P

Jonathan · 05-09-2010 01:56AM

Nietzschean wrote: »

I'd learn some programming before you start so There are some easier languages that a few online tutorials and a day playing around at home will get you going on. Lua i guess would be a pretty good place to start, small language, can get going pretty fast too.

Before you even go near any programming language, you are going to need to know the primitives.

kthnxbai · 05-09-2010 01:57AM

Nietzschean wrote: »

You can lean towards electronics subjects in CS also, and do a masters in it if needed. Your basically 2 years behind CS by the time you guy's specialise. The computers courses you do in 1st and 2nd year are not exactly advanced, and only a fraction of the course. Back in my day(woot i'm old i can say stuff like that), the motorola 6800 assembly was done by CS in first year and comp eng in 3rd year. Thats a large gap to just ignore, multi-threading was only introduced in 3rd year also.

If she wants more options outside computers then she should really do something like Maths.

Options really don't matter all that much tbh, you can do a masters to re-specialise in somewhat related areas easily enough. Unless you have some strong interest in elec eng the extra options don't seem all that useful upfront...

Its also worth baring in mind that unless things have changed in tcd you can change courses up to xmas in 1st year if you have the points and there's space. Don't know if the semesterisation is wrecked that though...

Ah, thats changed since my time. Though 2 years down of relevant internships and contacts building imo is still a big deal. I know of several students who had themselves jobs ensured by the end of summer of 2nd year in good tech companies.

Ha. No. Eclipse is terrible, the only corporation i know who use it heavily are IBM themselves. Then you've the java users. But beyond that VS is king in industry for win32 C++/C/C#...

C++ plugins man...

and the 68k is done in 2nd year CS now... we still do it in 3rd...

the engineering course has been changed a lot over the past 5 or so years afaik

Though I'll completely admit, most of my courses in the first two years seemed a lil useless, but I still reckon by the time we finish we're not hugely behind the CS guys at all tbh

If you think you won't like the other aspects of engineering, then go for CS, I just know that personally, I liked the fact that I had the choice of different streams... a lot of people find that they don't like doing a lot of coding and I think eng has a better balance between hardware and software

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 01:57AM

AnneElizabeth wrote: »

Thanks, I've never even heard of that language before!
I don't think I'll start learning programmes until after LC though because I have enough work as it is :P

I'd waste the day playing with a language as a better way to spend your time than any open day. You'll quickly discover if you dislike the whole thing.

That said you are right, once you have the points, its pretty much all gravy, worst case scenario you hate your degree course picked and have to repeat first year. Can be costly, but realistically not that big a deal in the long run.

Nietzschean · 05-09-2010 02:11AM

kthnxbai wrote: »

C++ plugins man...

I have used them, and other IDE's, all fall quite far behind VS imo. Though VS really needs the visual assist plugin...

Though I'll completely admit, most of my courses in the first two years seemed a lil useless, but I still reckon by the time we finish we're not hugely behind the CS guys at all tbh

The cream of comp eng will get up high enough against the CSers maybe now(they didn't back then). But take the cream from both and its still 4 Vs 2 years, can't possibly be on par.

If you think you won't like the other aspects of engineering, then go for CS, I just know that personally, I liked the fact that I had the choice of different streams... a lot of people find that they don't like doing a lot of coding and I think eng has a better balance between hardware and software

I'd somewhat agree with that bit, if you want to do software development/engineering do CS. If hardware is in your mind its a lot more murky...

bradyle · 05-09-2010 03:50PM

hey i am just bout to go into to 4th year eng in tcd, and unlike most here i choose mech. i just wanted to say on the whole physics front dont worry bout it, i didnt do it for my leavin and despite my best intentions of studyin before gettin to college i was lazy and didnt and i still have managed to make it through three years. once you're the right way inclined its not that bad...so dont let that bias you against engineering...and if worse comes to worse i have physics for dummies ill lend it to ya

also just to say when i started in 1st year i thought i was gonna do civil, end of second when we had to choose you couldn't have gotten me to do that course if my life depended on it. things change and when it comes down to it eng give u more time to decide what to do with yourself...leavin cert is ridiculously early time to decide what to do with your life.

i dont know much bout cs so not going to make any judgments on that course,

except to say engineers are way cooler than computer scientists

also visual studios sucked...its what made me hate computer programming

Engineering in TCD

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