Worried about CS at tuks

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RagingGrim

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Hi there!

I was just randomly browsing the different academic programs at tuks when
I came across a thread which made me shudder :/ I'll be starting bsc
computer science this year ( tomorrow ) and I'm worried that I don't
have enough expierence in programming and lord knows that math is terrifying.

I got a distinction for IT in school though and math wasn't very far behind
so it's not like I'm behind in those areas considering the norm ( hopefully ).

Besides the delphi that we did in school I'm also comfortable with C and
x86 assembly. I can do c++ , c# and python with some confidence and platforms
aren't an issue at all ^^

Is there anybody here who's already did the course and could maybe recommend
some books or look at my github page and see if my code is good enough or lacking ? :/

This is my page
https://github.com/RagingGrim
 
RagingGrim said:
Hi there!

I was just randomly browsing the different academic programs at tuks when
I came across a thread which made me shudder :/ I'll be starting bsc
computer science this year ( tomorrow ) and I'm worried that I don't
have enough expierence in programming and lord knows that math is terrifying.

I got a distinction for IT in school though and math wasn't very far behind
so it's not like I'm behind in those areas considering the norm ( hopefully ).

Besides the delphi that we did in school I'm also comfortable with C and
x86 assembly. I can do c++ , c# and python with some confidence and platforms
aren't an issue at all ^^

Is there anybody here who's already did the course and could maybe recommend
some books or look at my github page and see if my code is good enough or lacking ? :/

This is my page
https://github.com/RagingGrim
Click to expand...

What do you need experience for? You're going there to learn how to program...

When I started varsity, I hadn't programmed a single line... I came out at the other end...
 
You might want to use some indentation here. And free up that memory you dynamically allocated :)
 
RagingGrim said:
Hi there!

I was just randomly browsing the different academic programs at tuks when
I came across a thread which made me shudder :/ I'll be starting bsc
computer science this year ( tomorrow ) and I'm worried that I don't
have enough expierence in programming and lord knows that math is terrifying.

I got a distinction for IT in school though and math wasn't very far behind
so it's not like I'm behind in those areas considering the norm ( hopefully ).

Besides the delphi that we did in school I'm also comfortable with C and
x86 assembly. I can do c++ , c# and python with some confidence and platforms
aren't an issue at all ^^

Is there anybody here who's already did the course and could maybe recommend
some books or look at my github page and see if my code is good enough or lacking ? :/

This is my page
https://github.com/RagingGrim
Click to expand...

You'll be fine. Least you're comfortable with C++. You are already headed in the right direction.
 
RagingGrim said:
When I get back tomorrow , I'll definitely go find those :3
Click to expand...

Actually, I would not use dynamic memory allocation in that particular case. Just allocate that struct on the stack, then when that function returns, the memory is made available again. E.g.,

Code: 
struct pattern x;
x.isLinear = 968;

Only use dynamic memory allocation if necessary, otherwise you run the risk of having memory leaks.
 
I'm in my third year of computer science at wits, this was suppose to be my last year but I switched from Math as my second major to Information Systems, so my graduation will be delayed a year.

Couldn't deal with math. Anyway a little bit of advice if you are allowed to select your courses, choose something you like not something recommended by somebody else what's important is doing subjects you are interested in. I had to do math 3 this year in order to graduate. I was terrible at maths 2 scraped a pass. Which is why I changed to IS as the second major. Just a little bit of extra advice.

Back to your question. You'll be fine, I didn't do IT in high school, yet excelled in computer science. As long as you enjoy coding and computers, you will have no problem at all. They will after all be teaching you from the basics. You'll find many students in your class with little to no background in coding.

You'll be fine, best of luck in your future studies.
 
printf("%i\n",x+sizeof(int))
Click to expand...

I'll bet that this didn't do what you expected it to do. ;)

BTW, printing out pointer values and such is exactly what I did to get comfortable with the various pointer arithmetic notations.
 
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RagingGrim said:
Hi there!

I was just randomly browsing the different academic programs at tuks when
I came across a thread which made me shudder :/ I'll be starting bsc
computer science this year ( tomorrow ) and I'm worried that I don't
have enough expierence in programming and lord knows that math is terrifying.

I got a distinction for IT in school though and math wasn't very far behind
so it's not like I'm behind in those areas considering the norm ( hopefully ).

Besides the delphi that we did in school I'm also comfortable with C and
x86 assembly. I can do c++ , c# and python with some confidence and platforms
aren't an issue at all ^^

Is there anybody here who's already did the course and could maybe recommend
some books or look at my github page and see if my code is good enough or lacking ? :/

This is my page
https://github.com/RagingGrim
Click to expand...

WOW... you need to get laid


Firs year CS is for peeps who haven't even see a line of code in school. You might only start finding the material challenging mid second year.
Right now your focus needs to be on the "University experience"
 
Going into third year at tuks now, I started out doing BSc CS but I changed to BSc IT (You ultimately do all the same comp sci modules the math layout changes slightly).

First semester is going to be really relaxed in terms of programming, it will actually be rather boring if you've done any programming before, depending on your math strength WTW114 (Calculus) can be challenging as there's a large jump from matric to varsity math.

Second semester is where you actually need to pay attention in your CS modules (Especially COS110) as they lead on into the big second year modules. My advice is focus heavily on assignments, they count so much to your final grade and are usually really easy marks.

And then I only found out about this in my second year so I hope it helps you, there is a website with past papers (Semester tests and Exams) as well as free textbook resources for all modules you can take in CS and it may just save your skin from time to time! http://costuks.blogspot.co.za/ all the best, it's not an easy degree but if you persevere it will be worth it!

PS (Don't skip math tutorials :D )
 
Don't sweat it. If you're already developing then you should be fine with most dev classes.
Math after a few years may be a problem, but if you feel that becoming too much you can look at doing the same as Brentonw and switching to IT...for that you need only a small number of basic maths courses.
 
I'm third year BIT at Tuks this year, had all the CS modules first and second year (except COS 226).

If you are able to do assembly already, trust me you'll be fine programming wise.

You can do CS in many ways. You need to major in a second science, which can be biology, geology, physics, or double majoring in Computer Science (Means you'll need to do almost all the third year COS modules).

Y1S1: COS 132 and 151.
COS 132 covers basic programming, classes, linked lists, variables, loops, simple stuff. This will be done in C++.
COS 151 covers some binary, octal, computer hardware basics, very easy module if you ask me.

Y1S2: COS 110 and 121. Both use C++.
COS 110 covers more in-depth topics, queues, stacks, linked lists, templates, operator overloading, recursion, etc. Most people fail this module, as they fall behind with the amount of concepts that are covered in such a short time.
COS 121 covers design patterns (this is just an overview basically, as patterns are only really third year content).
To be honest I was bored first year, the programming was easy and the topics semi interesting as I had programming in high school. You don't even touch SQL first year.

Y2S1: COS 216 and 212.
COS 212 uses Java and 216 covers web development.
COS 216 is pretty easy and fun, covering php, html, css, ajax, javascript, all those fun web languages. The class tests are a bit tricky, but the assignments are great.
COS 212 is data structures, this is generally only taught in third year at other universities, this is probably the most difficult COS module at Tuks, as it covers advanced sorting, trees, graphs, heaps, stacks, and a bunch of other topics. The assignments are tough and exams are tough.

Y2S2: COS 222, 226, 284.
COS 226, I did not have 226, but it is basically multi threaded programming, teaching you tricks to have it actually work.
COS 222 covers operating systems, but any info on this will be useless to you as they are changing the module. Basically we coded in C, covering topics like memory management, schedulers, storage, drivers, anything the OS handles basically.
COS 284 covers circuits for things like adders/multipliers, etc. , binary operations on the CPU, assembly, cache management, memory management, basically the actual working of a CPU and its counterparts in the software and hardware world.

I went in with only high school knowledge and so far I've been doing great. Just study hard for the exams and do all the practicals and assignments until you get full marks. You just need to put in some effort, and if you have an affinity for programming, you'll be more than fine.

As to what Brentontw has said earlier, he is completely correct, look at that blog as it helped us immensely, as the CS department has a rule of not releasing older exam papers, which will make it difficult for you to study sometimes.
Also concerning maths, Calculus is the real problem, as it gets difficult, especially second semester. The other maths like linear algebra and discrete structures are less worrisome.
Discrete is actually a lot of fun, as it is basically programming concepts in maths. Just make sure to do the tutorials, as they are always more difficult than the actual tests, and if you are really struggling just get a tutor to help you.
 
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Worried about CS at tuks
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You don't have to be - If you put in the time and effort. The only thing that can be worrying is useless lecturers or tutors. You need to be self sufficient and realise early on that you are paying for the piece of paper you get at the end of 3 years and not the people who are supposed to educate you (weird isnt it). As soon as you realise this COS becomes easy. Making the paradigm shift from "This course/lecturer is here to teach me X" to "I need to teach myself X, to pass the exam and understand X" will make your life a hell of a lot easier. The lecturers don't care that much about you or your marks. Ranting aside, take it upon yourself to learn, dont w8 for the subject, work ahead and be smart (but not the fkn smart ass who everyone hates) .

Take this first induction week to introduce yourself to everyone. I mean everyone, be the guy everyone knows or knows of. This first week is very important as the groups/clicks aren't yet formed, once the little groups are formed they are set. Everyone this first week is in the same boat as you so dont be scared :) Your uni network is extremely important when it comes to prac help or old exams etc. COs@Tuks(blogspot) won't take you all the way, unlisted past papers or summaries are like a rare commodity which you use in your network to trade. Be the smart guy with smart friends, you need to be able to choose the people you partner with wisely for group work and stuff.

As semaphore said, you're already in a better position that most of your peeps.
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Cant agree more !!!! You will honestly be surprised how stupid/oblivious most of the other people will be (whilst still passing) that are with you. Merely the fact that you already are on github makes you more clued up than many 3rd years, who did not even know what github was for and why you should use it.

I'm third year BIT at Tuks this year, had all the CS modules ...
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I can somewhat agree with what Armgame said (was in the same situation as him not too long ago). Just a note on the maths it's not hard at all if you just put in the time and do well in the Tutorials / Tutorial Tests. Khan Academy and youtube really helped explain the things that weren't clear - use them!!! Also try to go to a lecturer that you can understand and hear CLEARLY. We had a Dr. from some African country and I can honestly say I have no fkng idea what that guy said the whole semester, he spoke with such a heavy accent and very unclear (Khan Academy helped here).

Something I wish I learnt a lot earlier in my degree was the importance in software testing. Never use your practical/assignment upload as a test, be assured that your code WORKS before uploading a prac. Learn from the start what unit tests are and how to code them. Force yourself to test your code, be assured that your algorithms are correct and do what they should.

Also when you have a large amount of work to study and you are short on time form a study group. This study group could then share the load when it comes to summarising work. Thus you load balance the work and each person is put in charge of a section. You can then also have a Q&A session where you have a chance to ask the person who was in charge of a specific section to explain a certain hard concept or help each other understand and improve your knowledge of the work.

My final piece of advice is to always start early with theory and practical assignments (at 3rd / 2nd year level). Because you might think "this is easy I can do it in a day". Trust me you can't, start early so you have enough time to do the appropriate research and actual work. Dont underestimate assignments and your work. Get stuff done as soon as you have capacity as you don't know what might come up.

Goodluck and get ready for a lot of late nights, frustration, coffee and beer (not necessarily in that order).
 
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tnaa said:
Goodluck and get ready for a lot of late nights, frustration, coffee and beer (not necessarily in that order).
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Already have everything except for the frustration ; I suppose it won't be long before that sets in though :P

Otherwise thanks so much for all the comments every last one helped a ton :D Especially the link to costuks.blogspot.co.za - I started looking at it the moment I got back from the university ! XD
 
What tnaa said about lecturers, so true. Good lecturers are people like Dr Engelbrech, he is amazing, it is like he has a compiler in his head and he can explain what is going on pretty well. Most of the other lecturers, eh. I had the same problem with a lecturer for Calculus, I could not make out what he was saying, could also not move class as it would clash, so in the end I stopped going to class, which did not help as much. Also make sure to rather listen in class than make notes, most COS and math modules will post the slides they use in class online, if they don't you probably have a book of your own.

Also the thing about talking with everyone, really do. You will see there will be four main groups, BIT peeps, CS peeps, BSc IT peeps, and the multimedia peeps. Try and get to know people from all four courses, as it helps a lot. The amount of times we helped each other actually get marks (even though it is solo work :P ) is amazing. Try out the assignments yourself first, and then if it doesn't work work together.

WARNING: Don't copy code, since you upload it to Fitchfork, they can check an exact plagiarism percent for your assignments, and they can call you in on it. Same for tutorials, but those are mainly if a marker spots it.

Also another good idea, make some friends that are teaching assistants for your practicals, etc. in COS, as you can get tips about 2nd year, hear news before it is released, etc.

Also just some tips on the exams, COS 132 is a practical exam, so its easy to get 100%, but after second semester it is all written exams, which can go bad very easily, as you have to code on paper, and mistakes can easily happen. So for written exams, make sure you know your work, even if they tell you it is an open book exam. I have never studied in a group though, but summarizing is very important.

Rest of the way just enjoy it and don't worry too much.
 
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