Computer Science Canada

Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Author:  justin6768 [ Thu May 29, 2008 5:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Waterloo CS - Difficult?
hey guys how hard would you say that waterloos cs course is?

and how many hours would you say that you spend doing cs related things a night?

thanks a lot
Author:  syntax_error [ Thu May 29, 2008 6:56 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
it is subjective to your abilities, if you doubt yourself them do not go. What is the most you can do get random data and compare means? IF you have a goal, then do not deal with the small useless things.
Author:  justin6768 [ Thu May 29, 2008 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
haha i like your answer, but still i want to know a little more than that. Anyone else have an opinion on waterloos cs program?

also does having constant school and the work terms get tiring?
Author:  PaulButler [ Thu May 29, 2008 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
It depends a lot on what you already know. Since not a lot of people know scheme or other functional programming languages coming in to university, the playing field is more or less leveled, but it still varies depending on what you know coming in.

Math tends to be more time-consuming than CS in the first year, because you do 4 math courses but only 2 CS.
Author:  justin6768 [ Thu May 29, 2008 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Thanks paul, im not worried about the cs at all because ive got a 99 right now in my computer science course.

But as for the math can you tell me how much time you personally spend on it/ how are the tests? thanks
Author:  r691175002 [ Thu May 29, 2008 9:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Really, I think that if you enjoy programming there won't be much of a problem.
Author:  Tony [ Fri May 30, 2008 12:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
justin6768 @ Thu May 29, 2008 9:46 pm wrote:
im not worried about the cs at all because ive got a 99 right now in my computer science course.

That doesn't say that much. 99 in recursion? sorting (merge, quick)? balancing binary trees? Alright, if so -- you shouldn't have much problems in first year CS courses. Though it's mostly Math anyway.

If you are concerned with a workload, this is not a program for you. Studying is a full-time job... so maybe 40 hours/week?
Author:  justin6768 [ Fri May 30, 2008 6:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
alright thats not that bad, ive done all those cs things youve said except for binary trees.

40 hours a week seems pretty reasonable
Author:  Prabhakar Ragde [ Fri May 30, 2008 9:24 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
We don't balance binary trees in first year (except maybe in the advanced course).

The CS courses will involve more math than in high school, and the Math courses will involve more math than in high school.

Workload depends on your time management skills and your discipline. If you are driven by deadlines and prone to staying up all night before something is due and skipping course A to finish something in course B, you will work a lot harder for lower grades and less understanding. --PR
Author:  bugzpodder [ Fri May 30, 2008 10:01 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
what do you want to go into cs for? (this is not a rhetorical question)

there are two reasons:
1. You like programming
2. You like cs theory

If you hate both, then this is the wrong program for you. If you are good at with least one, then you can focus on it. Esp if you like doing 1), then you shouldn't be worrying about the amount of time you spend on coding, right? After all, if you are good then you would be spending less time than everyone else! most of the lower year courses are theory (With the exception of two-three with large programming components). But you have a choice of 8ish other courses that you can choose that is either programming oriented or theory oriented (or both).

and for what its worth, I find the CS program very easy to get through. Aside from almost failing one final, I've had no problems with any of the other courses.
Author:  Prabhakar Ragde [ Fri May 30, 2008 12:10 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
I dispute the division of the curriculum into "theory" courses and "heavy programming" courses. It's not that simple. Most aspects of CS have some notion of common techniques, structure, and background. Without those a programmer would just be doing what they're told, lacking understanding. The programming in many courses supports learning the general ideas and is not a goal on its own. A student can't be asked to do a huge amount of programming when they're taking five courses with tests and exams determining their marks. In part that is where co-op/internships come in. --PR
Author:  Tony [ Fri May 30, 2008 12:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Prabhakar Ragde @ Fri May 30, 2008 9:24 am wrote:
We don't balance binary trees in first year (except maybe in the advanced course).

Must have been Engineering then... Still, in CS134 there were trees, and one learned what a balanced tree was. I don't know what the new CS135/136 will cover though.

Though I agree, there is very little actual programming going on. The majority of my time goes towards Math.
Author:  Reality Check [ Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Yea I don't think we do binary trees in first year. However, I think it is more beneficial to have a strong math knowledge to succeed in CS. A lot of the concepts can be self taught or easy to learn whereas the math load is more challenging. At the end of the day it depends on how much you love CS but keep in mind you'll be doing A LOT of theory and A LOT of math. Many people tell me that you MUST love it to succeed in it and a lot of hard work. I myself can't wait for next year at UW and I'll be sure to teach myself as much as I can so I can be ahead of the classes by at least a bit (it's always easier when you're ahead Smile ).
Author:  PaulButler [ Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Actually RC, binary trees are pretty big in first year, just not balanced onces.

If you are excited to play around with scheme and want to get into it before starting class, you can download drscheme and go through "Teach Yourself Scheme in Fixnum Days".
Author:  Prabhakar Ragde [ Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:19 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
The problem with TYSiFD is that the subset of the language we actually use in class has a different feel to it. I would recommend looking at www.htdp.org instead.

There's a major new release of PLT Scheme (v400) coming in a few days; watch for it at www.plt-scheme.org [edited to keep the period at this sentence out of the URL].
Author:  PaulButler [ Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
HTDP is good, but an entire introductory CS textbook can be overwhelming to someone who just wants to get the gist of the language (before getting a more formal introduction in the fall). Someone who learned scheme through TYSiFD shouldn't have any trouble picking up the HTDP subset, and vice versa.
Author:  riveryu [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
will Waterloo CS kill my eyes?
Author:  nike52 [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Waterloo CS - Difficult?
riveryu @ Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:53 pm wrote:
will Waterloo CS kill my eyes?


Haha. We should make a thread called how bad is your eyesight. My eyes are like 400 degrees damaged.

To OP, if you want some kind of benchmark, I believe last year's graduation rate for CS was 85%. Go find the 2003/2004 entering average and compare it with your own.
If you're around the average, probably around 80, and you know in your bones that you love compsci, then the only two things that really matter is that you're able to work hard and that you believe you can pass. Also, start practicing your math/compsci.
Author:  Reality Check [ Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
When I start working with Scheme over this summer I don't think I want to get a whole text book and sift through it. I bet it'd just cover a lot of concepts I already know so I just want to get familiar with the language. I'll probably start by completing basic programs just to get a feel (you know the simple average calculators and bla bla just to get a feel for the language) and once I've got that I'll start doing more challenging problems you know. Maybe go through some CCC problems and do them in Scheme or convert some of my final Java ISU's to Scheme. That should take me pretty deep in the language I'd say. I'm not TOO worried about the programming side of UW CS though. I'm more worried about the Math side. Not that I didn't do well it's just I hear from many people that it is challenging so I might try and teach my self of the Math or at least take a look at it.
Author:  nike52 [ Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Two awesome books I'm learning math from and using to prepare for euclid are art of problem solving volume 1 and art of problem solving volume 2. You can buy them here http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Books/AoPS_B_Item.php?item_id=100 79 bucks in total including solutions. Totally worth it. Check out the table of contents they have in volume 2 http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Books/Vol2/toc.pdf The book is as described in the title, it's not like a textbook, they give you the basics and alot of math-contest like problems that will develop your math problem solving skills. If you're stuck, they've got full solutions to the problems.
Author:  Reality Check [ Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Waterloo CS - Difficult?
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it.

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