Which is a better Comp Sc Degree

[Junaith]

Hi Friends,
I am a graduate in Info Tech. I would like to continue my studies in IT/Comp Sc. I want to be either an R&D personnel or Software Engineer or programmer in my career path.

Different institutes or offering different variants of this IT/Comp Sc courses. Some offer Maths and more on Software Engineering while others offer no Maths at all and a bit of Software Engineering.

Can please advice me if I enroll in a program with no Maths at all and a bit of Software Engineering, will I be able to achieve my carrier ambitions ( R&D personnel or Software Engineer or Programmer)?

Can also please tell me why Maths is so imporatnt to IT/Comp Sc and how it can be applied in creating a software e.g. RDBMS like Oracle.


Please guide me in this.

Many thanks in advance.

Junaith

[Martin]

Math is important because it creates strong problem solving and critical thinking skills. Computers are creatures that are built upon mathematics, and so a solid understanding of those building blocks will be a huge asset. You might for example write a function in your program and want to determine how quickly it runs and how much memory it will use for an arbitrarily sized set of data. Also, if you want to do anything with computer graphics, a strong mathematical foundation is essential.

How much math you need really depends on what you want to do with computer science, but I would be very skeptical about programs that don't offer any math. You should keep in mind that university should not be about learning Java or C++ or whatever the new technology of the week is, but rather the study of computers as a science (hence, you know, the name computer science).

[Drakain Zeil]

In general, software IS math, it's just a differnt /kind/ of math really. It's closer to math theory, than math practice. Which is why all us programmers are so smart .

I don't see a large career in computer software without math...

database - you need to know normalization (which is part math)
graphics - You need geometric math
AI - oh sweet zombie buddha you need math out the wazoo in 10 different colours and 3 flavours.

I mean, unless you'll be designing HTML pages, and perhaps some light PHP forever, math is a must.

I guess web design would be best then.

[richcash]

Maybe by 'no math' it means no strictly math classes. Perhaps they teach you the math that is directly applicable to computer science, and therefore you are in front of a computer coding while learning math. I don't see how there could be NO math at all, I mean look at how much math you have to learn if you go to other unis.

[Drakain Zeil]

Math is vital to compsci. Unless you're going to work data entry or layout websites all day... and even html-websites require just the slightest bit of math.

As for better comp sci degrees? What real software programmer cares about alphabit soup?