Waterloo CS - Difficult?

[justin6768]

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

[syntax_error]

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.

[justin6768]

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?

[PaulButler]

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.

[justin6768]

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

[r691175002]

Really, I think that if you enjoy programming there won't be much of a problem.

[Tony]

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?

[justin6768]

alright thats not that bad, ive done all those cs things youve said except for binary trees.

40 hours a week seems pretty reasonable

[Prabhakar Ragde]

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

[bugzpodder]

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.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

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

[Tony]

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.

[Reality Check]

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 ).

[PaulButler]

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".

[Prabhakar Ragde]

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].