Computer Science

[Jeros]

Has anyone done a degree in computer science and can tell me what to expect when i start mine? (i will learn that when doing my access course but i would like to know a actual persons view of it), i will proboly be doing software engineering, and i will most likely be going to loughborough, what in your opinon are the "best" unis for computer science other than of course oxbridge?

 

[scarloc]

I did mine in Leeds, which is one of the best. Comp Sci there is programming (expect c++ and java), analysis and design of algorithms, mathematics and so on. There is also linear programming, functional programming. You should also be doing more basic stuff like SQL and databases, usability design, web pages and stuff like that.

AFAIK Oxbridge is a lot better at more traditional fields rather than computing, that might have changed now though. Warwick, Durham, Leeds, and apparantly Lancs are good choices.

 

[Lamp]

I got an "A"-grade in Computer Science A-level. Was going to to it at uni - Kings College London offered me a place, but turned it down and did 4 years of Law in Bristol instead.

 

[Jeremiah]

Most course will teach the core principles of Computing Science, such as Software Engineering, and the various approaches to programming, such as procedural, functional and object orientated. I would expect most of them also cover some handy topics such as SQL, PHP, Peral and other non-programming languages.

The difference really comes down to what language you will mainly be programming in, and how deep your courses take you into it. I got my degree doing Java, but in my first attempt I was using Ada '95 (Runn!!! Hide!!!).

In my opinoin, Computing Science doesnt require a huge amount of effort, as long as you arent too bad at Maths (Since really, Computing is just applied Maths ) and you have a bit of imagination when it comes to problem solving. I loved my degree course!

 

[Boni]

I took computer science at Southampton about 15yrs ago, because cambridge/oxford didnt offer a course that covered what I wanted at the time though this may have changed. Imperial in London and Bristol also offered strong departments with good reputations.

In general it was 3 years of learning how to program stuff properly. In the main this consisted of...

Learning new languages (started with some silly object oriented language I really dont want to remember), then Pascal, C, prolog, lisp, ada etc.
Learning how to write software as opposed to just hack stuff up (formal and less formal specification and design). Learning a lot about how to structure data and protect code.
I got some electronics, and a lot of maths (logic maily).
3rd year was options, I took Nerual networks, AI , 3D programming all stuff that interested me.

 

[Boni]

In my opinoin, Computing Science doesnt require a huge amount of effort, as long as you arent too bad at Maths (Since really, Computing is just applied Maths ) and you have a bit of imagination when it comes to problem solving. I loved my degree course!

agree and Ada, yuck, how I hated that language!