At Worcester, I found out that the Computing BSc course is fairly similar to the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s programs (there are two: Computer Science and Computer Information Systems.)
The thing I love about Computer Science is that it gives you the opportunity to sit down at a computer and make something – even if it’s not actually tangible, it takes the same amount of effort as making something physical (albeit a different kind of effort.)
No matter what your skill level is as a student, these resources can help you become better:
- Learn Python: it’s a ridiculously easy language that can be and is used everywhere.
- Learn Java: (or another traditionally Object Oriented language) – OO design is an extremely important part of computer science
- Learn about algorithms and data structures: Up until university, I was an almost entirely self-taught programmer, but I had never even heard of data structures. Trust me, they’re important.
- Learn about source control: when you’re working on a project with many other people, emailing files between each other is just a bad idea. Source control enables many people to work on the same code, while also providing a framework for dealing with file conflicts and formatting. It’s a good idea to use source control on individual projects as well, and sites like Github provide a free way to upload and share your code using Git.
- Go forth and code: Work on projects outside of University classes, even if it’s just stupid stuff. For example, what started out as an empty threat to spam my friend’s Facebook wall with pictures of William Shatner turned into a very real onslaught of Captain Kirk with the help of small python script. Maybe get some friends interested and make an Android app or something – who knows! The possibilities are endless!
Do you have any advice? Did I miss something important? Let me know in a comment!
Worcester Student Life 