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- Xaevier, on 11/06/2009, -0/+107But the commercials on the TV told me if I loved playing video games then I should make them as well!
- PCMichiana, on 11/06/2009, -0/+60Ugh... flashback.
- angrytortilla, on 11/07/2009, -0/+47Language doesn't matter, concepts and patterns are key. You'll make mistakes, and that's the point. Learning from failures is extremely important, so is admitting your faults.
Read these books, never let them leave your possession: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000899.h ... , http://pragprog.com/titles/tpp/the-pragmatic-progr ...
And you'll learn 95% of your skills on the job. Education only gets your foot in the door.
Also, consider having a pet project that you can nurture and apply new ideas to. - Atario, on 11/07/2009, -5/+51Yeah, stupid college, trying to create well-rounded educated people.
- darkfate, on 11/07/2009, -1/+38IMO, I don't care if my surgeon is cultured. I care if he knows what he's doing.
- sithmaster, on 11/06/2009, -2/+30heheh. anyone that has been to a specialized programming school will appreciate.
- Scottfiab, on 11/06/2009, -1/+28Don't forget all of the gen ed classes that have nothing to do with algorithm efficencies (except math).
- BeyondVision, on 11/16/2009, -0/+26The lecture is on "chapter 7 - SIPSER." Just wait till it gets to chapter 8 and he'll probably change his major! lol
- m0og0o, on 11/07/2009, -0/+23I imagine I will not understand a good majority of comments in this thread.
- DevinWatson, on 11/06/2009, -1/+23So true....
While we're on the subject of computer science are there any seasoned programmers on digg who'd like to give a soon to be graduating CS major some advice? Just like the stuff they should have taught you in college but didn't; or some mistakes you made when you we're first starting out...I'll take any advice... - TMFinept, on 11/06/2009, -0/+18Nobody tell him about quaternions. You go to hell, quaternions. Go to hell and die.
- Stap1eGun, on 11/07/2009, -0/+18your haiku is broken.
- AeroZeppelin, on 11/07/2009, -0/+18We just finished level three and need to tighten up the graphics a little bit.
- burketo, on 11/07/2009, -0/+17"Education only gets your foot in the door."
Same in engineering, if anyone cares....
Also, the first thing i learnt out of college is that asking questions and admitting when you don't know something is not only beneficial but actually encouraged. Don't be afraid of looking clueless, everyone already knows you are!
I think that principle is the same in almost every profession - redfox2600, on 11/07/2009, -4/+20I'm a pre-med, I have hard enough time trying to understand my physiology book. I do not have time to write an interpretative essay on a book who's author took a hit of d-Lysergic acid diethylamide.
In case a grammer nazi comes along
1. I've been up for 6 days straight cramming for a final
2. College English/literature classes don't teach proper grammar anyways
(Seriously, has anyone figured out what those classes are actually for?) - Anub1s, on 11/07/2009, -0/+16Part of me wishes I understood what the professor is saying, and part of me is glad I don't.
- Atario, on 11/07/2009, -1/+15ITT Tech and DeVry teach analysis of algorithms??
- densetsu23, on 11/07/2009, -0/+13Never write your programs quick-and-patchy. That's the biggest thing that bit me in the ass the first few years out of University. It not only means more work for you when the end-user comes back with dozens of bugs, eventually your reputation at that company will suffer (less respect and fewer raises). Do the work correctly and thoroughly, and always think ahead.
Ask questions whenever you're unsure. You can Google things to death with no results, or talk to a coworker for a minute and get your answer in a few seconds.
Never make assumptions. Write your program so the most moronic end-user will be able to figure it out. Write your validation procedures to account for the dirtiest data.
Write your programs so they can be easily extended later on. Don't code yourself into a corner so that, when a new feature is requested, you have to change thousands of lines across dozens of files. Try and refrain from hard-coding values into your programs; instead, put values into a flat text file, a XML file, a database, anything, so if you have to change values you don't need to modify and re-test code. (Yes, some companies are that anal... even if all you're changing is a string value, they'll make you re-test everything.)
@angrytortilla: Unfortunately, many hiring people in IT don't realize that conceptual skill is 100x more important than what language you use. If a company needs a C# developer, many times they'll pick someone with only 2 years of OO experience in C# over someone with 5+ years of Java experience. Whatever, their loss. - spelunker, on 11/07/2009, -0/+12Just two things that stood out for me (I'm only like 1 1/2 years out of college myself): Go learn a versioning system like Subversion, if your school didn't teach you how to use it. It's not a big deal to learn but being prepared helps!
Second, go learn a build system if you school didn't teach you it; i.e. Maven, or Ant for Java. Without build systems, building commercial software would absolutely suck.
My school neglected both of those items. I don't think I blame them for the second one (for a small school project there's not much reason to include anything like a build system), but the first one could have been taught in less than one class, and actually would have saved the teacher work.
I do, to a point, understand why they weren't included: they're tools for software development, not technically computer science. But dangit, most people in CS go on to make software, so you'd think I'd be a bit useful to include... - WoollyMittens, on 11/07/2009, -0/+12Yeah... good luck with your thermodynamics and fluid dynamics classes. LOL
- Apex3, on 11/07/2009, -0/+12I'm an engineering major so I knew what I was getting into, but I've definitely taken a few classes that made me feel like that.
- rusty0101, on 11/07/2009, -0/+11I think it's supposed to give you the illusion of believing you have culture to socialize with others in your copious amounts of free time that every surgon enjoys. /s
- rusty0101, on 11/07/2009, -0/+10If you're working alone, you're working for the wrong company. Programming in a professional environment is a cooperative venture and you will need to work with other programmers of varying skill sets and experience.
The two man team programing project you worked on in your final semester that one of you ultimately wrote the entire software solution for doesn't even begin to give you a glimpse of working on a team to solve problems, and in all likelihood will have left you with a bad taste for the experience that is going to bite you in ass if you don't unlearn the experience quickly. - EvilNecro, on 11/07/2009, -0/+91) Learn to program with a group. No one writes large systems alone
2) #1 is impossible without subversion and friends.
3) Consider everything. Code marked "no one would ever do this" is executed first.
4) Questions... Ask them, in quantity and often. You DO NOT know everything. Someone else probably has the answer you need.
5) Accept that sometimes your approach was wrong, and you'll have to start over.
6) If a piece of code gets too complex and difficult, you are doing it wrong. - MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -0/+8@burketo:
"Don't be afraid of looking clueless, everyone already knows you are!"
Best. Advice. Ever. - SRSco, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5Just go to Westwood College Online. You learn to tighten up the graphics and *****. Much more fun than this high tech computer science stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbIWN8bufWI - see3D, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5Don't forget that zap sound effect - it's the only sound in the game...
- 1longtime, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5*grammar
- MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -0/+5"Yes, some companies are that anal... even if all you're changing is a string value, they'll make you re-test everything."
With potentially millions on the line, I would, too. - Zeigy, on 11/07/2009, -0/+4Well I'm just starting out and I don't know what the hell I'm doing with scheme and this lambda crap.
- LordofShadows, on 11/07/2009, -0/+4(s1,v1)(s2,v2) = (s1s2 - v1 dot v2, s1v2 + s2v1 + v1 cross v2)
matrix.m[0] = 1 - (2 * y * y) - (2 * z * z);
matrix.m[1] = (2 * x * y) - (2 * s * z);
matrix.m[2] = (2 * x * z) + (2 * s * y);
matrix.m[3] = (2 * x * y) + (2 * s * z);
matrix.m[4] = 1 - (2 * x * x) - (2 * z * z);
matrix.m[5] = (2 * y * z) - (2 * s * x);
matrix.m[6] = (2 * x * z) - (2 * s * y);
matrix.m[7] = (2 * y * z) + (2 * s * x);
matrix.m[8] = 1 - (2 * x * x) - (2 * y * y); - njbignell, on 11/07/2009, -2/+6I hate the way universities force programming on everyone (mine does anyway), they make you learn all these complex methodologies and conceptual dribble when all I wanted to learn was N-E-T-W-O-R-K-I-N-G. I'm majoring as a Systems Engineer and so far I've done one 4 programming units, 2 graphic design and 2 electronics....
- AngelBunny, on 11/07/2009, -1/+4Reminds me when I got to the point where I had to learn stacks in x86 asm. ugg
Ironically, in the process of managing my own business 99% of all 'programming' I've done is scripts to help automate internal tasks. I feel like I waisted a couple years of my life. - MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -0/+3Because you're not going to a trade school or a degree mill?
- LordofShadows, on 11/07/2009, -0/+3Finite state automata is not worthless, try to write a good parser or compiler without it.
- Davrioza, on 11/07/2009, -0/+3I cannot believe how relevant this comic is to me, theory of computation is the bane of my life!!
- brkello, on 11/08/2009, -0/+3I have a different perspective working for the government. I'd say the most important language you should know is C/C++. Every other language is easier once you mastered pointers/memory management. Having some knowledge about hardware and assembly language is extremely useful.
Make sure the company isn't going to over work you. Many companies get undergrads and work them 60+ hours a week because they can. I would talk to someone who is at your level at the company to get an idea what their work/life ratio is.
Be familiar with programming in Linux and Windows.
Always be prepared to be learning something new. The field moves and you have to move with it or be left behind. - GelfTheElf, on 11/07/2009, -2/+5Good Programmers = Good Problem Solvers
When I took Computer Science (1993-1997) the first class ... you HAD to take this one kind of class. Was pretty much all about problem solving. We wrote stuff in Lisp and learned recursion and did more recursion.
This class was definitely a "weed out the weeklings" sort of class. But it made sense. So many people chose computer science as their major (this is in the 90s as I said) because their parents told them to "take computers" and "computers are good to get into"
I know a lot of programmers who did not go to college and take these kind of classes and they are definitely not as good programmers as those who did. They do not pick up new languages as fast and they did not learn the fine art of:
* Making a big problem into smaller manageable ones
This kind of thing will NEVER make sense to most people... and that's why they have these classes..
For instance
function CountNodes(n:node)
if n = null return;
return 1 + CountNodes(n.next)
end function
and how: return(min(min(3, 10), 7) will get you 3 - EvilNecro, on 11/07/2009, -1/+3They are foundation courses. Lots of other majors have that foundation built before you hit college. I suspect there are no algorithm development classes taught in high school.
- Cassak, on 11/08/2009, -0/+2MAKE THE CALL THAT'S GONNA HELP YOU IN YOUR FUTURE.
- Traspler, on 11/07/2009, -0/+2That's exactly why I study Biology and not Informatics.
- kahranx, on 11/07/2009, -2/+4Don't forget about the courses that are completely unrelated to your major. Why do I need to take THREE economics courses in order to get my gaming degree?
- MtheoryX, on 11/07/2009, -0/+2Informatics isn't hard. At all.
- kashk5, on 11/07/2009, -6/+7It's to add some culture to you pre-med robots
- CrazyEddie041, on 11/07/2009, -2/+3Yeah, I tried the whole "be a computer science major and make video games for the rest of my life" plan. Failed the intro course, switched to sociology with pre-med (an odd combination, I know), and now I couldn't be happier.
- dustout, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1I found the second year to be much harder than the first year
- jackyyll, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1How does this compare at all to a stack in assembly? That's really not that hard lol
- brkello, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1bah. I really doubt the video game schools touch this stuff. My Masters C.S. classes did...and oh wow, it was a dry subject that I never once have had to use in my career.
- AngelBunny, on 11/08/2009, -0/+1everyone has points like that. It is different for everyone.
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