Computer Science

[Ravinder singh]

Hi! everybody. If anybody is pursuing studies in computer science then please inform me. We can discuss about the subject here.

[AGOFCR]

Rav,

One of my MAs is in Computer Resource Information Management, but I do not get into the technical part computers (at least not by formal education). I do however have been building my own computers for the last 10 or 12 years.

Sorry if this is of not help to you :)

[bbp]

Hey Ravinder Singh, I'm also interested in Computer Science as I am currently working towards my bachelors of science in Computer Science ;).

How far are you into your program? Credit-wise, I'm considered a Junior though I've saved most of my CS courses for last. I love to program and have taken courses in C and C++. I feel that I'm pretty well versed in basic understandings of the languages. I dunno how far you are in your studies but if you ever need C/C++ advice, I'm willing to help.

[Ravinder singh]

Hey Ravinder Singh, I'm also interested in Computer Science as I am currently working towards my bachelors of science in Computer Science ;).

How far are you into your program? Credit-wise, I'm considered a Junior though I've saved most of my CS courses for last. I love to program and have taken courses in C and C++. I feel that I'm pretty well versed in basic understandings of the languages. I dunno how far you are in your studies but if you ever need C/C++ advice, I'm willing to help.


Hi! bbp i have been associated with c++ for last one year. I prefer to study foreign books instead of foreign books. There is a program which aims to print all the prime numbers between 1 and 500. It seems to be a simple one but it is not so . If you have some idea then please reply to me.

[bbp]

Is this for a school project or just a personal endeavor? After refreshing my memory on prime numbers :P (a number greater than 1 divisible only by itself ) I think you could setup a pretty rudimentary conditional loop.

I'll use C++ syntax as I prefer it.

for ( int x = 0 ; x <= 500 ; x++ )
{

for ( int y = ( x - 1 ) ; y >= 1 ; --y )
{

if ( ( x % y ) == 0 && y != 1 )
break;
else if ( y == 2 || y == 1 )
{
cout << x << " is prime." << endl;
break;
}

}

}

I tested it and this algorithm seems to work. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Sorry for the ugly spacing, the forum wouldn't let me tab in or do any kind of indenting.

[Hattitude]

Hey Everybody,
I majored in Computer Science at University, and now work as a software developer. I don't code in one particular language, because of the size of organization (small/medium company) we code in pretty much everything. I spend most of my time writing VB.NET,C# and Java.
Though C++ was my favorite language in school.

[bbp]

Hey Everybody,
I majored in Computer Science at University, and now work as a software developer. I don't code in one particular language, because of the size of organization (small/medium company) we code in pretty much everything. I spend most of my time writing VB.NET,C# and Java.
Though C++ was my favorite language in school.

Cool, you're doing pretty much what I hope to do. Were you like me and chose a computer job because you wanted to avoid customer service and interaction with people? I must say, I do love working with computers in general, but that is mostly why I chose this field of work.

If you don't mind humoring me, I'm kind of curious what its like being a software developer in the industry. What kind of software do you write? Does your job require you to do much oral presenting or speaking in boardroom-type discussions?

Do you ever get tired of writing software? That's my biggest fear. I really really do enjoy programming, theres something satisfying about planning a project and executing it then sitting back and looking at the finished project. However, I have a fear that I'll finish college, get out into industry, code for a while and begin to dread my job because it becomes mundane and repetative. I'd love to hear your opinion and insight on this!

[Hattitude]

Sorry about the long post :)

I think the reason I enjoy working with computers is because I'm judged based on my abilities not on my communication skills. I also enjoy the logic/puzzle aspect of it. I think that's a by product of my childhood where I was not a very social person. So I guess am I like you in that I try to avoid interaction with others are work. Whenever a vendor calls me or I know I have a meeting with people from outside the company I start to freak out. Luckily my manager is understanding. He deals with the outside at much as he can to make easier for me.

I work in the transportation industry. My code is mostly logistical code and web based code (asp). I spend a lot of time working on mobile devices. These applications(Java/C#) scan bar codes and upload them to servers. When working with things like this you have to use external libraries, this is where school and work may differ. At school you have to write code but use existing common libraries (stdio in C, java.net., java.io..etc). At work you will have to use those but also other third party libraries. Like for a scanner you might have to import a java function to call the scanner (import company.scan.barcodescanner). Sometimes they give you good documentation. Other times they just give you a sample program.
Programming at work is different in that sometimes you have to do something quickly rather than efficiently. If a client needs something fast, you'll kludge it so its ready. We don't do this for important long term projects, but small things that need to get done quick. For example I'll write some quick VBScript, which is ugly and not as fast as C++. But I can have the script ready and working in a shorter time span.

I attend a few meetings in our department (we are very small). But occasionally I have to speak with other people in the company. Most people are nice and I'm comfortable speaking to them even when I block or stutter, they just wait politely. Sometimes though I have to be in meetings with people from outside companies (vendors, clients). These terrify me, before the meeting my heart starts racing and I try to focus. My manager is aware of this and takes the time to discuss the meeting before hand. I feel bad for him sometimes be cause during a meeting I can see him struggle with the decision of whether he should take over when I block or not. To his credit I have never been offended when he completes what I'm trying to say (unlike those people at restaurants who assume I always want cabbage). A useful thing I've learned when speaking in board-room like meetings, especially if the other people are not tech savvy, is to spew out complicated technical jargon. That will impress them so that even if you do stutter it sends the message of “Hey I may have a speech impediment but do you know how to write a recursive algorithm?”
I worked a Video game tester for a large game publisher a few years back. A few project leads there avoided me intentionally because my stutter weirded them out. I think if they had been more influential that would have hurt my career there. Luckily the big dog there liked me.
If you want to know more about being a video game tester just ask. That's another long post, though I will say I hope to never do that job ever again.

An important skill I should mention is the ability to research and find documentation on your own. I see a lot of people struggle with this. At school you have a teacher who can guide you if you are stuck. At work such people may exist, but you are expected to do things on your own. You have to become adept at searching Google, forums, Knowledge base postings. This skill more than anything has come in handy for me. Be prepared to spend lots of time reading articles and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

I also really enjoy programming, but there are times at work when I have to write code I don't like. Parsing XML can be fun the first time, after doing it a few hundred times it gets tedious. Though every time I get a new project that lets me do something different or new I get giddy. Just the other day we got a new device with a new api. My coworker said something along the lines of “you're just a just big kid jumping up and down cause you got a new toy”. I think it's possible to get sick of programming if you are constant write the same application. I had a friend who's job involved writing assembly code to move blocks of data. He did this for 4 years writing the same application over and over for different systems/hardware. He hated it. He's a great programmer that loves to code, he's almost 40 and still loves it. I met an older gentleman a few weeks back who is retiring next year from being a programmer. I asked him the same thing you asked me (cause I worry about this too). He said he's been both a programmer and a manager, and while he was a manager he missed programming. He eventually went back and said if you are really passionate about it, you'll be fine.

Another thing I just thought of. You know the satisfaction you get knowing your project is completed. Imagine that compounded with the fact that thousands of of people are using your code daily. I'm not trying to sound egotistical, but it does feel good. (take that people that made fun of my stuttering!)

[bbp]

No worries on the long post. I was excited to get some feedback from someone in industry, especially someone who shares my disfluency, so, the longer the better. Your interactions within your workplace sound pretty typical of what I expect and fear, including how you react to them.

For example, when you said you get really nervous and your mind starts racing before you know you might have to speak to vendors. That's how I feel in some classes in college. I'm taking English 402 right now which is the study of technical and professional writing. The teacher likes to call on people at random to give insight into topics we are discussing. To my horror, she managed to memorize everyones name by the second day of class :P. So, the whole time im sitting in that class I just can't wait for it to be over, I get this deep anxiousness in the pit of my stomache.

It makes me glad to hear that in the industry you need to rely more on researching information than just memorization. I kind of figured thats how it would be, which is why I dislike how we are tested in my programming courses. I get 100's on all the homework because I can use google or search the MSDN microsoft website, which has amazing documentation. However, I get mostly C's and B's on tests, very few A's, because I just can't seem to prepare myself for everything, which really isn't indicative of real-life practices anyway.

You've reassured my choice to pursue programming though. How you talk about being giddy to start a project or the sense of accomplishment you feel after you finish one is really how I feel too. I know it probably sounds weird to most people, but it really is fun to try to write an algorithm or a project to accomplish a specific task. Like you said, its like solving a puzzle. I also really like knowing that I can write ANYTHING. I love how open-ended programming can be. You can damn near write anything you want for any purpose you want.

[Hattitude]

I used to hate when teachers call me. My only solace was knowing that if I stuttered really badly they probably wouldn't call on me again. Unless the teacher thought he or she was helping me by intentionally calling on me. The worst for me though was the first day of class when you have to introduce yourself. I used to dread that day.

Don't worry much about the tests, as long as you know to get the job done. No one expects you to know everything about programming, but at least to know how to look it up. I can't imagine being able to function as a software developer without references.

Yes programming being open ended is great. I'm constantly thinking of new things to write so I can make my life easier. I've been toying with the idea of writing a networked version of this
http://www.eyehook.com/games/warBytes/index.html
It's a really cool programming game if you get into it. Once you get used to their code it starts to get fun.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Anything I can do to help a fellow stutter and programmer.