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  3. Is CS not meant for beginners or do I have severe ADHD?

Is CS not meant for beginners or do I have severe ADHD?

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  • L Offline
    L Offline
    Lost User
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Hi again developers X| I study my first semester of computer science, and I like programming and computers but I feel like evrything is going too fast. We are jumping from one subject to another and we learn everything at once. We started to learn java in september and now we are jumping into PHP and databases, Swing, JavaFX, UML and professional software enginnering arcituctures, algorithms and propositional logic. I hardly managed to learn basic Java concepts and practice them and I already have to build Java Swing applications, manage databases and know common algorithms and on top of that train up my propositional logic-skills. I simple don't have time for that even if I would like to. I watch the lectures online (Because of COVID-19 we have online classes), but I don't learn anything from them that is requiered to pass the exams. If you want to pass the exams the school books and lectures aren't enough. You have to learn from other sources. After reading 1000 pages of a book I realize that I only learn a tiny bit of what I have to know to survive. I feel like I only study, from morning to evening but yet don't manage to learn what I have to know in order to pass exams. And now I wonder... Is Computer Science only meant for people who are already programmers and who know everything about computers, or maybe I have severe ADHD? Because I can't focus on so many tasks and subjects at once. It takes much effort for me to focus on one thing and then I have to jump to another and another... When I focus on one subject and one thing, I usually do well, and I pass my exams, but if I have to do many tasks, study for many exams I can't do it... If I would teach myself programming at home I could go up to this level and I think I could do well, because I really have intrest and motivation, but because of my CS I don't really want to do it anymore. I wonder how people who never wrote any code in their life manage to pass these exams. I feel like people who didn't have any prior knowledge about programming when they started these courses do better than me. I don't know if it make sense to continue, becase my loan is geting higher and higher and I'm... getting dumber and dumber haha :laugh:

    H L OriginalGriffO D K 21 Replies Last reply
    0
    • L Lost User

      Hi again developers X| I study my first semester of computer science, and I like programming and computers but I feel like evrything is going too fast. We are jumping from one subject to another and we learn everything at once. We started to learn java in september and now we are jumping into PHP and databases, Swing, JavaFX, UML and professional software enginnering arcituctures, algorithms and propositional logic. I hardly managed to learn basic Java concepts and practice them and I already have to build Java Swing applications, manage databases and know common algorithms and on top of that train up my propositional logic-skills. I simple don't have time for that even if I would like to. I watch the lectures online (Because of COVID-19 we have online classes), but I don't learn anything from them that is requiered to pass the exams. If you want to pass the exams the school books and lectures aren't enough. You have to learn from other sources. After reading 1000 pages of a book I realize that I only learn a tiny bit of what I have to know to survive. I feel like I only study, from morning to evening but yet don't manage to learn what I have to know in order to pass exams. And now I wonder... Is Computer Science only meant for people who are already programmers and who know everything about computers, or maybe I have severe ADHD? Because I can't focus on so many tasks and subjects at once. It takes much effort for me to focus on one thing and then I have to jump to another and another... When I focus on one subject and one thing, I usually do well, and I pass my exams, but if I have to do many tasks, study for many exams I can't do it... If I would teach myself programming at home I could go up to this level and I think I could do well, because I really have intrest and motivation, but because of my CS I don't really want to do it anymore. I wonder how people who never wrote any code in their life manage to pass these exams. I feel like people who didn't have any prior knowledge about programming when they started these courses do better than me. I don't know if it make sense to continue, becase my loan is geting higher and higher and I'm... getting dumber and dumber haha :laugh:

      H Offline
      H Offline
      honey the codewitch
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      CS is for a certain type of thinker. You can be smart, driven and focused and simply not be that type of thinker. My husband is all of those things but he tried CS and it didn't pan out for him. He wound up becoming a religious studies major, and then learning several languages. I struggle with just the one. But he'll never do CS. I'll never speak Mixtec. I'm not saying that's necessarily your situation. I don't know enough about you. It could be that your learning style doesn't mesh with their teaching style. Can I ask if you went in knowing any CS or was it all new to you? For my part, I never want to uni. I was at microsoft at 18 but I also know I didn't have a lot of the ancillary skills necessary to do well in that type of academic environment, like just the rigor and the propensity for good study habits. The reason I bring that up is it might be that you can code, but uni can't teach you. For my part, knowing only what I know about you from this post, I would have a plan B in mind, and hopefully a minor in something really solid, but I wouldn't switch majors just yet. I don't know if they have tutors for CS stuff but if they do, maybe see about getting one.

      Real programmers use butterflies

      L 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • H honey the codewitch

        CS is for a certain type of thinker. You can be smart, driven and focused and simply not be that type of thinker. My husband is all of those things but he tried CS and it didn't pan out for him. He wound up becoming a religious studies major, and then learning several languages. I struggle with just the one. But he'll never do CS. I'll never speak Mixtec. I'm not saying that's necessarily your situation. I don't know enough about you. It could be that your learning style doesn't mesh with their teaching style. Can I ask if you went in knowing any CS or was it all new to you? For my part, I never want to uni. I was at microsoft at 18 but I also know I didn't have a lot of the ancillary skills necessary to do well in that type of academic environment, like just the rigor and the propensity for good study habits. The reason I bring that up is it might be that you can code, but uni can't teach you. For my part, knowing only what I know about you from this post, I would have a plan B in mind, and hopefully a minor in something really solid, but I wouldn't switch majors just yet. I don't know if they have tutors for CS stuff but if they do, maybe see about getting one.

        Real programmers use butterflies

        L Offline
        L Offline
        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        When I started studying at university I was preparing myself and read some books on Java. It was hard but I did learn the syntax and the basic concepts and how to make objects and what classes are and so on. But I feel like everything goes too fast. I have my own tempo. I understand what I learn and find it intresting but I'm a slow learner. I learn most effective by reading entire books. Lectures don't work for me at all. After listening to a lecture I still have very little knowledge and the teacher just talks and I can't push the stop button so if I don't get what he/she keeps talking. My focus is bad when I'm listening, because I easily get distracted so I prefer online courses or books so I can pause and think about what I learned. It's not that I don't get what I learn. It's just that no one will wait for me to and I'm really slow. When I already have learnt things I'm fast but my learning process is very slow and I simply can't catch up on the material. I have motivation, I enjoy what I'm doing but I'm too slow and I always behind and I fear that in the end will fail too many courses and have to drop out anyway and have a big loan that I have to pay off working as a cleaner :((

        Greg UtasG F 2 Replies Last reply
        0
        • L Lost User

          When I started studying at university I was preparing myself and read some books on Java. It was hard but I did learn the syntax and the basic concepts and how to make objects and what classes are and so on. But I feel like everything goes too fast. I have my own tempo. I understand what I learn and find it intresting but I'm a slow learner. I learn most effective by reading entire books. Lectures don't work for me at all. After listening to a lecture I still have very little knowledge and the teacher just talks and I can't push the stop button so if I don't get what he/she keeps talking. My focus is bad when I'm listening, because I easily get distracted so I prefer online courses or books so I can pause and think about what I learned. It's not that I don't get what I learn. It's just that no one will wait for me to and I'm really slow. When I already have learnt things I'm fast but my learning process is very slow and I simply can't catch up on the material. I have motivation, I enjoy what I'm doing but I'm too slow and I always behind and I fear that in the end will fail too many courses and have to drop out anyway and have a big loan that I have to pay off working as a cleaner :((

          Greg UtasG Offline
          Greg UtasG Offline
          Greg Utas
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          I don't even know where to start, so let's have some fun first. Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?! I call BS on your supposed location. ;P I'm surprised that CS is focusing this much on software. When I took it in the latter half of the '70s, our second year mandatory courses were calculus and linear algebra (FFS) besides two programming courses (algorithms/Pascal; assembler). Later there was more programming, but still some math-oriented things. Not only that, but this sounds like a baptism of fire, jumping all over the place. It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes on a job application rather than learn how to really do software by focusing on a narrower set of things in depth. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. What size is your cohort? Mine was about 60 in 2nd year, dropping to 7 in 4th year (as there was also the option to graduate with a 3-year degree). But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks, in which case all you need to do is survive for a bit. I suspect many of your classmates are also feeling overwhelmed, and based on what you wrote previously, I think you have a good shot to make it through if you focus. If you can record your lectures, maybe that would help. I'm also a slow learner, but things worked out in the end.

          Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
          The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

          <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
          <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

          H L D 3 Replies Last reply
          0
          • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

            I don't even know where to start, so let's have some fun first. Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?! I call BS on your supposed location. ;P I'm surprised that CS is focusing this much on software. When I took it in the latter half of the '70s, our second year mandatory courses were calculus and linear algebra (FFS) besides two programming courses (algorithms/Pascal; assembler). Later there was more programming, but still some math-oriented things. Not only that, but this sounds like a baptism of fire, jumping all over the place. It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes on a job application rather than learn how to really do software by focusing on a narrower set of things in depth. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. What size is your cohort? Mine was about 60 in 2nd year, dropping to 7 in 4th year (as there was also the option to graduate with a 3-year degree). But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks, in which case all you need to do is survive for a bit. I suspect many of your classmates are also feeling overwhelmed, and based on what you wrote previously, I think you have a good shot to make it through if you focus. If you can record your lectures, maybe that would help. I'm also a slow learner, but things worked out in the end.

            Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
            The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

            H Offline
            H Offline
            honey the codewitch
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Better advice than i gave. :-D I am from the US, but I call college "uni" a lot of times. I rarely say "university" though.

            Real programmers use butterflies

            Greg UtasG 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • L Lost User

              Hi again developers X| I study my first semester of computer science, and I like programming and computers but I feel like evrything is going too fast. We are jumping from one subject to another and we learn everything at once. We started to learn java in september and now we are jumping into PHP and databases, Swing, JavaFX, UML and professional software enginnering arcituctures, algorithms and propositional logic. I hardly managed to learn basic Java concepts and practice them and I already have to build Java Swing applications, manage databases and know common algorithms and on top of that train up my propositional logic-skills. I simple don't have time for that even if I would like to. I watch the lectures online (Because of COVID-19 we have online classes), but I don't learn anything from them that is requiered to pass the exams. If you want to pass the exams the school books and lectures aren't enough. You have to learn from other sources. After reading 1000 pages of a book I realize that I only learn a tiny bit of what I have to know to survive. I feel like I only study, from morning to evening but yet don't manage to learn what I have to know in order to pass exams. And now I wonder... Is Computer Science only meant for people who are already programmers and who know everything about computers, or maybe I have severe ADHD? Because I can't focus on so many tasks and subjects at once. It takes much effort for me to focus on one thing and then I have to jump to another and another... When I focus on one subject and one thing, I usually do well, and I pass my exams, but if I have to do many tasks, study for many exams I can't do it... If I would teach myself programming at home I could go up to this level and I think I could do well, because I really have intrest and motivation, but because of my CS I don't really want to do it anymore. I wonder how people who never wrote any code in their life manage to pass these exams. I feel like people who didn't have any prior knowledge about programming when they started these courses do better than me. I don't know if it make sense to continue, becase my loan is geting higher and higher and I'm... getting dumber and dumber haha :laugh:

              L Offline
              L Offline
              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              You need a "co-op" type program: go to school for 6 months and "apprentice" for 6 months, or thereabouts.

              It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

              L 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • H honey the codewitch

                Better advice than i gave. :-D I am from the US, but I call college "uni" a lot of times. I rarely say "university" though.

                Real programmers use butterflies

                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg Utas
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                I thought "uni" was British!

                Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                H 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                  I thought "uni" was British!

                  Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                  The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                  H Offline
                  H Offline
                  honey the codewitch
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  It is. Because of my odd sleep patterns and my being monolingual I wind up talking to lots of british folks online and pick up some britishisms in the process. "you lot" "uni" "can't be arsed" etc

                  Real programmers use butterflies

                  L P 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                    I don't even know where to start, so let's have some fun first. Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?! I call BS on your supposed location. ;P I'm surprised that CS is focusing this much on software. When I took it in the latter half of the '70s, our second year mandatory courses were calculus and linear algebra (FFS) besides two programming courses (algorithms/Pascal; assembler). Later there was more programming, but still some math-oriented things. Not only that, but this sounds like a baptism of fire, jumping all over the place. It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes on a job application rather than learn how to really do software by focusing on a narrower set of things in depth. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. What size is your cohort? Mine was about 60 in 2nd year, dropping to 7 in 4th year (as there was also the option to graduate with a 3-year degree). But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks, in which case all you need to do is survive for a bit. I suspect many of your classmates are also feeling overwhelmed, and based on what you wrote previously, I think you have a good shot to make it through if you focus. If you can record your lectures, maybe that would help. I'm also a slow learner, but things worked out in the end.

                    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Well, I'm not from US. I can't tell you where I'm from because of privacy ;) If you're a hacker you can check it yourself though :cool:. Actually my degree can be translated to Software Engineering but after 3 years I can continue and be master of Computer Science (Which I already know I won't :-D ).

                    It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes

                    I have the same feeling. I just study for the exams but still am not good at anything, because there is no time to deep dive in what we learn...

                    What size is your cohort?

                    We are about 110, and I don't see anyone dropping out. It seems like everyone doing well besides me :laugh: I'm happy for them but it makes me feel extremly dumb. But maybe I'm wrong? I never meet my classmates because of COVID-19 so I can't tell how they actually do.

                    But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks

                    Yeah, I think you are right about it. This is exactly what I think. They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming. Well, I can't blame them, but they should have different requirements before they take in people, because "college" ;P costs and someone can end up with a huge loan and wasted time. I'm lucky that I at least enjoy what I do even if I fail to deliver. I feel sorry for those who are total beginners. Anyhow thank's for comfort. I already thought about retaking the courses but in my country you have to fail on many exams to do that. I failed only one exam in each course and have second chance to retake them, so I have to continue. You would probably say: So it's not that bad. What's the problem? Well, I don't feel like I have strong fundaments to continue with more advanced stuff, because I didn't learn my basics well. I have a feeling that everything gonna collapse soon like a house of card when the harder stuffs come. Anyway, thanks for reading my whining post. I feel a little bit better. I will give it another try... I probably come back whining after about a month and it goes on a loop for two and a half years :laugh: Moderators better block me already :laugh:

                    L N D 3 Replies Last reply
                    0
                    • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                      I don't even know where to start, so let's have some fun first. Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?! I call BS on your supposed location. ;P I'm surprised that CS is focusing this much on software. When I took it in the latter half of the '70s, our second year mandatory courses were calculus and linear algebra (FFS) besides two programming courses (algorithms/Pascal; assembler). Later there was more programming, but still some math-oriented things. Not only that, but this sounds like a baptism of fire, jumping all over the place. It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes on a job application rather than learn how to really do software by focusing on a narrower set of things in depth. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. What size is your cohort? Mine was about 60 in 2nd year, dropping to 7 in 4th year (as there was also the option to graduate with a 3-year degree). But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks, in which case all you need to do is survive for a bit. I suspect many of your classmates are also feeling overwhelmed, and based on what you wrote previously, I think you have a good shot to make it through if you focus. If you can record your lectures, maybe that would help. I'm also a slow learner, but things worked out in the end.

                      Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                      The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                      D Offline
                      D Offline
                      David ONeil
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Greg Utas wrote:

                      Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?!

                      The 'U' in MSU (where I graduated from) doesn't stand for 'College'! And I'm in the states!

                      The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

                      Greg UtasG 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • L Lost User

                        You need a "co-op" type program: go to school for 6 months and "apprentice" for 6 months, or thereabouts.

                        It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Well, that will not work for me. I'm not good at jumping from one thing to the other.

                        L 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • L Lost User

                          Well, that will not work for me. I'm not good at jumping from one thing to the other.

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          You'd have six months to catch up on your schooling while learning the ropes. If you think that is "jumping from one thing to another", then yes, you should just throw in the towel. I think you're allergic to work.

                          It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food

                          L 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • H honey the codewitch

                            It is. Because of my odd sleep patterns and my being monolingual I wind up talking to lots of british folks online and pick up some britishisms in the process. "you lot" "uni" "can't be arsed" etc

                            Real programmers use butterflies

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            Lol, I'm not british. My english grammar and spelling is terrible. But I use british words because in Europe british english is dominant in all textbooks for english classes. When you learn english as a foreigner you allways listen to the tapes recorded by Britts and you have no choice to learn american english. Than you watch some Youtube-videos and you learn some american english, and than som australian english and you end up mixing words from every dialect without knowing the difference.

                            Greg UtasG 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • L Lost User

                              Well, I'm not from US. I can't tell you where I'm from because of privacy ;) If you're a hacker you can check it yourself though :cool:. Actually my degree can be translated to Software Engineering but after 3 years I can continue and be master of Computer Science (Which I already know I won't :-D ).

                              It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes

                              I have the same feeling. I just study for the exams but still am not good at anything, because there is no time to deep dive in what we learn...

                              What size is your cohort?

                              We are about 110, and I don't see anyone dropping out. It seems like everyone doing well besides me :laugh: I'm happy for them but it makes me feel extremly dumb. But maybe I'm wrong? I never meet my classmates because of COVID-19 so I can't tell how they actually do.

                              But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks

                              Yeah, I think you are right about it. This is exactly what I think. They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming. Well, I can't blame them, but they should have different requirements before they take in people, because "college" ;P costs and someone can end up with a huge loan and wasted time. I'm lucky that I at least enjoy what I do even if I fail to deliver. I feel sorry for those who are total beginners. Anyhow thank's for comfort. I already thought about retaking the courses but in my country you have to fail on many exams to do that. I failed only one exam in each course and have second chance to retake them, so I have to continue. You would probably say: So it's not that bad. What's the problem? Well, I don't feel like I have strong fundaments to continue with more advanced stuff, because I didn't learn my basics well. I have a feeling that everything gonna collapse soon like a house of card when the harder stuffs come. Anyway, thanks for reading my whining post. I feel a little bit better. I will give it another try... I probably come back whining after about a month and it goes on a loop for two and a half years :laugh: Moderators better block me already :laugh:

                              L Offline
                              L Offline
                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Member 14971499 wrote:

                              I can't tell you where I'm from because of privacy

                              :wtf:

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • L Lost User

                                Well, I'm not from US. I can't tell you where I'm from because of privacy ;) If you're a hacker you can check it yourself though :cool:. Actually my degree can be translated to Software Engineering but after 3 years I can continue and be master of Computer Science (Which I already know I won't :-D ).

                                It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes

                                I have the same feeling. I just study for the exams but still am not good at anything, because there is no time to deep dive in what we learn...

                                What size is your cohort?

                                We are about 110, and I don't see anyone dropping out. It seems like everyone doing well besides me :laugh: I'm happy for them but it makes me feel extremly dumb. But maybe I'm wrong? I never meet my classmates because of COVID-19 so I can't tell how they actually do.

                                But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks

                                Yeah, I think you are right about it. This is exactly what I think. They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming. Well, I can't blame them, but they should have different requirements before they take in people, because "college" ;P costs and someone can end up with a huge loan and wasted time. I'm lucky that I at least enjoy what I do even if I fail to deliver. I feel sorry for those who are total beginners. Anyhow thank's for comfort. I already thought about retaking the courses but in my country you have to fail on many exams to do that. I failed only one exam in each course and have second chance to retake them, so I have to continue. You would probably say: So it's not that bad. What's the problem? Well, I don't feel like I have strong fundaments to continue with more advanced stuff, because I didn't learn my basics well. I have a feeling that everything gonna collapse soon like a house of card when the harder stuffs come. Anyway, thanks for reading my whining post. I feel a little bit better. I will give it another try... I probably come back whining after about a month and it goes on a loop for two and a half years :laugh: Moderators better block me already :laugh:

                                N Offline
                                N Offline
                                Nelek
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Member 14971499 wrote:

                                They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming.

                                Sorry... but that is bullsh1t. Get rid of many... yes. But keep the real diamonds of programming... totally wrong. Being able to pass exams in the university has nothing to do with being a good programmer. I know a lot of very good programmers who have no studies and are self taught. And I had a lot of co-students that were passing the exams even with good marks but then couldn't do anything useful in the real world. I had myself a lot of problems at the beginning of my studies because I had the feeling of not learning enough. Then I was afraid of the exams because I pushed myself down like you. Somewhen I just realized that to pass the exams I didn't need to know all the stuff properly. So I changed my mindset. I focused in passing the exams and learned later what I thought it was more important for me. Besides from all the academic content that I learned during the studies I have only needed a small part in my professional life. The most important things I learned where actually "passive" or "non academic" skills, like how to use logic to find the root of a problem, how to learn by myself, how to discriminate relevant from non relevant information in a text and things like that. Once I started working in the automation, I had to almost start over, because it was mostly new stuff I had not seen during studies. One of the most important things you have to understand is... the degree will only be useful for your very first job. Afterwards experience and successfull projects are more important than what you studied. TL;DR: Learn how to pass the exams and get the degree, get your first job, then learn what you need in your job while look for a better job that fits better what you like.

                                M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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                                • L Lost User

                                  Hi again developers X| I study my first semester of computer science, and I like programming and computers but I feel like evrything is going too fast. We are jumping from one subject to another and we learn everything at once. We started to learn java in september and now we are jumping into PHP and databases, Swing, JavaFX, UML and professional software enginnering arcituctures, algorithms and propositional logic. I hardly managed to learn basic Java concepts and practice them and I already have to build Java Swing applications, manage databases and know common algorithms and on top of that train up my propositional logic-skills. I simple don't have time for that even if I would like to. I watch the lectures online (Because of COVID-19 we have online classes), but I don't learn anything from them that is requiered to pass the exams. If you want to pass the exams the school books and lectures aren't enough. You have to learn from other sources. After reading 1000 pages of a book I realize that I only learn a tiny bit of what I have to know to survive. I feel like I only study, from morning to evening but yet don't manage to learn what I have to know in order to pass exams. And now I wonder... Is Computer Science only meant for people who are already programmers and who know everything about computers, or maybe I have severe ADHD? Because I can't focus on so many tasks and subjects at once. It takes much effort for me to focus on one thing and then I have to jump to another and another... When I focus on one subject and one thing, I usually do well, and I pass my exams, but if I have to do many tasks, study for many exams I can't do it... If I would teach myself programming at home I could go up to this level and I think I could do well, because I really have intrest and motivation, but because of my CS I don't really want to do it anymore. I wonder how people who never wrote any code in their life manage to pass these exams. I feel like people who didn't have any prior knowledge about programming when they started these courses do better than me. I don't know if it make sense to continue, becase my loan is geting higher and higher and I'm... getting dumber and dumber haha :laugh:

                                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                                  OriginalGriff
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  The problem is that CS is a complicated field, which a massive variety of subfields: in terms of languages alone there are dozens that are in common use in the real world, and each of those is used with different aims in mind, with different parts of the frameworks available being used depending on the task. Just in terms of environments under which an application will run, there are four main contenders: Windows, Web, iPhone, Android: and each of them uses a different framework (or frameworks - there are many different ones in each environment!. Some environments traditionally enforce a specific language: Java for Android, Objective C for Apple, HTML / Javascript plus a backend language for web based. So there is a huge amount to learn: the course doesn't know what you are going to be good at or interested in so it has to - initially at least - give you an overview of everything so that you know that it exists even if you can't really code in it (and trust me on this, almost nobody leaves a degree course in CS being able to code well in any language, much as their exam results may beg to differ!) And there's the rub: out in the real world, you have to keep switching about - you can't just focus on one thing for a long period of time, because everyone else is waiting for that bit so their bits can work. And you have to keep on learning, all the time - new ideas, new methods, new frameworks, new languages ... it never ends! It takes a specific mindset to do this, not that many people have it, and as far as I know it can't be taught - it has to be learned and that's a big difference! I'd suggest talking to your tutor, and seeing what he can suggest or do to help - if nothing else this will be a problem he has met before and he knows you better than we do.

                                  "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                                  "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                                  "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

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                                  • D David ONeil

                                    Greg Utas wrote:

                                    Your profile says you're in the US but you call it university rather than college?!

                                    The 'U' in MSU (where I graduated from) doesn't stand for 'College'! And I'm in the states!

                                    The forgotten roots of science | C++ Programming | DWinLib

                                    Greg UtasG Offline
                                    Greg UtasG Offline
                                    Greg Utas
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Oh yes, lots of "U"s in university names, but hardly anyone calls it that!

                                    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                                    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                                    <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                                    <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

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                                    • L Lost User

                                      Lol, I'm not british. My english grammar and spelling is terrible. But I use british words because in Europe british english is dominant in all textbooks for english classes. When you learn english as a foreigner you allways listen to the tapes recorded by Britts and you have no choice to learn american english. Than you watch some Youtube-videos and you learn some american english, and than som australian english and you end up mixing words from every dialect without knowing the difference.

                                      Greg UtasG Offline
                                      Greg UtasG Offline
                                      Greg Utas
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      British-American Dictionary[^] They should add other English-speaking countries too. Canadian is closer to American but sometimes follows British. There there'd be the English used in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India...the first two probably qualify as a different dialect! Off the top of my hand, a couple of Canadian ones that usually puzzle Americans are - eavestrough = US gutter (sometimes used here too, but usually means where water runs along the curb/kerb) - soother = US pacifier

                                      Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                                      The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                                      <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                                      <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

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                                      • L Lost User

                                        Well, I'm not from US. I can't tell you where I'm from because of privacy ;) If you're a hacker you can check it yourself though :cool:. Actually my degree can be translated to Software Engineering but after 3 years I can continue and be master of Computer Science (Which I already know I won't :-D ).

                                        It's as if they want you to be able to check off a bunch of boxes

                                        I have the same feeling. I just study for the exams but still am not good at anything, because there is no time to deep dive in what we learn...

                                        What size is your cohort?

                                        We are about 110, and I don't see anyone dropping out. It seems like everyone doing well besides me :laugh: I'm happy for them but it makes me feel extremly dumb. But maybe I'm wrong? I never meet my classmates because of COVID-19 so I can't tell how they actually do.

                                        But I have to wonder if they're trying to weed out a ton of folks

                                        Yeah, I think you are right about it. This is exactly what I think. They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming. Well, I can't blame them, but they should have different requirements before they take in people, because "college" ;P costs and someone can end up with a huge loan and wasted time. I'm lucky that I at least enjoy what I do even if I fail to deliver. I feel sorry for those who are total beginners. Anyhow thank's for comfort. I already thought about retaking the courses but in my country you have to fail on many exams to do that. I failed only one exam in each course and have second chance to retake them, so I have to continue. You would probably say: So it's not that bad. What's the problem? Well, I don't feel like I have strong fundaments to continue with more advanced stuff, because I didn't learn my basics well. I have a feeling that everything gonna collapse soon like a house of card when the harder stuffs come. Anyway, thanks for reading my whining post. I feel a little bit better. I will give it another try... I probably come back whining after about a month and it goes on a loop for two and a half years :laugh: Moderators better block me already :laugh:

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                                        dandy72
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Member 14971499 wrote:

                                        They want to get rid of us who are beginners and unexperienced and focus on grinding only the real diamonds of programming.

                                        That's pretty much the conclusion I came to during my first year of computer science. IMO, high school counselors are either full of sh1t, ignorant, or complicit, or a combination of all three. They kept telling us kids while in high school that college/university were really hard to get into. Just as a scare tactic to keep us in check and study hard. Yeah, study hard, but don't lie to kids as for the reasons. From my perspective? No, it's NOT hard to get yourself accepted. At least back in my day, when coding still wasn't so mainstream (not that it is today, but bear with me) they knew people were joining because they had heard it "paid well", even if they didn't have the discipline or motivation and really didn't belong in that field. Don't learn something because "it pays well", that's a *terrible* reason to do it. But that doesn't matter; they'll accept practically anyone, and during the first year, they'll throw everything at you to drive you to quit and provide you with no support. Why? To maximize profits. Universities are run like businesses; the more people they can cram in during the first year, the more money they make. You quit, they get to keep that money. It's pure gravy. For subsequent years, it gets harder and harder to get qualified people to teach the material, so the smaller the classes, the fewer teachers they need on payroll, and the more manageable the teacher's workload. It's now decades later, and nobody's managed to convince me otherwise. *That* is the lesson I learned right after high school, and that lesson is NOT taught when you need it the most. Back to your situation: Make of that what you will. Just don't be surprised if you feel like they're trying to weed you out. They are.

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                                        • H honey the codewitch

                                          It is. Because of my odd sleep patterns and my being monolingual I wind up talking to lots of british folks online and pick up some britishisms in the process. "you lot" "uni" "can't be arsed" etc

                                          Real programmers use butterflies

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                                          Phil Benson
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          *lol* "can't be arsed".... I'd love to hear that in an American accent... Though I have yet to hear an American say "Ask me bollocks" (regardless of how they swing... pun intended)

                                          Who the f*** is General Failure, and why is he reading my harddisk?

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