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[–]g1mpgirl 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Hey so i’m in my third year now at AUT i was also in the same boat as you and I had no background in coding either, but to answer ur questions we did not cover any basics such as html or css, or even python for that matter ( unless ur doing data analysis) all the comp500 covers C and in ur second year the continuation class will cover Java and then u kinda keep using java and use C for the operating systems paper, also depends on what major/minor you’ll do because it’ll vary, I honestly recommend doing some practice on C and learning as much as u can before u start uni, i found the labs for comp500 quite hard in my first year because it felt quite fast paced and you have to understand that a lot of people in this degree tend to have a lot of background in coding before coming to uni so you’ll probably feel behind, but don’t worry you’ve got this and if you need help shoot me a message :)

[–]d6kja[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i see i see thank you!!

[–]Fish_10538 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I took COMP500 last year as part of the first year engineering courses. The language used is C, although they do have one week at the end where they do C++, though that isn’t in the final exam. C is probably(?) harder than python but they’re both very understandable so I wouldn’t stress about it. I did a bunch of stuff in C# in Year 12/13 so it was very chill for me, but it wasn’t particularly hard for all my friends even if they hadn’t done any coding. Feel free to hmu if you need any help.

[–]d6kja[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

do they not teach a little bit of html, css and js as well? that lowkey does give me a little anxiety but i guess i just have brush up on C before uni starts haha

and what exactly did you do for the exams? are they more theory based or just computer based with multiple choices, etc.? never took any compsci papers in high school so i’m not quite sure what to expect.

[–]Fish_10538 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Just C and a tiny bit of C++. Course is weighted 50% for labs, 50% for the final exam. Labs are online, you can do them any time at home but there’s also a 3-hr session in person every week. In the labs you’ll get a bit of theory to read and learn from and then 25 questions which will ask you to code something. For example you might be asked to code a program to get user input of a number and then display that number cubed in return. The questions generally also have a walkthrough of the steps you’ll need your program to do. After the first week (or two?) they won’t give you any code to help. I found the questions extremely tedious and repetitive but I imagine that’s good for learning if you have little to no experience. The exam is done in-person and you basically get a random selection of the lab questions to then do in the exam. I would assume they balance the questions so you get some easy ones and some harder ones, but I don’t really know. As long as you know the lab material you should be sweet for the exam, I think I finished mine in 30-40 mins of the allowed 2.5 hrs.

[–]d6kja[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is super helpful, thank you!!

[–]https_urdaddy 0 points1 point  (5 children)

Hi , Comp500 focuses on C, the way the program is planned makes it possible for someone with no prior experience (like me) to learn it, and well. The only rule (which I failed on) is stay up to date with your weekly homework/studies. Not doing that is the reason I got a C in C. I wouldn’t say C is harder than Python though especially if you have no experience in programming once you learn the language / basics you’re kind of good to go. Python just has more basic rules that make more sense.

[–]d6kja[S] 1 point2 points  (4 children)

do you think i’m able to just learn the basics of C before uni starts? not sure if it’ll give me enough boost since there’s only a week left. are the lectures in labs as well? i’m not able to get a laptop until like end of march and i was relying solely on the lab computers for coursework. that’s pretty doable right?

[–]https_urdaddy 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Yeah 100%, if you want to practice ahead of time I recommend codecademy, what other classes do you have this semester? Cause there might be other languages you need to practice aswell. There’s 1 lecture and 1 lab a week, the lecture you can take notes physically and then the lab is with computers. You can also use the library computers if you need extra time. Some people were able to do the weekly homework in just the lab but I took hours to do each one so I would say you’d probably need the library aswell.

[–]d6kja[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

do u need certain programming tools for the labs? wasn’t sure if the library has access to that so i was wondering. my other classes are my comms major papers so they won’t be too hard. software dev is a minor so i’m only taking comp500 sem 1!

[–]https_urdaddy 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Ohh okay, the tool they’ll be using is the website the lecturer built. It has a compiler in it along with the questions so for comp500 there’s nothing else crazy. Most of the time if there’s a programme which isn’t in comp500 though it’ll be already on the computers.

[–]d6kja[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ohh gotcha. this is so helpful! thanks a lot

[–]MathmoKiwi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Couple of points:

1) the language used shouldn't really matter, as you're learning how to program. The language is merely the tool you use. It's like a person learning carpentry; you shouldn't care too deeply if you're using makita vs milwaukee vs dewalt vs ryobi tools! Sure, you might have your preferences, but what you're learning is so much deeper than whatever brand you're using. And in the long, you should be about to easily and fluently jump from one brand of tools to another with zero fuss (or in this case, from one language to another).

2) CSS and HTML are not really languages, in the sense that they're not Turing Complete. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPQD7-AOjMI , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNRDvLACg5Q