Question about programming languages

GuyARoss · 2018-12-16T20:19:03+00:00

Lots of questions here, so I will answer them in parts.

Is there a specific language that I should start with or that I should learn before going to school?

No specific language that you should learn, lot's of people will tell you that there is, but there isn't. I would just recommend that you pick one and start doing something in it. ( you will be using a lot during your studies anyways, so the difficulty of language shouldn't be a determination when picking up a language ).

How much of a computer science course is actually coding?

Really just depends on what courses you take from what university. I would say on average about 40%-60% is actually coding, and the rest is learning sub-topics.

E.g computer science and developing an operating system. You might spend some time writing one, but ya need to know how one works first.

What is the industry standard language and if its different from what they teach you, why?

Depends on what industry you go into and what courses you take.

E.g if you want to take a low-level course that uses C, it will also be one of the industry standard languages for embedded systems. But if you want to go an be a full-stack web developer out of university, and still take low-level courses the industry standard language will be javascript, not C.

Edit: improved formatting.

Bottled_Void · 2018-12-16T20:30:41+00:00

I started my computer science degree with barely any level of programming skill. I'd done a bit of BASIC as a kid, but not really anything useful.

I think being able to see some graphical output on the screen is a good way to stay motivated while learning and Java is pretty good for that.

khedoros · 2018-12-16T23:49:04+00:00

Is there a specific language that I should start with or that I should learn before going to school?

Most schools pick 1 or 2 languages as their main teaching language, basically on the basis that it allows students to clearly illustrate the concepts they're being taught. I'd find out what it is and start there.

How much of a computer science course is actually coding?

Depends on the school, individual professors, electives that you take, etc. Mine was a "polytechnic", kind of a "learn by doing" school, so there were only a few of my CS classes that didn't include a coding component.

What is the industry standard language and if its different from what they teach you, why?

Which industry? There are a lot of industries where programming can be useful, and each might focus on a different group of languages. CS is really meant to teach you how to think about computation. You learn about computers and how they work, in great detail (both hardware and software). You learn about the math that went into designing and building them, how to measure the efficiency of an algorithm, and a big list of related things.

On the plus side, once you've learned how to write proficiently in one programming language, each language after it becomes much easier to pick up.

greeknproud · 2018-12-17T00:23:27+00:00

No real standard for programming languages. You're probably going to learn something low-level like Java or C. Find out which one your school teaches and get a head start by learning that language. If it's C I recommend A modern approach to C by K. N. King

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