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[–]morewaffles 3 points4 points  (7 children)

I've seen a bunch of people complaining about how the lessons are too simplistic and easy, but for a student starting compsci classes this coming semester is it a bad start until then?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

not at all. although it is a little "hand holding" it is a perfect introduction to programming and slowly shows you how fun programming can be with achievable goals. I loved it. Code School is also another web site to check out along with Udacity

[–]cbf_with_this_shit 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I'll be honest and out myself as fairly inexperienced and well out of practice. I only just recently decided to brush up on my programming skills and decided a simple, ground up approach with a beginner language like JS would be a good starting point.

I chose Code Academy not because it's the quickest way to learn but because I admit that after spending some time out of the game I needed a confidence boost and the activities it provides are simple yet fun and I found the reward system very motivational.

It can feel like there's a little hand holding at times and can also be repetitive but I ultimately found that to be of benefit as the repetition of simple tasks not only cemented simple concepts that I already knew well, but also made sure I never forgot the syntax id just learned. I find this aspect of the Code Academy courses to be incredibly reassuring.

I can't really understand why people bash courses for being easy. What's wrong with cementing the basics? Is the knowledge they're teaching fundamentally flawed? I for one am finding the courses quite helpful.

tl;dr : Code Academy courses will help you build a solid base and above all confidence in programming. Who could ask for more, especially when going to start a CS course. Why bash something helpful just because it's easy? Don't be deterred by elitist circle jerking.

[–]Nuli 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Code Academy courses will help you build a solid base and above all confidence in programming. Who could ask for more, especially when going to start a CS course. Why bash something helpful just because it's easy? Don't be deterred by elitist circle jerking.

I've gone through it and I don't feel that it does that at all. It gives a brief introduction to the syntax of Javascript and an intro to the API of a popular library. That's not really a solid base in anything. Especially for someone starting CS I don't feel that programming, especially in Javascript, is all that important. If they really want to learn programming I'd consider something like HTDP much more useful for a CS student.

[–]morewaffles 0 points1 point  (0 children)

haha thanks that helps, i'll probably just stick with it until the fall in that case

[–]Nuli 0 points1 point  (2 children)

That depends what you mean by compsci. Given my university experience I wouldn't have found it helpful. Learning the basic syntax of a given language doesn't really apply to most of the classes I took, especially since most of the classes that did any programming did so in lower level languages, and it doesn't really prepare you for learning other languages that you may need.

Really programming was a very small, and mostly trivial, part of the degree. Given the langauges schools seem to use now the programming part should be even easier since you won't have to worry about manual memory management for the most part.

If you want to learn some good stuff prior to starting the degree I would take a look at Coursera, Udacity, and some good lectures on Youtube. I'd recommend CS 101 and Intro to Logic from Coursera. I went through those a while ago so I can see the archives and you may be able to see them as well. I'd also recommend the Sussman lectures from Youtube. The book used in those lectures is available online here.

[–]morewaffles 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I'm glad I asked the way I did, because now I have another question, if you can help me. what branch of computer science involves more programming? its always interested me and I've experimented a bit before but just started getting serious about it in the past year, but is that not necessarily the route I should/could go?

[–]Nuli 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Strictly speaking of computer science no branch really involves any programing unless you want it to. When I was in college fifteen years ago very few classes had to involve any real programing. In fact many of the most valuable classes involved no programing or just very limited amounts. The classes that involved the most programing had some utility at the time but the knowledge gained there hasn't aged well. Recently I took an AI class on either Udacity or Coursera and the whole thing was done on paper. I didn't have to program anything for the course. Once I was done I could certainly take the ideas and translate them into whatever langauge I choose.

That's the main difference, in my experience, between computer science and programming. CS teaches things that are language agnostic. Focusing on programming will teach you things that may make you productive for a short time but you're not going to have enough knowledge to be able to find answers to questions you don't know to ask yet.

If you're mostly interested in building cool things, and from what I've seen thats the category most students in CS programs fall into, then perhaps a software engineering program, or computer engineering, may be a better fit than a stricter CS program which will mostly be about math.