Computer Science

i'm looking around at colleges or universities i can attend for a computer science degree. I've looked over stuff and i really like the idea behind it and i really want to challenge myself and get my degree in it. I have a few questions, and i hope you, /prog/, can help me.
1. I've only heard of two good universities so far for CS, Rutgers and Georgia Tech, any others?(USA or Euro)
2. What jobs can you get as a CS major? Just programming or other things? Because i know it covers everything in the field of theory , programming and mathematics, but is it just limited to programming?
Yours truly
Anonymous

1. What Uni? No one cares.
2. What job? Programming. You learn some useful crap and some useless crap, you get a piece of paper and then your real "learning experience" begins, a mix of reading tons of books and having a real job (at least that's what I do, I learned way more stuff in 6 months being a code-monkey and learning by myself than going to Uni for 5 years.

I must be asleep, but I've never heard of either of those universities in the context of computer science.

If those are the only two you've heard of, you're living in the cyber equivalent of a hole in the ground; pursue a different discipline because CS isn't for you.

Also, CS isn't a challenge until you're in postgrad, and then only in some fields. Welcome to the world of science rejects, have a nice stay.

OP Here:

okay scratch that. What do you recommend then, #3?

>>1 1. I've only heard of two good universities so far for CS, Rutgers and Georgia Tech, any others?(USA or Euro)

Say what?  Maybe MIT or Cal Berkeley.

Snide shit aside, learn what you want to spend many years of your life doing. If you're in the US, that's a large investment, and there's no going back. If that's CS, go for it.

Have you ever written code before? If not, you lack the drive for CS. Liking games is not enough. If you haven't written a lot of your own code by now, your vocation lies elsewhere.

But don't have illusions about CS, because it's easy. Electrical/computer/chemical engineering, physics, mathematics, and microbiology are all a lot more involved. At least CS is better than some bullshit disciplines like business, although we take it up the ass from those (mostly) basketcases.

I also recommend you get your undergrad in a different country, Canada being a good choice for Americans. You save money (MIT is now at $33,400US per year for tuition alone), get a similar or better undergrad education, can write "international experience" on a resume, and get your head out of the US echo-chamber for a propaganda machine. US is great for postgrad.

>>2
Man, after reading your post I was so confused I had to look at the date of posting to make sure I didn't write that myself. That's exactly my experience, matching numbers and all.

>>6
Business is a discipline? I thought they just took the fucktards who failed Maths, Science, language, gardening, football, and SimCity, and made them CEOs and general businessmen.

Okay, on a more serious note, MBA in a nutshell: buy low, sell high, collect early, pay late. True story. You can always run a business, and chances are that you'll do it better than those running the largest enterprises in the world. Then again, if you'd do it better, you could be an engineer and do something useful with your life. Only people who can't do the real work end up directing others'.

#6 yes im taking my A exam in highschool for AP CS.. i love it.

Any college with the word Tech in it is good. Except LA Tech. The only thing they're good at is producing Java monkeys. I'm coming up on my third year and I have yet to see anything but Java Java Java Java fucking kill yourself more Java.

Did I mention you _will_ learn Java?

Also, don't believe that shit they tell you about "best engineering school in the state" and "excellent science school". Anything good about that school is purely accidental. For example, if your dorms were literally falling apart and still used asbestos for insulation, would you spend money on:

1. improving the quality of life for your students,
2. a new football stadium, or
3. pay raises for all the faculty who don't deserve them anyway.

If you picked 1, you're not going to college here.

>>10
New American football stadium, so Americalike.

I went to University of Maryland. There are some lists out there that rank the graduate departments of many Universities. From what I remember, the top 4 were MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, in roughly that order.
Honestly,  go to the university and check out their Computer Science department. See how many labs they have and if they're well kept up. It helps to have some background in CS  from High School (the Advanced Placement CS program is excellent).

As for Java, well, it seems to be the primary teaching language these days. I would NOT make language an issue. The quality of the professors will make up for any terrible languages you have to put up with -- although nothing but Java at 300 level courses is a little ridiculous, if what 10 is saying is true.

Java, well, it seems to be the primary teaching language these days
Which is just an indicator of how fucked up this trade is.

The quality of the professors will make up for any terrible languages you have to put up with
Ha ha ha, now we are REALLY screwed. Java + professors = multi-dimensional failure.

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE

ITT: angry python fanboys who still can't get over the fact that nobody cares about their toy language

/prog/: angry python fanboys who still can't get over the fact that nobody cares about their toy language

>>13

Er, well, what would YOU suggest? Java's not AWFUL. It's got the basics down, there is a demand for Java programmers, and unlike someting like C#, it's not just a shill to get people tied into a specific operating system (it's shill originally designed to tie you in to Sun's line of hardware, but that failed miserably years ago...).

In a perfect world, something like Io or Python or Ruby would be used, but there really isn't a commercial demand for programmers in those languages, and it's partially the job of a CS department to prepare students to get a job -- so it makes sense to use a language that people are actually hiring programmers to write code in.

Java's not AWFUL
I beg to differ. Java is the new COBOL. Java programmers are the erotic furries of programming.

>>18
He's right, it's not AWFUL, it's worse.

Save some dough and take some CS courses at a community college then transfer to a four year university.

>>18

Java programmers don't even like Java.  It's not like they want to program in Java, but that's where the jobs are because non-programmers who invent talking paperclips and "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials are the ones calling all the fucking shots in the software industry.

Use Linux
Problem Solved

27 Name: Sgt.Kabu댖ꈃkimanⅢ论 2012-05-28 21:30

Bringing /prog/ back to its people
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy