Colleges, Languages, etc

Okay, so I'm about to be a senior in high school, and I've decided that I want to go to college/university/whatever for computer science/programming. Problem is, though, I have absolutely no clue where I wanna go, nor do I know which colleges would be particularly good. What does Anon recommend for a college? I'd like to go to a really good one, and I feel that if I really bust my ass and try hard, I can make it into one.'

In the mean time, I've been trying to learn some C++ by myself, and I'll be in an AP class learning Java so I can take the AP AB Computer Science test. I've downloaded some books, found some sites, etc. to help me learn, so I can probably manage fairly well on my own. I'm using Dev-C++ for a compiler, though, and I've heard it's a bit outdated, to say the least. I'm currently using Windows XP, so what's a good compiler I could use? I don't have the money to throw down for anything that isn't free, but I won't say I wouldn't look into finding a torrent for anything else.

One last question. Any other languages and/or libraries I should at least look into, if not try to learn, before then? I'm thinking of looking into Python for another language or SDL for a library for C++.

MIT.

Read SICP.

COLLEGE IS FOR FAGGOTS

College/Uni:
You want a school with a good computer science program.  You'll have to do your own research to figure out where your sweet spot is for price vs quality.  Don't fall for idiotic DeVry (and similar) degrees in videogameology.  They're fishing for stupid people. 

WinXP Compiler/IDE:
Visual Studio Express Edition.  Legal, Free, and more than capable of doing anything you're going to be doing.  As your tastes develop, you can decide whether you prefer a featured IDE or a thin IDE.  Try both, but don't fall into the slashdotty fanboi elitist traps.  The average person is not more productive in vi than they are in Visual Studio.

Libraries:
You overestimate your abilities if you think that you'll have a complete grasp of C++ in the next year or so.  Learning C++ and the C++ libraries, including the STL, is more than enough to keep you busy.  If you insist on breadth instead of depth, however, a good primer would be the OS APIs of your choice.  It'll give you a fair introduction to C library stylings as well, most native OS APIs that I've worked in have been C-based.

Now to put your world into the right frame. You do NOT have to program to complete a computer science program. First you can learn it there (not a good idea), second it used to be the way (circa. 80s) that professors said, that computer science is abstract and you do not need programing, since that is applied (bullshit).

Just four your information: Computer Science is PURE theory, no practical application. You should rather look into a engineering degree as Software-Engineer or Information-Technology-Engineer. SE is only software and the second is software in more hardware related fields (think, automation or robots) but still pure software. The software you see on your desktop is about 10% of applications, there is software in places you did never think there is.

I worked for the German Federal Waterway Administration, and yes, pure software. I wrote a front end for a numerical simulation kernel, that is used to plan locks and wire. (I am a IT-Engineer.)

On the language and technology front, you should not be fixed on specific technologies or languages. They come and go and are never something fundamentally new. The more important thing is that you look at as much as you can sensibly do but also work on real world applications. A good place to get some (real) experience is by working on free software projects. If you are intelligent, you can even make it go into your work experience, hence better pay and admission to the more elite projects (like games).

To find people that look for free software developers you can brows by http://sourceforge.net/people/ or look around http://sourceforge.net if you find a neat project to work on. There are tons of projects that like to be helped out. Don't be shy, even if you do not have the phat skillz, any help is more that none. Just be polite and have a look at the project and their source code before charge their project.

Just do ditch >>5...

And don't forget to broaden your horizon, use a different OS, GNU/Linux or even better freeBSD, NetBSD or OpenBSD...

The average person is not more productive in vi than they are in Visual Studio.

The average person is not as productive as the average viM user.

4chan is for drugged up hippies and cartoon masturbators.

Get learned the right way, son, and leave this sight for us grown-ups.

>>9
go away, also accurate observation

C++ is a shitty way to start programming. You'll be so tied up learning the libraries and idioms of that language -- and bogged down in minutiae -- that you won't learn much that'll be useful in other languages (aka how to actually solve a problem).

C++ is the worst possible mainstream language for a beginner.

>>11
You're absolutely right. Yet no one is going to listen.

>>12
you are a sage abusing fuckwit

Install *nix.
Learn LISP.
AP CS is worthless.

>>13
So are you.

>>11
And you'll become yet another moron with an insane attachment to C++. Don't forget that part.

>>11
Then what should I try to learn for now?

>>14
Even if AP CS is worthless, I'm getting college credit for it, so I think I'll manage anyway.

>>17
Well, if you learned Lisp you'd be insufferably smug forevermore, so don't do that. Python is a useful language to start with, since it's fairly normal without the pitfalls like C/C++ or the prolixity and OO obsession of Java. If you're feeling adventurous, you could learn a bit of Erlang or another functional language (which Lisp is not, no matter what some people tell you).

And you'll become yet another moron with an insane attachment to C++
The C++ community is Stockholm syndrome writ large. They're still debating whether automatic memory management is a good default policy or not (and most think not).

>>18
Lisp is not functional in the same way python is not OO. they are multiparadigm languages. But both lisp and python (not much, but a bit) support functional and object oriented programming.

>>20
Right. That's pretty much what I meant. While you could program Lisp in a mostly functional style, it's a multi-paradigm, rather than functional, language, and is just as imperative as it is functional.

>>20
Very few languages are pure..

you can make what you want of lisp.
yes, it's not pure, but still. It's a good OO, functional, and most other things language.
In fact it's better OO than many only OO languages.

>>23 In fact it's better OO than any only OO languages.
Fix'd.

>>23,24
I bet my shoes that you can't name even two pure OOPLs.

>>25
smalltalk, self.
but I said "only" OOPL, not "pure". Languages which only support said paradigm.

>>26
Languages which only support said paradigm.
How exactly is that not pure?

>>1
unless you want to end up like >>2-27, i suggest you drop out of computer science immediatley

>>1

College:
Find one that pays you to go, not the other way around. Don't fall for the stupid trap of "ZOMG I GOTTA GO TO MIT OR CMU TO BE SMART!!111!" because most companies could care less where you went for undergrad, so long as it isn't total shit.

If you see a college commercial on TV, and you don't see it during an athletic competition involving that college, avoid it. That means no DeVry, ITT, etc.

You will be hundreds of times happier going to a uni. with a good CS program. You will be unhappy going to MIT/CMU and pulling your hair out trying to pay for college plus keep up with the uber competitive nature.

COROLLARY: MIT/CMU will pay you. If that was true, you wouldn't be asking for advice on /prog/.

Languages:
Python.

>>28
LOL

32 Name: Anonymous 2011-03-31 12:07

I am the phantom autist