First year CS student

hi /prog/
I am a first year student and I want to make myself as marketable as possible once I graduate. We started our first class learning to program in Java but I feel like the stuff we learned would be pretty useless elsewhere. so, what language should I try learning on my own now?

Lisp

Read SICP. ^{_{Learn Python.}}

Get an internship.  That trumps everything.

C#, .NET, things that real people in the real world use. Also algorithms, data structures, databases, the basics of networking and other practical stuff.

>>4
Thats in the plan but I think learning a lot of useful languages along the way on my own would help as well. When I graduate, I don't want to look just like every other faggot with a piece of paper.
>>3
WIll definitely check out python now. You are probably the 6th person to recommend it to me.
any links to this SICP book?

>>6
any links to this SICP book?
Is your DNS broken, that you can't resolve Google?

>>7
Google tells me it is a book that MIT uses for its begginer students. I imagine that cost money. That goes against my first rule of using the internet.
Unless I am mistaken, I would like for someone to post a torrent link or pdf.

>>7
Google tells me it is a book that MIT uses for its beginner students. I imagine that cost money. That goes against my first rule of using the internet.
Unless I am mistaken, I would like for someone to post a torrent link or pdf.

HELPING HIM
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

>>10
Thank you kindly sir.

>>8
VERY FIRST FUCKING GOOGLE HIT

Welcome to the SICP Web Site
Oct 23, 2001 ... SICP is a very well known text teaching the conceptual basis of programming. The full text is available on the web site.
mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages - Filter - History

Didn't you even read the blurb, which says "The full text is available on the web site"?!?

You are taking computer science, and they have a class teaching Java.

Things you should know:
1. Java will not teach you anything about computer science. While real CS programs will have you take a programming class 1st year, it would never be Java.
2. The school you are going to is terrible. Transfer now. What you are learning is computer software engineering (and will be learning until the end), not computer science. If the teachers don't even know that, then you will have a shit education.
3. I have refused to interview applicants based soley on the fact that their resume lists a CS degree because they either really did learn CS and are useless or they went to a school that doesn't know the difference and their education is useless. I have only recocidered this twice because the provided examples. Only one could step me through the code so he was the only one ever hired after that travisty of a mistake he made when he was young, ignorant and at the mercy of an education system that is more interested in tuition than education.

>>13
wtf

>>12
"The full text is available on the web site"

FAGGOT QUOTES DETECTED

>>12
I can't believe you took the time to underline the links. It's like I'm really on google!

>>12
Disable search history

>>15
incorrect

Everything you learn will be shit

>>19
Everything you shit will be learned.

Everything will be shit you learned.

>>3
HTDP

>>13
I have refused to interview applicants based soley on the fact that their resume lists a CS degree because they either really did learn CS and are useless
You turned them down because of their grades?

>>13
Is functional^ly illiterate.

>>23
The problem is, students with higher grades tend to be socially awkward and, well, useless. We aim to get students with low to mid-level grades, as it indicates that they're willing to learn and they have the potential to improve their abilities.

>>25
You totally want to hire me. But how do you know a prospective employee's grades?

>>26
he pays fairX the haxxor enough to get access to his private area of gradez ;)

>>26,27
It's not uncommon for employers to request an academic transcript together with a CV.

>>28
It should be.

>>28
Probably it's only my area which does this, but we have an "Employment" mailing list which all CS undergrads are placed on. Almost ALL job opportunities / advertisements request an academic transcript, though probably only because it's targeted toward students

>>23

No, where I work we make web and desktop applications for the financial sector. People get turned down for having CS degrees for 1 of 2 reasons:
1. We don't hire real computer scientists. We don't need computer science. We need computer software engineers. Example: We have apps that do Monte Carlo simulations. A computer scientist would develop a pseudo-random number generator for that simulation. We don't need a new implementation of a fucking random number generator, plenty already exist. We need an engineer to implement a random number generator.

2. Many poor schools teach computer software engineering but call it CS (which it is not). If the school doesn't know the difference, then their education is generally crap. These are the kinds of schools that teach Visual Basic 6 as a class still. VB6 died 6 years ago, it is legacy and not in high demand in the marketplace. There is no fucking reason to learn it. They should be teaching VB.Net which is a different language with a simialr syntax. I see this too often.

>>31
No, where I work we ENTERPRISE
You seem to be that angry guy who constantly RAGES about CS curricula (you are the only person in the world who uses the term `computer software engineering' in actual discussions, so you're quite easy to track). If you are not a troll, I pity you. You embody the  ENTERPRISE way of thinking.

>>31
Not this faggot again

>>31
I don't really understand what the difference is. What exactly do you, as a "computer software engineer" have to offer over a Computer Science graduate? You both pretty much know the same stuff, so is it just a working knowledge of UML and other "software methodologies"? The kind of stuff you can learn over a weekend?

>>34
Years of experience, for one.
I've delivered internet-enabled business applications to clients.
I've Integrated and synchronized with existing legacy infrastructure.
I know all of the latest web 2.0 technologies.
I know databases

>>34
You impertinent little shit. You don't want to mess with me, buddy. I have 12 years of experience, I was coding before you could even talk. You want to know what the difference is? About five back accounts, three ounces and two vehicles.

^{BUT _{HAVE YOU} READ} SCIP

>>32
I fucking lol'd, why did you quote the entire previous post word for word?

>>38
wat

>>36
You impertinent little shit. You don't want to mess with me, buddy. I have 20 years programming experience writing HUGE programs that you couldn't even begin to comprehend. I wrote an ANSI C compiler when I was just 12 years old.