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Getting the Most Out of a CS Curriculum?
Henry asks: "In September I start on a CS-type degree course. I am probably a fairly typical newbie programmer, in that most of my knowledge centers around scripting and high to very high level programming. There's much to choose from: languages, concepts, mathematics, and so on. From previous stories, I know that many readers have strong opinions on the failings and weaknesses of university courses and students. Apart from all of the coding that I will do, what can I do in the coming months to maximize what I get out of this? "
What's that? There is no such thing as "Computer Science alike". Either it is Computer Science, a degree that originally has nothing to do with using (or even programming) computers, but with the theoretical science involved in computation processes (disciplines like automata theory, Computability theory, Analysis of algorithms, Artificial intelligence, Formal language, etc., or in the math realm, linear algebra, Graph theory, etc.), or it is not. If studying the inner theories of computation processes is not for you, but you want to become a ready to market programmer, I advise you to choose a Technology Information degree or something more related. It is all up to what you are really aiming to.
Back in the day I was getting my CS degree in Brazil, where you are required to choose your major *before* you are admitted to the university, the dropout rate in the first 2 semesters was something like 20% (8 out of 40), because students choose CS thinking they would learn programming and advanced hackeries, and game programming when the truth was that they would have to go deep in calculus, algebra, data structures and everything "boring" first, in order to have the scientific basis to progress in the course. People just didn't understand that CS goal is not to produce developers to the market but researchers that have the necessary skill to learn everything they will eventually need to use. IT is a fast moving field, but the foundations of it are mostly static. Learn the foundations once, and keep in pace with the zeitgeist and you will be successful.