The only courses CS majors didn't have to take which engineers and Math majors did have to take was Calc. III (3d stuff) and Linear Algebra.
Are you sure about this or are you mistaking Linear Algebra for Differential Equations? I graduated from CSUS with a CS degree and was required to take Calc I and II, plus Linear Algebra and Discrete Structures. I voluntarily took Calc III as well.
I am currently in school as a CS major. The first programming language I ever used was C++ and almost all of my classes since have also been in C++. I had never programmed before collage, yet didn't find the language that difficult to pick up. While I would love it if my school offered Java classes as an option, I don't think that Java should be the core of CS. C/C++ gives students not only a good understanding of the way a computer works, it also gives a good base for learning other languages. No, it's not the easiest thing out there, but do we really want just anyone getting in (and staying in) the CS major?
Personally, I don't consider anyone a CS major until they have passed both assembly and data structures. They are two of the most difficult classes to pass (at my school anyway) and they really teach you how to program.
I sympathies with people outside the major that are required to take a beginning programming class, but don't think we should make our major easier just for them. Maybe if Java was offered as an elective in CS they could take that instead. Also, there is the issue of OOP. Java is probably a better example of that then is C++, and maybe Java would be a better language to use in OOP classes, but don't change all of the curriculum.
Personally I would like to see more languages taught in CS, but I still believe that C/C++ should be the core of the major.
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The only courses CS majors didn't have to take which engineers and Math majors did have to take was Calc. III (3d stuff) and Linear Algebra.
Are you sure about this or are you mistaking Linear Algebra for Differential Equations? I graduated from CSUS with a CS degree and was required to take Calc I and II, plus Linear Algebra and Discrete Structures. I voluntarily took Calc III as well.
I am currently in school as a CS major. The first programming language I ever used was C++ and almost all of my classes since have also been in C++. I had never programmed before collage, yet didn't find the language that difficult to pick up. While I would love it if my school offered Java classes as an option, I don't think that Java should be the core of CS. C/C++ gives students not only a good understanding of the way a computer works, it also gives a good base for learning other languages. No, it's not the easiest thing out there, but do we really want just anyone getting in (and staying in) the CS major?
Personally, I don't consider anyone a CS major until they have passed both assembly and data structures. They are two of the most difficult classes to pass (at my school anyway) and they really teach you how to program.
I sympathies with people outside the major that are required to take a beginning programming class, but don't think we should make our major easier just for them. Maybe if Java was offered as an elective in CS they could take that instead. Also, there is the issue of OOP. Java is probably a better example of that then is C++, and maybe Java would be a better language to use in OOP classes, but don't change all of the curriculum.
Personally I would like to see more languages taught in CS, but I still believe that C/C++ should be the core of the major.