Computer Science majors....don't program for fun?

[YoungGun21]

I'm in CS101 at my university and I'm not a computer science major. I think I am probably one of the most knowledgeable kids in the class when it comes to the subject. Some of these kids have never used a command line. They didn't know anything about syntax. Don't most CS majors program a little a least before they go to college? This summer I taught myself Perl and a little C#, and those were just for hobbies. I mean math majors do math problems, if you are majoring in any business field then no doubt you probably read tons of news about that, so if you are a CS major.... Y U NO WRITE CODE

It's just confusing.

 

[Net]

CS101 is probably not part of the CS degree requirements. You probably have other non-major's in the class.

 

[Fandango21]

I started out not knowing anything about how to write code at all when I entered the Computer Science department. Other than deductive reasoning and logic, I had no prior experience programming, though I did and still do have an interest in it. You've learned on your own but I'm sure many are in the class to do just that, learn. Just because they haven't pursued it before does not mean they won't pick it up or enjoy it once they begin. I really like programming and learn more every day so I think that they could be testing the waters and many may not feel its the right path for them but plenty of people change majors and ideas, including myself.

 

[degibson]

Not everybody has a good opportunity to learn about programming pre-college. Besides, people in CS 101 aren't computer science majors... at best, they're aspiring computer science majors. More likely, they're there to fulfill some other degree requirement.

FWIW, I still program for fun. I do it all at work, however.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I would say even among CS graduates, or self-taught, or whatever... among people who make their living writing code, only a minority would fit the demographic that you're talking about. Not many people find passion or fun in their work, or do it on the side, or even try to be good at it. Consider yourself among the few, and know that if you go on to make your living writing code, your attitude about it will put you above most other people out there (e.g. you should have no trouble finding and keeping a job throughout your career).

 

[teb468]

I would code in my free time, but I'm not really creative so I don't have any ideas for projects I feel like working on. I'm also not going to put much time and effort into recreating the wheel.

Also, I like to do other things that are time consuming like working out, reading, video games to relax after coding all day. The only motivation I have to do any programming after work is to get paid for doing more work.

 

[BrightCandle]

Computer Science != Programming

Computer Science is mostly a maths discipline and the ability to use and program computers is going to be covered in different courses. Not everyone doing CS is there to go into programming, which is the engineering side of computers not the science and research side.

 

[homercles337]

Kids that know how to code before going to college test out of these intro classes.

 

[Train]

Computer Science != Programming

Computer Science is mostly a maths discipline and the ability to use and program computers is going to be covered in different courses. Not everyone doing CS is there to go into programming, which is the engineering side of computers not the science and research side.

Semantics aside, any class in the "Computer Science Dept" is likely centered around programming, especially in the 100 level.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

I'm in CS101 at my university and I'm not a computer science major. I think I am probably one of the most knowledgeable kids in the class when it comes to the subject. Some of these kids have never used a command line. They didn't know anything about syntax. Don't most CS majors program a little a least before they go to college? This summer I taught myself Perl and a little C#, and those were just for hobbies. I mean math majors do math problems, if you are majoring in any business field then no doubt you probably read tons of news about that, so if you are a CS major.... Y U NO WRITE CODE

It's just confusing.

Er...do you really think math majors are doing derivations for fun in their spare time? I mean, maybe the chemistry and biology majors are, if we use extremely liberal definitions of chemistry and biology, but really, I doubt it's all that common.

 

[Wyndru]

I work with a lot of devs that don't code outside of work, they are such losers...I'm not even a dev (janitor) and I do C# programming all night long (as a hobby of course). :awe:

 

[nickbits]

The ones that don't are the ones you don't want on your team in the real world.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

I don't get it. Do you apply a similar test to surgeons?
How many other professions have this "They should be spending their not at work time working at home" deal going?

 

[PowerYoga]

programming projects take a lot of time. My guess most CS majors play games as a hobby instead of spending 20 hours trying to figure out why their pet project isn't working.

 

[Markbnj]

I don't get it. Do you apply a similar test to surgeons?
How many other professions have this "They should be spending their not at work time working at home" deal going?

I think you'll find that a lot of people in high-end technical professions take their work home with them. Doctors, engineers, scientists, etc., all work in fields where you cannot remain at the top of your game simply showing up from 9 - 5. To some extent that's the difference between "labor" and a "profession." I don't work as a programmer, I am a programmer. I don't stop being one when I go home at the end of the day, although, with three teenagers and a house and two dogs I also don't write code in my off hours near as much as I used to either. But I still do sometimes, and I very often read technical articles or install and configure tools so I can play with them. When I started doing this everyone was like that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I was surprised when I got into college but it was pretty much the same for me. Nobody there really coded as a hobby. I was expecting to get there and being one of the least knowledgeable and I was looking forward to learning more advanced concepts. Turns out I was WAY ahead of everyone, even some of the teachers. I was way ahead of the material of all classes too. There was one teacher who I think really knew his stuff, but the course itself was just not as advanced as I had hoped.

We never really did anything fancy like sockets, graphics, or anything of that sort. We did OOP concepts, and that's as far as it got. We spent WAY too long on the basics like loops and if statements. IMO those concepts should be learned in weeks, not months. Sadly the teacher could not really go faster even if he wanted to because most of the students were barely up to speed with what we were learning. The tests used to always frustrate me too, they were always problems that we saw in the book. People would literally just memorize the code line per line on the problems they think would be on the test, and then write the test that way. People did not understand why I could do so well without studying.

 

[Absolution75]

If you have real programing experience, you could probably skip CS101/102. You probably won't learn much, but they need these courses to get everyone on the same level (you don't need any experience in any undergraduate major, so why would you for CS ^_^). I'd talk to your advisor about testing out of some of the courses, I skipped 3 classes due to prior experience - YMMV. Be careful though, you may think you know more than you actually do. There are a lot of random topics that you are going to unlikely cover outside of class.

Also, you won't ever do advanced graphics or serious projects. My biggest surprise about Computer Science was that you won't have any programming classes past your second year (except maybe a single class dedicated to covering like 5 different languages your junior year). Its all about concepts/understanding algorithms and being fairly well rounded. You'll likely spend more class time on user interface design than assembly, graphics, or programming.

 

[purbeast0]

in highschool i only took 1 semester of computer science, and it was when i was a senior. the most advanced thing i learned was a for loop. i had never used linux or a command prompt prior to college either. i went to college in 99.

before college i had done a LITTLE bit of "coding" but it wasn't really coding. it was more like making macros and stuff for irc/aol.

that said, now i don't really program for fun at all. i do software development as my career, so i'm doing it daily already. i actually do enjoy coding though. i don't mind going to work at all, and i actually look forward to it when i have a long term project i'm working on.

i have made a couple mobile apps on my own time, but that was both to gain knowledge and try to make some $$ on the side.

for fun, pretty much most of the stuff i do is away from a computer, since i'm at one 8 hours a day.

 

[purbeast0]

The ones that don't are the ones you don't want on your team in the real world.

eh i dont know bout that. i personally don't want to be working with someone who knows nothing other than coding. i enjoy shooting the shit with people at my job and talking about things outside of programming, which is what we all do all day at work.

in 7.5 years in the industry, i've never worked with anyone (to my knowledge) that codes on a regular basis as a hobby.

 

[PowerYoga]

The ones that don't are the ones you don't want on your team in the real world.

If you're coding 10 hours a day at work you won't want to code another 10 hours at home. trust me.

 

[Aikouka]

I found that typically the people that had coded before they came into classes were always the most competent. It sounds kind of obvious; however, it wasn't just the prior knowledge, but mostly that these kids seemed to have "the knack" for getting the logic right and just understanding what constructs work.

Having to tutor the kids that went into computer science because they "like using the computer" was probably the most painful thing about my time spent as a CS tutor.

 

[YoungGun21]

CS101 is probably not part of the CS degree requirements. You probably have other non-major's in the class.

Yes it is. CS100 is for nonmajors.

 

[YoungGun21]

Er...do you really think math majors are doing derivations for fun in their spare time? I mean, maybe the chemistry and biology majors are, if we use extremely liberal definitions of chemistry and biology, but really, I doubt it's all that common.

What I'm saying is that they prepare themselves for the classes they will be taking (the calculus sequence mostly).

And obviously I'm not saying ALL math majors do this, nor am I saying that NO CS major can program when they get to college. I am obviously just sampling one class, still though.

 

[Madwand1]

There's a difference between coding for fun and what you're expected to learn and do professionally. Maybe CS101 is different these days -- easier, as there's much greater access to computers and information and more programming done beforehand, etc., but <get off my lawn> in my day, it was a demanding course designed to separate the ones who might make it from everyone else, leaving the limited resources for those who could. Whether or not your CS101 is that, you should expect, I hope, some seriously challenging work up ahead which will make the hobbyist programming largely immaterial.

As for programming fun, I'm having fun at work when I design and implement something interesting and the way I want to. If I didn't, and that work was just a drag, it'd be time to get another job or maybe "code for fun" on my lawn.

 

[KIAman]

Wow, a lot of different opinions in this thread on this subject.

OP, when I went to college majoring in CS, none of the CS related courses taught programming. All of them ASSUMED you knew how already and simply gave you the tasks, assignments and projects and let you choose the most appropriate environment.

So, I have no clue what you saw, that is bizzare to me.