What should I study to be prepared? I am switching next semester, so i don't want to be lost when I start.

Figure out what class you'll take. then learn whatever is taught there.

It would probably be a good idea to start looking into Java or C++(i find that most universities start with one of these languages)

Discrete Mathematics. Look into Boolean Algebra. As far as actual programming, you will most likely be starting with either C++ or Java. I wouldn't stress too much on learning a language as of yet. Familiarizing yourself with the math and logic being the code will be more beneficial in the long run.

hmm. now that i think of it, why are you changing your major to computer science? i get the impression you know nothing about coding.

There's no reason he can't start learning now as long as he'll enjoy it

You can go in cold and be perfectly fine, speaking from my own personal experience. You just have to put in the work/study.

What major are you switching from? If math or physics, you should have a decent background.

What Minko said is very solid advice.

MY PERSONAL ADVICE:

Make friends. See how they solve problems, ask them for help (but don't EVER copy someone else's code), study with them and bounce ideas back and forth.

Learn to use Google and have some good resource websites (stuff like stack overflow, w3 schools, unix man pages etc).

If you have a problem that either you don't understand how the solution works or you cannot find a solution, post a question on a website like stackoverflow (or as a last resort, here).

I say 'here' as a last resort because this subforum only has a handful of active posters who know their shit (me not included) and they are busy people living their own lives so you cannot expect to be helped promptly here.

This post was edited by Eep on Feb 25 2014 10:49pm

It's very challenging, and allows you to be creative. Many programs you will write can be written a thousand different ways.

However, it is true what everyone says. If you do not pick up on math quickly you will struggle. Not because it uses a lot of math, but it uses the critical thinking and problem solving that math does. You will use math later on.



Your intro classes will do the same thing regardless of the language. Figure out what language it is and you can find very basic guides that dummies can understand. It will help you immensely when you first start.

Any language you take for intro will cover all the same basic shit no matter what language it is: print, scan, for loop, while loop, if/else statement, array

Learn about those and you've covered a semester. It's intimidating at first but now that I look back at it, it was stupidly easy.

This post was edited by GODBAAL on Feb 26 2014 12:22am