<p>I have never taken Java, but I'm planning on majoring in Civil Engineering, and I saw some schools require couple units of programming classes, so, do I need to take APCS in order to get into the major/skip that college class?
If I don't have any programming knowledge, would that affect my college apps? (I'm a Junior now)</p>
<p>Depends on your school. Some don't even accept the APCS anymore. In addition, I doubt you will be using much Java in Civil, and lack of programming knowledge shouldn't affect your apps. Take it if you want some experience in the algorithmic style of object-oriented programming, but other than that, it won't be of too much help to you.</p>
<p>not really.. they expect you to learn and it would be good to have some background info. but not really needed</p>
<p>After this year, AB is being removed from the syllabus (unless I'm very mistaken).</p>
<p>CS A is pretty much useless in college. It teaches nothing. You'd end up taking a more in-depth course, if you so choose. It'd be a good introduction, but it will by no means put you ahead of another student who never took the course.</p>
<p>While true, sometimes the AP test may be used for placement out of a very boring intro course. I would research your prospective college and see what system they have in place or will have in place when you attend.</p>
<p>I checked the colleges that I'm interested in, I found:
All UCs: I have to take C++
Urbana Champaign, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Cornell and Carnegie Mellon can give credit for the computing requirement.
So, should I just take it? The class in my school has no pre reqs or anything like that and it teaches people from the beginning JAVA stuff.</p>
<p>Taking it wouldn't hurt.</p>
<p>Take it. I took Comp Sci, and beyond the actual programming itself, I mainly learned to be able to visualize problems, see them in new ways that I know how to solve, and actually follow through with those visions. It's all logic, whether or not you choose to pursue the programming in any other way.</p>
<p>CMU takes APCS?! I'm surprised.</p>
<p>I believe only for Civil, not sure about other majors.</p>