<p>I will be a freshman at Georgia Tech this fall and I need some help regarding computer engineering. I recently decided that I want to pursue computer engineering after being accepted as an undeclared major. However, I still have some questions. Is computer engineering broken up into computer hardware engineering and computer software engineering? If so, what is the difference between computer software engineering and computer science?</p>
<p>Also, I get the feeling that I may be at a disadvantage going into a computer major because I have no significant experience with computers or programming. Can you guys give me some things that I should/can learn during the summer to either catch up or prepare myself with (programming languages to learn, books to read, etc.)?</p>
<p>Python is a pretty popular programming language in the software industry. Many colleges use it in their intro CS classes. Here is link to a nice interactive tutorial.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about Georgia Tech. But for most colleges, computer engineering is focus on both hardware and software where computer science only focus on software.</p>
<p>I think CompE has a stronger electrical component than what you may think of computer engineering. After all, it’s based largely on digital signals, architectures, microprocessors, circuitry, etc. Check out this link for the classes you have to take as an ECE major: [Bachelor</a> of Science in Computer Engineering Degree Requirements](<a href=“http://www.ece.gatech.edu/academics/undergrad/cmpe_require.html]Bachelor”>http://www.ece.gatech.edu/academics/undergrad/cmpe_require.html)
Computer Engineering is part of the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and that’s it, no further breaking down into software or hardware. </p>
<p>Computer Science (CS) is about languages, algorithms, intelligence, and how to implement them. At tech, it’s broken down into 8 threads, which are I think sort of like concentrations/areas of interest. This is just the gist and my understanding though, since I’m neither ECE nor CS.</p>
<p>In my opinion, it’s not really a strong necessity to have background knowledge going into the program. After all, they offered you admission so they believe in your ability to learn the material well with or without prior knowledge, which is what college’s really about. </p>
<p>I really like the way tma585 explained the difference between Computer Engineering and CS. The school does make a really good distinction between the two fields.</p>
<p>I’ve noticed that computer science and computational media have their college dedicated to them called the college of computing (I think this is because there is debate over whether computer science should be considered a science or an engineering). Furthermore, computer engineering is in the same school as electrical engineering, the school of electrical and computer engineering.</p>