<p>I would like to know who the CS and CE parents/students are on the board so we can ask questions. </p>
<p>My son is going into CS, and will be taking a number of courses in the 200/300 level. He would like to ask questions about a few of the prof’s and the classes themselves. So I told him I would try to identify a few parents or upper classmen on CC to direct questions to. </p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>I think AL34’s son is a CS major. I don’t know if there are any upperclass CE majors/parents on this forum.</p>
<p>Yep, that’s us.</p>
<p>Daughter is minoring in CS so she has taken the 200 level classes and will be taking 300, but not 400.</p>
<p>AL34- has he taken ece 380 (digital logic) yet?</p>
<p>Rising junior CS major here. I can’t speak about the 200-level courses; I got out of them thanks to my AP credit. I have taken CS 315, CS 350, and ECE 380.</p>
<p>Hi Macamatic…my son is signed up for ECE 380, CS 260, CS 350, and Math 301 (discrete). </p>
<p>Concern is how heavy a class the 380 is, and whether or not the skipped classes with AP credits (he is out of CS 150, 160, and 250) you felt prepared for the 200/300 level classes. He has taken a number of other programming classes other than the AP CS A course. </p>
<p>Since he is taking these fall freshman year, he does not have anything to judge the classes by or anyone to ask about them. </p>
<p>Thanks for any fedback or advice you can offer!</p>
<p>Forgot about CS 260…I did take it. Here’s the deal: the AP CS A test requires proficiency in Java and object-oriented programming. CS 260, regardless of the name or description, is essentially an OOP class and CS 350 is a Java class. If he’s strong in those concepts he’ll skate through them…with one potential minor hitch that I myself ran into.</p>
<p>CS 150, 160, 250, and 260 all require Python. I didn’t know Python when I started and had some problems on my first 260 test because there were some language-specific questions. It’s an incredibly easy language to learn and use, but he should do it before he gets to the class. It’s unlikely that Marcus Brown (who is teaching both sections this fall) will allow him to substitute another language; my teacher (Monica Anderson) adores Java but wouldn’t let me use it. That said, I grew to love Python for the speed with which I could develop in it, but YMMV, and consider yourselves warned.</p>
<p>ECE 380 is a fun course, in my opinion. Let me make clear that I am far from the average CS student; I’ve been programming for a good decade now and all of this is second nature to me. Digital logic is really quite simple; it’s all 1s and 0s. There is a decent amount of material, but it’s just boolean algebra and applications thereof. Anybody who knows conditionals will sleep through the first third of the class. It gets really interesting when you get into counters and adders and the like, but most of the circuits are provided (i.e. you aren’t expected to come up with them yourself).</p>
<p>The teacher isn’t listed yet; hopefully you don’t get Bruce Kim (well-deserved rating of 1 on RateMyProfessors) - I got the information thanks to the book, the internet, and frankly ability. Again, YMMV here if he’s not a prodigal programmer but my friends in the class (some not even CS majors) seemed to find it pretty easy.</p>
<p>One other thing on CS: Marcus Brown is a very nice guy and a very helpful advisor. Unfortunately, I’ve heard less positive reviews of his ability as a teacher. I’ve never taken one of his classes myself, and this information comes predominantly from former (not current, if you catch my drift) CS majors, so take this with a grade of saw (sorry, BOL joke…couldn’t resist).</p>
<p>MATH 301, to me, was an absolute joke. I was told multiple times that it was just logic with different symbols and that proved to be more or less true. He’ll probably be amused by the truth tables after the laborious ones he’ll have to do much earlier in Digital Logic and the number functions (mod, div, floor, ceil, etc.) should be Mickey Mouse concepts to anyone with a substantial programming background.</p>
<p>I can count on one hand the number of lectures I attended and I got an A+ in that class, but I had Robert Moore (who is teaching one of the sections this semester and - score! - is teaching my MATH 302 class this Fall), and he grades entirely on tests. Luckily for you, I’ve had all three of the professors teaching it, albeit for different classes (Moore - 301, Trace - 237, Wang - 145 and 146). Let me know who he has and I’ll tell you what I can about him.</p>
<p>Macamatic- that is exactly the info he is looking for! Especially the heads up about python. The two of you sound very similar. He had been programming since 7 th grade or earlier. I will share your entire post with him- editing out the not going to class part of course!! Hr may have other questions I’ll come back with. </p>
<p>I know one question is about matlab. Have you seen that used much?</p>
<p>Macamatic- son is not even up to talk to him about your post yet. Just to see, I looked at python class at local cc. They have a non-credit online class available. So for kicks and giggles, I searched “python” st Alabama to see if they may have an nonlinear class for credit this summer. Two pages about the Burmese snake came up! I just found that funny. </p>
<p>Oh, the actual articles about the Burmese python was interesting too!!</p>
<p>Matlab is used sparingly in MATH 237 (Linear Algebra) and 238 (Differential Equations). I assume it’s used in some upper-level math courses but I changed majors after I realized I wasn’t enjoying math anymore. You won’t see any of it in the classes he’s taking. The only software he’ll need to use is Quartus II. It’s a digital logic circuit simulator used extensively in ECE 380. You can download the poorly-named Web Edition for free, which saved me a lot of time in the lab - I would prepare the projects ahead of time so I could just walk in, plug in my flash drive, and go.</p>
<p>Macamatic- son up, read your post to him, and he is very grateful for the info. Says he is not a huge fan of Python, but has not not really gotten into it that much. Will do an online course over the next few weeks to be prepared. And again, thanks you for the heads up. Looks like google has an online course…</p>
<p>His programming has been with Java and C++ mostly, but a number of other languages as well that I don’t know/remember since I am not a CS person. I had not heard of Python until you mentioned it…but he has, of course. </p>
<p>He has
Zhang for CS 350
Brown for CS 260
Wang for MAth 301</p>
<p>and the rest are TBA. Tried to get Trace for Math 301- but his section was closed.</p>
<p>Edit- saw your next post after posting the above…</p>
<p>He has already taken and has credit for Linear Algebra and Differential equations, so those are not a problem. Did not use matlab for them, or his Calc 3 class. That is why he was wondering about the use of it in other courses. Especially if he was expected to walk in with a working knowledge of it. </p>
<p>I’ll tell him to look for the Quartus II program online too.</p>
<p>I had Zhang for CS 350. Nice guy and not very difficult, but a little hard to understand (you get used to it). He even made his grading scale go up to 105%. Attendance is graded but paying attention isn’t and he emails you the sample code from every lecture, which in most cases is all your son will probably need. I didn’t learn much until the very end of that class, mainly semaphores and sockets. Of course, I ended up getting a free A in the class for my 5 on the AP test, but there were special circumstances relating to the tornado, so don’t get too excited.</p>
<p>Wang was also nice and hard to understand (again, you get used to it)…but I would never call the classes I had with him easy. His tests had tricky questions even going back to Calc I that caused me to lose a lot of points. Now, this doesn’t necessarily reflect on his 301 classes. I’ve heard that Honors Calc is just a LOT harder in general. One of my roommates freshman year did Honors Calc I but dropped to regular for II and said it was like night and day (and given that Calc II is pure evil, that says a lot). All that being said, he offered a 5% bonus at the end of the semester for perfect attendance. Making it to every session of a four-day-a-week class wasn’t going to happen for me, but 301 is only three and maybe he’s less of a slacker.</p>
<p>Neither teacher was extraordinarily serious. I remember one lecture where Wang made an analogy regarding disagreeing limits (that is, the limits from the left and right differ), saying “just like [how] if you have two girlfriend[s], you actually have none”. Oh, and his name should be pronounced “wong”. He said he’d take off a point if you pronounced it wrong.</p>
<p>As for Matlab, I believe MATH 237 and 238 use it specifically to give you an introduction. He might want to familiarize himself with it a little bit at some point but he won’t need it for this fall. I don’t remember what we did in Diff Eqs (something about estimating values) but we mostly just used it to find reduced row echelon forms (the command is rref) in Linear Algebra.</p>
<p>Final thought: I wasn’t a Python fan at first either. It just seemed…strange and violated some concepts I had pretty well ingrained in my head. Most languages are based on C syntax these days…but not Python. Still, I LOVE the grouping by indentation and everything was so easy and fast to do I learned to value it. There are a lot of things that are laughably easy in Python, taking one line where a dozen or more would be necessary in other languages. I don’t know what’s used in, say, 400-level CS courses, but there’s a lot of low-level programming so I’m expecting Assembly and C to be in the mix.</p>
<p>Kinda glad to know cs 350 attendance is graded. That is his only 8 am class, on TR and that will be incentive to get to it!!</p>
<p>Are the CS/CE programs any good?</p>
<p>Like all Eng’g disciplines at Bama, CS and ECE programs at Bama are ABET accredited.<br>
Keep in mind that any College of Eng’g that is ranked within the top 100 in the country is going to be good. That said, Bama is investing millions of dollars into its engineering disciplines to further develop its programs. Bama has a brand new mega-sized Science and Engineering Complex. </p>
<p>I don’t know enough about either program to say much. My son is Chemical Engineering, so he didn’t take CS and ECE courses.</p>
<p>ECE
[Electrical</a> and Computer Engineering - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://ece.eng.ua.edu/]Electrical”>http://ece.eng.ua.edu/)</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Engineering - Undergraduate Programs - Electrical and Computer Engineering - The College of Engineering - UA](<a href=“http://ece.eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/computer-engineering/]Computer”>http://ece.eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/computer-engineering/)</p>
<p>You might want to contact the Dept Head with specific questions
CONTACT: Dr. Timothy Haskew, 205/348-1766, <a href=“mailto:thaskew@eng.ua.edu”>thaskew@eng.ua.edu</a></p>
<p>CS</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Science - The College of Engineering - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://cs.ua.edu/]Computer”>http://cs.ua.edu/)
Contact Dr. Cordes with your questions about CS and about the Freshman Engineering Program (FEP). He’s the CS dept head, and also he’s the Director of the FEP.</p>
<p>Dr. David Cordes
Department Head
Professor
Director, Freshman Engineering Program
Computer Science
Freshman Engineering Program</p>
<p><a href=“mailto:cordes@cs.ua.edu”>cordes@cs.ua.edu</a></p>
<p>Maybe some of you math people can lend advice on taking Diff Equations (Math 238) vs Linear Alg (Math 237).
My S is taking Calc III this term and doing well and loves it - he is SO glad he took AP credits and skipped Calc I and II. He now needs both of the above classes for his major going forward. Technically he could take both in the Spring (and has room to do so)…or is there benefit to taking 1 first and the other 2nd? Which one is more difficult…how time consuming are they…and any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>It appears to me than many students take Diff Eq first, with some taking both at once. Linear Algebra/Matrix Theory (the courses were combined a couple years ago) is partially proof-based, which some students find difficult if their last exposure to proofs was in high school geometry.</p>