Hi guys! I am thinking about going into computer science at a university. (Loyola Maryland). I have an interest in computers and I love math and problem solving so I felt that it might be a good major for me. Only problem is that I have very little programming experience. Will I be okay? In addition, I still have time to at least learn the basics of a few languages before the school year starts in August, but I am nervous that I will still be way behind.
It’s totally fine to go into computer science without any prior experience – that’s what college is for! Plenty of people don’t realize their interest in computer science until they take their first college course. It would definitely give you a leg up to familiarize yourself with a programming language before taking an introductory class, though.
Thanks! That makes me feel a lot better. Is it better to familiarize myself with Python or JavaScript to prepare? Or any other language? I was just going to learn on CodeAcademy and KahnAcademy.
You can go through this course for a general overview of computer science:
http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/fa14/
Or this course that is the start of computer science courses for computer science majors:
http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/fa14/
I can’t see why you think you are ready to choose a career direction at this point, or what the rush is to decide today. The barrier to programming is low; that you are posting on this forum shows you have ready access to all the tools you need to start. And that’s the key, to start, see what’s its like to struggle with problems, to see if you experience any joy at solving them.
If your worry is whether you need to be an expert coder with years of experience in order to choose that major in college, the answer is no. But on the flip side, given that its is so easy to get some real-world exposure to programming to see if it holds your interest, deciding that “it might be a good major for me” seems founded on little more than the equivalent of tossing darts at a list of majors.
You can learn the basics through Microsoft Virtual Academy’s free videolessons. Try courses with FUNDAMENTALS in their titles 
Also, there will always be about 5 kids who’ve been coding since they learned to walk and dealing with them will be quite annoying (I studied at an IT school and came across this very problem) but any reputable professor will focus on those without much experience and help them catch up, so don’t worry and good luck!
When I took my first CS class in college, I had never done any programming before. Since then, I’ve been a tutor and a TA for that course for 5 semesters. I’ve seen everything from the coding-before-they-could-talk programmers to the never-programmed-before students. Intro CS classes start with no assumptions about your background programming knowledge. In a lot of cases, they want to teach you good programming practices, so it can be easier for some beginning students because they don’t have a build-up of bad habits. I wouldn’t be too concerned about being behind before you start. If you want to try something out, though, check out something like Codecademy’s Python lessons.
Haha. Thanks so much. I’m just going to enter the program and go for it. It looks like intro to computer science is the only computer science course I will take first semester (Other than calculus) so it would not be hard for me to change if I decide it is not for me. Worst comes to worse is that I will change my major. So yeah, I’m just going to go for it.