<p>would this be a mistake? Should I take CS 3 first?</p>
<p>CS 3 is not offered for fall 2012.</p>
<p>You can preview CS 61A here:
[CS</a> 61A Home Page](<a href=“http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/sp12/]CS”>CS 61A Home Page)
[CS61A</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/archives.html]CS61A”>CS61A Home Page)</p>
<p>I was in the same situation at the beginning of last semester. I decided not to risk it and just take CS 10, which isn’t necessarily a direct, completely relevant prerequisite for CS 61A but it was a fun and easy class that got me pumped up about computer science and didn’t require any prior programming experience whatsoever. I’m in CS 61A right now and I’d be comfortable saying that CS 10 did a decent job preparing me for what I’m learning right now. </p>
<p>This is what the current CS 61A course information page has to say about CS 10:</p>
<p>“If you don’t feel ready for 61A, we recommend that you take CS 10: The Beauty and Joy of Computing, which is an introduction to computer science for non-majors (and majors needing more programming experience). The course will teach students how to program using BYOB (based on Scratch). It’s purely graphical, which means programming involves simply dragging blocks around, and building bigger blocks out of smaller blocks. But the course is far more than just learning to program! You’ll learn some of the ‘Big Ideas’ of computing, such as abstraction, design, recursion, concurrency, simulations, and the limits of computation. You’ll also see some beautiful applications of computing that have changed the world, as well as talk about the history of computing and where it will go in the future.”</p>
<p>That being said, I do think it’s possible to go straight into CS 61A without any programming experience, although you’ll definitely be at a disadvantage and have to tough it out. One of my classmates in CS 10 last semester (new to programming like me) was originally in CS 61A but had to switch out simply because he found it all too overwhelming, but that’s just one person’s experience. If you have the time and motivation to really take on CS 61A, then by all means go ahead and give it a shot. </p>
<p>Alternatively, you could just enroll in both CS 10 and CS 61A, try out both classes for a few weeks, and then keep the one you feel is the better fit for you.</p>