<p>Sorry, I've seen this topic before but couldn't find any threads unless they were from forever ago, so I wanted to know how much work it will be for me in 61A this fall without any programming experience? And if maybe I should just do CS 10? I'm pretty set on just doing 61A and if it's too hard I can just switch to 10 but it would be hard enough already with my current schedule.</p>
<p>Several people in my 61A class had absolutely no prior programming experience. If you’re going to take it P/NP and you’re able to put a lot of time into understanding the material, then I think you’ll be fine. But getting an A in that class with zero prior experience will be really, really hard, --bordering impossible-- for someone who is taking a tough load in addition to 61A.</p>
<p>will ap computer science A be sufficient for prior experience?</p>
<p>I agree with Wacker1990, even my friends with massive amounts of programming experience had to spend a lot of time to ensure an A in 61A. </p>
<p>But it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to get a B without programming experience.</p>
<p>@berkicome- I definitely think that would be sufficient.</p>
<p>so would cs 10 prepare someone to be able to get an A? I’m thinking of possibly minoring in CS(math major) but i have absolutely no programming experience</p>
<p>^same</p>
<p>will taking cs10 make it much easier to get an A in cs61a?</p>
<p>I don’t think too many people have experience with CS 10 as preparation for CS 61A, because most CS students without prior experience in the past have taken CS 3/3S (before CS 3 and 3S were removed from the curriculum).</p>
<p>Any prior programming experience will help for CS61A.</p>
<p>Programming involves a steep learning curve, but once you’ve done some, the learning curve for 61A is much easier to tackle.</p>
<p>But isn’t CS 10 based on a purely graphical programming language (BYOB)? Does that really count as programming experience?</p>
<p>yea i was going to take cs3 but then it was cut and i now feel like there is nothing to prepare me to do well in 61a</p>
<p>I wonder if Engineering 7 (you could take it pass/nopass) might be considered good preparation for 61A. By all accounts, it’s a much easier class, and it’s useful too (I use matlab all the time…). What do you EECS majors think about this?</p>
<p>i looked at the ap compsci A syllabus and i see recursion on there. is that the main topic that i need to master before coming into 61a? or can i just have a brief understanding of recursion? is there anything else that would help prepare for 61a but is not in ap compsci?</p>
<p>Programming experience is programming experience, whether or not it’s graphical. It’s about being able to think in a mindset that allows you to instruct (dumb) computers on how to do something.</p>
<p>E7 is great preparation because it’s basically a full-fledged programming course, just not to the level of rigor expected for CS61A. However, while E7 is meant to run alongside CS61A, CS10 is meant to run before it.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I have to say: CS10 is fun! On the contrary, CS61A is only fun if you can see the inner fun through all the parentheses and theories.</p>
<p>Programming is really a skill that has to be built; it’s not something that you can learn with just a lot of studying. I know friends who thought they’d take 61A for an extra challenge, and after putting their lives into studying, going to office hours, getting help from classmates/friends, and using tutors, they still managed to only get a D- despite their best efforts. This is because they didn’t understand programming. On the other hand, those who came in with programming experience generally did well when they put in what’s expected of a 4-unit course.</p>
<p>You can preview CS 61A on your own here:</p>
<p>Spring 2011 (Scheme-based): [CS</a> 61A Home Page](<a href=“http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/sp11/]CS”>CS 61A Home Page)
Fall 2011 (Python-based): [CS</a> 61A: The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs](<a href=“http://61a-fa11.appspot.com/]CS”>http://61a-fa11.appspot.com/)</p>
<p>The CS concepts should be similar regardless of the language used. Note that the books:</p>
<p>[Structure</a> and Interpretation of Computer Programs](<a href=“http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html][i]Structure”>http://www-mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html)
[Dive</a> Into Python 3](<a href=“http://diveintopython3.org%5D%5Bi%5DDive”>http://diveintopython3.org)</p>
<p>and the Scheme and Python language interpreters are free (download the language interpreters so that you can do the exercises and examples on your computer).</p>
<p>Ugh so what should I do, switch to CS 10? I’m so worried now! I already have Math 53, Physics 7A, and an R1A to do and I’m not an EECS major yet but planning to switch into it. CS 10 P/NP?</p>
<p>If I were you I would go with E7 p/np, but I guess CS10 works too.</p>
<p>I feel like there’s nothing sufficient enough to prepare you for CS61A if you’ve never had coding experience in HS before :</p>
<p>@fl1p1npr1d3
so is ap computer science A enough?</p>
<p>Yes, I believe AP Comp. Sci would be sufficient enough since it covers recursion and you’ve gotten some coding experience</p>