Exploring Comp Sci

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

Hi! I’m currently a junior in high school, and I’m planning on majoring in computer science in college. I’ve taken AP Computer Science and gone through the Ruby course on Codecademy, and I’m looking to create an application to gain more experience. I’m thinking to try coding an app, website, or game, but don’t really know where to start. Does anyone have any advice on some resources? Or any general suggestions?

2

There’s a few options, but one good project based way to learn is The Odin Project - it actually uses Ruby somewhat so you’re already part of the way there!

http://www.theodinproject.com/

In general, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to do all this stuff in high school - many start CS without any experience in college and do just fine - only do all this extra stuff if you want to, not because you feel you need to.

Good luck!

3

@klocs1 Before coding any phone applications or games, you should make sure you can really write code (I’ve seen more than enough code with poor formatting, magic numbers, concurrency and threading issues, lack of commenting that can easily introduce bugs into the software). Perhaps check out MIT’s 6.005 on OCW or equivalent courses elsewhere.

4

Thanks @PengsPhils for the link to The Odin Project and the reminder! The Odin Project looks like a really great resource for projects and learning code, which is something I really wanted to do so I think I’ll like this!! :slight_smile:

5

Thanks @MITer94 for the advice and reference to MIT’s 6.005! I understand your point about needing to first know how to write code, and I’ll definitely go through the MIT 6.005. It looks like a great course, and there’s definitely readings that I can learn a lot from haha. Plus, it’s one view into how college courses are structured, which is something I was curious about. :slight_smile: Are there any other related courses you would suggest following MIT’s 6.005?

6

@klocs1 Following 6.005, here are a few ideas:

6.006 or 6.046 (algorithms)
6.034 (Intro to AI)
6.813 (UI design)

There are also game design and AI competitions over IAP but that’s a different story.

7

Thanks @MITer94 ! Will also look into those after 6.005 :slight_smile: