Hardest Part of CS Major

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I was wondering what people find to be the hardest part of majoring in C.S. Namely which courses tend to be the most difficult. Although if coping with capricious professors trump the difficulty of certain classes then feel free to say so. I've just gotten out of high school and I'm currently taking Engineering Physics I (calc based physics) and Calc II and I'm wondering how much harder it gets.</p>

2

<p>YOu could swap out “CS” for any other subject or activity and the true answer would be the same. It depends upon your aptitude and interests.</p>

3

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<p>This is pretty much the answer. </p>

<p>You could survey 200 CS majors, and you MAY get 200 different answers. Just the math area alone will net you many different answers. There are folks who think Calc II is easier than Calc I. Some CS majors LOVE compiler theory/design but hate operating systems theory and vice-versa.</p>

<p>It’s what makes the sciences so interesting.</p>

4

<p>I agree. It would depend on the person. For my daughter, the required “Data Structures” course prompted her to drop the idea of CS minor.</p>

<p>Programming courses can include intense projects. That can be grueling even for students with strong aptitude.</p>

5

<p>The hardest part of a CS major is fighting off the ladies. It’s like an Axe Body Spray commercial.</p>

<p>(edit: that was not meant as a slam against CS, which I would love to do and don’t think is nerdier than anything else. Nerdiness wasn’t even my implication. I was just being flippant.)</p>

6

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<p>I’d say data structures has been the hardest class too… But I think that is more due to the fact that the class was horribly organized and not designed to teach you but to test you, rather than the fact that data structures is inherently the hardest topic.</p>

7

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<p>That depends on how a particular class was taught and has nothing necessarily to do with the CS major in general.</p>

8

<p>I think the most unique part of a CS degree is being able to decompose a problem, and tell the computer step by step what you want it to do. The computer is: Do as I say, not what I mean. If you can’t handle the literalness of a computer, the decision rules (what to do in every circumstance, or how to handle every circumstance, how to define a circumstance), then you will be lost.</p>

<p>Physics and Calc are part of every engineering degree, not just CS. You could get into a field of CS that never uses Physics or Calculus (like banking/accounting systems).</p>

9

<p>Setting up my environment or, more commonly, trying to figure out wth I’m supposed to do -_- Once I start coding correctly, the ball rolls for a while.</p>

<p>Also,</p>

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10

<p>Alright thanks guys. I appreciate all of the responses.</p>