<p>What does it take to succeed as a CS major? How difficult is it? I'm considering computer science but the most coding i've ever done is a few lessons on code academy...</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>they teach you all you need to know it depends on the person really. if your good at math you will probably do well.</p>
<p>In general, they start from the basics, so that the classes are accessible to people with no previous programming experience. Sometimes, having a ton of previous experience can be detrimental. I TA an introductory CS class, and I have seen students who are very good at one language struggle to transition to the functional programming that we teach because they get so locked into a mindset. Sometimes people can also develop awful coding habits that are hard to break.
To universities, you will be a blank slate, and there’s nothing wrong with that! You don’t even have to be super-good at math. Introductory CS doesn’t require any math beyond algebra. If you are really interested, go for it.</p>
<p>^That’s one reason I didn’t teach my kid anything about CS and I’m in the field. I let her learn it on her own. But for CS, not everybody starts at ground zero like engineering, some kids have zero hours of programming, some have 8,000 or more hours of programming, I think eventually it will converge. For some kids, it will never converge and that’s when you know CS is not for you.</p>
<p>Depending on the school, there can be a fair amount of math involved in the major as well. At my school (which might be an anomaly), being good at coding helps very little in the introductory classes, but being good at math is an enormous advantage. However, I think the balance between the theoretical and applied parts of CS will depend on the school, so you should see how much math would be involved in a CS major at the school(s) you’re considering.</p>