<p>Right now, I don't plan to work in industry. I want to do research with renewable energy, solar cells, or polymers. What applications does C++ (or Matlab) have in these research areas?</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide whether to keep or drop my com sci minor</p>
<p>To be honest, I don’t think you will need C++. Not a bad thing to learn though.</p>
<p>Matlab is more likely. Its just a programming language you can use for a lot of mathematical calculations and whatnot. It does not have anything to do specifically with a research area, but any field will require some number crunching, and matlab is a good tool for that. </p>
<p>Some scripting languages like Perl might also come in handy…</p>
<p>how much difference would it make if I take the com sci minor? Would it affect my grad school admission very much do you think?</p>
<p>It would not be a factor at all.</p>
<p>Graduate school cares about what you did, and not what you learned. In another words, something on your resume, which usually means something special in your letters of recommendations.</p>
<p>Maybe you can develop an application for one of your professors. I am not talking about instrumental applications. That will be totally amazing if you can actually write one (you can become a millionaire if you do). </p>
<p>C++ is a general purpose programming language. I don’t know what that has to do with “application”. You can write the front-end with C++, and use Matlab for calculation. You can use the APIs.
Moreover, most applications used in research are not open-source, and so you can’t improve the software. What you should be asking IMO, is whether writing an application yourself worth the time. Certainly yes. Do people use C++ in research area? Yes. There are many other alternatives to C++. People still write stuff in C, Java, Python, Perl, whatever. You name it.</p>
<p>I’m still a little confused. Say I do get a minor in com sci. What exactly would I be doing with that skill?</p>
<p>Let talk about Matlab. If you are familiar with Matlab, then you know you can actually make an application out of Matlab, using Matlab syntax and library.</p>
<p>Maybe your research professor needs to determine something but no applications at the time can do it yet (I am talking about simple case), so the professor has to go through a bunch of manual calculations. Extremely troublesome and time consuming. If you are very good with Matlab, and you know Matlab can certainly do the tasks, then you can propose your ideas to your professor. </p>
<p>Coming back to C++, or any programming language (including Matlab): Maybe you want to write an application specifically for the research group that you work for because you can design the software to meet the requirement of the group. Moreover, in more complex research, there are simply no software, no application, and no algorithm yet written. </p>
<p>As an ACM members, I received a seasonal journal. The Fall volume focus on programming and research. But you have to have the access, meaning either membership, or college library access (maybe).</p>
<p>One article discusses “bacterial computing”, where multidisciplinary group of students (including undergraduate students) from Missouri Western State University and Davidson College designed and constructed a proof-of-concept experiment to solve the “Hamitonian Path Problem”. This group is lead by four professors, two mathematicians and two biologists. One of the mathematicians lectures on bioinformatics, which makes sense because bioniformatics involves math, computer science and biology. </p>
<p>Obviously, coding involves. </p>
<p>What I am suggesting is that very often research involves computing and modeling. Most modeling today are done with computers, or actually on computers.</p>
<p>If you have time, and you are doing well with computer science courses, then don’t drop. Computer science is mathematics (applied). But to “write software, application”, that’s software engineering, which means beyond hello world and writing classes.</p>
<p>so by simple apps, I assume it can be done by plugging and chugging numbers into a formula. That’s very easy.</p>
<p>On the other hand, com sci introduces me to object oriented programming. Stuff with inheritance, data structures, you know? By your informative description, there doesn’t seem to be any need for these things in scientific research, would you agree?</p>
<p>Do you think taking a class that gets me familiarized with matlab is sufficient to meet all the programming needs I’m ever going to need? as oppose to pursuing a com sci minor.</p>
<p>I think a comp-sci minor is overkill. Do it only if you’re interested.</p>
<p>CS minor will introduce you to theories that you don’t need as a Chem. E. What you need are SKILLS, and in fact reading a matlab tutorial and hopping on a computer to work through some examples would probably be enough.</p>
<p>thanks very much for you input. Very informative.</p>
<p>yea I emailed a grad school adviser, and she said that the main benefit of doing a com sci minor, for me, is to demonstrate problem solving skills… mmm not worth it, considering my math minor would probably do the same thing, my research professor already knows I’m smart, and com sci is a pain in the a55 to learn.</p>