I’m an incoming transfer as a pre cog sci major and I still need to finish the PIC classes which are 10A, 10B and either 15, 20A or 40A. I’m currently taking an intro to programming class at a CCC and it’s not as bad as I thought. I think it’s the teacher who’s making it really easy. I would really like your opinions on these PIC classes such as if its killer or how much time consuming it is and the difference between a program in computing and a comp sci class.
Thanks (:
I don’t currently attend UCLA (incoming transfer as well), but I do like programming. Have you checked out Justine Bateman’s tumblr blog called “Get a College Life?” She sometimes posts snippets of her work. I know for sure she took CS 31 and CS 32, so if you look at her posts on those, I’m sure you can get a pretty good idea.
The course info for PIC 10ABC would make me imagine that they are comparable to CS 31 or CS 32 in the concepts they cover, so the difference must lie in the intensity. I recall Justine making a game as one of her projects and it scared the heck out of me with how involved it looked. It took two of my CC courses (Object-Oriented C++ and Data Structures) at my college just to be equivalent with CS 32, so I just reckon that they cover a lot in a little bit of time.
I hope some other people with actual experience with these classes are able to help you out better.
What kind of programming are you taking by the way? 
@zettasyntax thanks for the info (:
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
Introduction to computer programming: Algorithm design, flow charting, and debugging; elements of good programming style. Course may be instructed in any programming language.
that’s the class i’m taking right now.
I plan on taking INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE
Introduction to computer science: Architecture of digital computers, design of algorithms for solving various problems, and basic skills in computer programming.
this class during the summer. so both of these classes would be equivalent to one course. but I don’t know what course specifically
Those courses do sound mighty helpful. I took my courses at Los Angeles Valley College and East Los Angeles College. Algorithm design was definitely my issue at first. We had to write a program to make this little blackjack game and it was over 200 lines. The professor managed to do it in like 30 lines, so that was sure embarrassing 
What programming language are you taking? A lot of students at my school hated Java because of how verbose it is, but it is a bit cooler than C++.
Oh, and I think ucla uses Absolute C++ for CS 31. Might be a good textbook to look up if you want idea of what you could possibly expect in a PIC course. That text seems to go at a faster pace than Problem Solving with C++ by the same author.
I’m taking python. Loll the struggle of cs.