<p>So, it's official. They're switching from Scheme to Python in 61A and Harvey's not taking the class this year. Bummer!
How do you think that'll affect the course difficulty and quality?
Does it make more sense to take 3S now before directly skipping over to 61A, or is 3S still a worthless course as someone mentioned on another thread?</p>
<p>3S is not being offered anymore, unless you took a previous semester.</p>
<p>Alright, CS 10?</p>
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<p>CS 61A is not about the programming language; it is about the CS concepts.</p>
<p>But as far as I hear from seniors, doesn’t learning the language continue to be a backdrop throughout the course?</p>
<p>You can read the [Dive</a> Into Python 3](<a href=“http://www.diveintopython3.org/]Dive”>http://www.diveintopython3.org/) book on-line and do the examples and exercises with a Python 3 interpreter on your computer, if you are concerned about the language knowledge.</p>
<p>I’m already on it, but it’s not one of the easiest books for a guy who hasn’t touched Python before. (Though I have programmed in C)
It has a different approach to the language and I doubt I’ll cover much ground before the semester starts. Should I be worried or will I have time to pick up Python during the semester too?</p>
<p>You should be fine with previous programming experience and previewing the course textbook beforehand.</p>
<p>^I’m think most people won’t have any background in Python since it’s not the most common beginners language. I agree that the book isn’t a good one, it does not really introduce the language in a cohesive manner. But I’m sure we’ll pick it up once the semester starts haha</p>
<p>Python is actually a very good language to learn programming with because it employs many of the great things about Scheme. Although, closures in Python are very weak. </p>
<p>I personally know some of the TA’s teaching next fall and the Professor (John Denero) was the guy who had a major role in redesigning CS188 and was employed at Google before this job came up. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the quality of the class; it’s gonna be awesome. With any change however, there will be some kinks (and bugs) to work out.</p>
<p>Ah well, I hope he does run over the basics of the language in the first week or two. As for the course material, I found it kinda surprising that they ditched the orginal SICP textbook from MIT press since the course is still named after it haha. Perhaps, major changes are in order. I just hope they’re for the better and this turns out to be an interesting class.</p>
<p>I’m actually really interested in seeing how this course plays out. I went through The Little Schemer just to get some of the concepts of functional programming (just as a hobby), and I definitely can see huge advantages of using Scheme as apposed to any other language (it forces you to think in a very specific way). I really hope he implements the use of Python in a way that stays true to the original course (it does have lambdas and lots of functional features, but isn’t even remotely a functional programming language), even thought I can’t really fathom how that could be done. But as long as the quality of the course is maintained, I really could care less about the language that it’s taught in…</p>
<p>Yeah, the more I found out about this class, the more I feel like dropping it. I have little to no experience with programming and feel like this maybe too advanced. I’ve gone through some of the CS 10 lectures from spring 2011, but still have a hard time understanding the python book.</p>
<p>so what class should someone interested in CS(maybe a minor) who is a math major take? I have absolutely no programming experience and have no time to go through the python book before the semester(working a lot of hours and i am reviewing calc1,2,3, differential equations, and discrete mathematics before the semester starts).</p>
<p>so what class should someone interested in CS(maybe a minor) who is a math major take? I have absolutely no programming experience and have no time to go through the python book before the semester(working a lot of hours and i am reviewing calc1,2,3, differential equations, and discrete mathematics before the semester starts).</p>
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<p>CS 61A is the normal first course for CS majors and minors. It looks like there is nothing really for students who think they need some preparation other than CS 10… but science courses with a course number of 10 do not exactly have much of a reputation for rigor and depth for those majoring and minoring in the subject (they are typically overview courses for non-majors).</p>
<p>[CS</a> 10](<a href=“http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/su11/]CS”>UC Berkeley EECS | CS10 : The Beauty and Joy of Computing | Summer 2011) uses the [url=<a href=“http://byob.berkeley.edu/]BYOB[/url”>http://byob.berkeley.edu/]BYOB[/url</a>] programming language.</p>
<p>for information go here
[CS</a> 61A: The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs](<a href=“http://61a-fa11.appspot.com/]CS”>http://61a-fa11.appspot.com/)</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think the Python book is a good representation of how CS is usually taught. I don’t find the book very well written for the beginner, and I find watching youtube videos of Python tutorials or college lectures taught in Python much more helpful.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that there will be a super revamped reader to compliment this class. The python book is meh. I am kinda nervous since all I know are the basics of programming without going in depth into the theory.</p>
<p>Fingers crossed. -_-</p>
<p>Sent from my Galaxy S II.</p>