Why are so many people taking CS61A without previous programming experience?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>Serious question. Whyare so many people taking CS61A without previous programming experience?</p>

<p>When I went to calso, except for 2 people, everyone else going to major in CS HAD NO EXPERIENCE. Is it because of jobs? </p>

<p>I know everyone that got into berkeley is smart, but if you have no experience, you are going to get screwed. </p>

<p>I have 2 years JAVA and 1 year python experience and it actually took me a while (just finished yesterday) to finish the whole year's homework & labs for both 61A and 61B. Got a 5 on the AP CS test too but that test was stupidly easy/ math+ logic based/ no programming until free response.</p>

<p>Homework in 61B gets exponentially harder!!! </p>

<p>also, I heard there's going to be a pop quiz on the first day. be prepared :)</p>

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<p>Shouldn’t this lower the curve and help you?</p>

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<p>is doing cs 61a with no experience really that bad. becuz i dont have any and i dont wanna get “screwed” lol</p>

4

<p>Is there an easier CS class? </p>

<p>One of the things I’m looking forward to in college is the opportunity to become acquainted with computer science. It’s such a cool subject with so many practical uses.</p>

<p>Are you telling me Berkeley doesn’t help students new to their disciplines become familiar with them? Because that’s kind-of a bad thing to not do. </p>

<p>I know top colleges do it, especially for Comp Sci, where access to precollegiate training really IS a rarity.</p>

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<p>Anyone reading this thread for any reason that hasn’t taken 61A should take CS 10, end of discussion, period.</p>

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<p>61A doesn’t require experience. It just makes the first 2 weeks rougher for those who are new at programming. Also, blame the increase in those without experience on the removal of CS3… I’ve heard CS10 is turd when it comes to preparing for 61A.</p>

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<p>…Problem?</p>

<p>Why so serious when you’re not in charge of what people have to take?</p>

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<p>^lol nope</p>

<p>gives me a better curve :)</p>

<p>btw I also made this thread to ■■■■■ you guys and brag about how i finished the entire year’s homework. :smiley: happyface</p>

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<p>Philovitist, CS 10 is the class that is for pure beginners.
Nonetheless, people who are good with logic and math might be able to do well in 61A.</p>

<p>AS for why it is so crowded, this is the reason: Everyone wants to be the next Mark Zuckerberg and/or make lots of money (whether or not this is true is irrelevant).</p>

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<p>CS 61A doesn’t have a curve system… That’s a bit weird since when I took cs61a last fall, most people had a load of experience :|!</p>

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<p>This thread did a pretty good job of boosting my self esteem regarding maturity.</p>

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<p>@Dragoon: I’ve heard several times that Java doesn’t particularly help with 61A, since Java’s a very high level language. So I’m gathering you didn’t find this to be the case?</p>

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<p>This is a remarkably constructive thread…</p>

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<p>Depends on the person. taking (and doing well) in 61A without prev experience has been done by many and is completely possible if you are smart,logical and confident in similar abilities you apply to math.</p>

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<p>in 61A, its not the programming that’s hard, it’s remembering all the concepts. Basic programming is easy to pick up.</p>

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<p>@XCyoungX
Knowing Java helps. 61A is in Python. Java is probably slightly lower-level than Python (lower-level in CS does not mean “easier”, btw).</p>

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<p>@XCyoungX</p>

<p>I said I already had one year of python experience.
Took me a week to finish all the homework for 61A(python)
and 2 months for 61B(JAVA)</p>

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<p>An alternative is to take CS 61AS for 2 units the first semester, then complete the course the second semester.</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/61a.html]What’s"&gt;http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/61a.html]What’s</a> Going On with 61A?<a href=“see%20the%20extended%20description%20at%20the%20bottom”>/url</a></p>

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<p>@dragoon: A week to finish all the 61a HW? That’s pretty good considering it’s a semester-length class. I have some Java experience; do you think learning Python as well helps a lot? I keep hearing from ppl. that picking up a new programming language shouldn’t be the hard part.</p>

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<p>Good call about CS61AS, ucbalumnus. Also, while even many who took CS10 will denounce that it was a waste of time, easy to learn, etc., I can say I learned a lot in class, and that it’s an easy A technical course if you work for it.</p>