Computer Science for the Sciences. course?

[Brown Arrow]

what do you do in this course I'm taking it in the winter what's it about, what should i do ahead of time of it gives me some advantage. talking realistically.

this is the course code CSCA20H for UofT S.C. if you anyone took it tell me something about it.

edit: do i have to know programing.. because i have never done it before, its a requirement for my specialist

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I found a course syllabus for this one here..
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~csca20/lectures/w1/w1.pdf

and if you go here
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~registrar/calendars/calendar/Computer_Science.html
you will see that the course is the first in a series of programming/CS classes.

Just glancing over the syllabus, it looks like a beginners course detailing the basics of programming, the theory of giving instruction, and the concept and idea of functions.

It says that you can take the course at the same time as "CSCA48H Introduction to Computer Science", which you may not require. Both of those are required to begin taking the other CSC courses though.

You should be just fine.

 

[Brown Arrow]

quark have you taken this course before?

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I have taken what appears to be the equivalent at my school (COP 3223).

The Syllabus is almost identical, if you have a basic knowledge of algebra you should have no problems.

Edit: I missed the question in the main post. You might benefit by working through a very basic "JAVA for beginners" type tutorial or book.

 

[Brown Arrow]

i just saw that the course is based on python, so learning beginners JAVA would help?

b/c I am not familiar with computer languages

 

[Jokerhelper]

i just saw that the course is based on python, so learning beginners JAVA would help?

b/c I am not familiar with computer languages

I just took what would probably be the same course last semester, since we also used Python. Python is a programming language that from my understanding was designed specifically for the purpose of having easy and intuitive coding, which is why it's often taught to beginners. In my case it was a first year course and had no pre-requisites or needed any background experience. If that's your case as well then you should be fine; I'm pretty sure large part of entering students have little to no experience in programming (myself included). If anything, if you are a Windows user you might want get a feel of Linux since you'll likely be using Python on that OS, and in general understand the basics of entering orders from a command line.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

Oh, I'm sorry.

I read "Python" in your syllabus, I don't know why I typed JAVA.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

what do you do in this course I'm taking it in the winter what's it about, what should i do ahead of time of it gives me some advantage. talking realistically.

this is the course code CSCA20H for UofT S.C. if you anyone took it tell me something about it.

I know you have already had useful replies to this thread - but something else needs to be addressed. The course you are asking about is one that you are about to take. It is offered at your university. There might be some 'standard' content courses that are roughly the same across lots of universities - but at the end of the day, the material you will be examined on is that which your professor chooses to ask you about. It will vary between all courses, everywhere.

The best place to find information about courses you are taking from your own university is from your university - not to hope some random person on a forum is in your class. Check the course website for information about the syllabus. How did you come to select this course, for instance? You must have had some inkling as to what it would be about, and why. And remember: all universities and professors are different. The fact that someone found an 'equivalent' course easy at a different institution means absolutely nothing to you.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I know you have already had useful replies to this thread - but something else needs to be addressed. The course you are asking about is one that you are about to take. It is offered at your university. There might be some 'standard' content courses that are roughly the same across lots of universities - but at the end of the day, the material you will be examined on is that which your professor chooses to ask you about. It will vary between all courses, everywhere.

The best place to find information about courses you are taking from your own university is from your university - not to hope some random person on a forum is in your class. Check the course website for information about the syllabus. How did you come to select this course, for instance? You must have had some inkling as to what it would be about, and why. And remember: all universities and professors are different. The fact that someone found an 'equivalent' course easy at a different institution means absolutely nothing to you.

I pulled that information from his schools syllabus.

 

[EM64T]

Have fun debugging python! :) Also Java is very hard for beginner. Just a hello world exe has 7 lines of code. If you still have time, go and learn some basic qbasic or liberty basic before python. U can also load python shell for free and practice a bit before class. Hope you gotten help!

 

[fasterthanjoao]

I pulled that information from his schools syllabus.

Exactly - it's what he should have done himself