What Advice is There to Become a Successful CS Student?

[realism877]

I just finished my intro to programming course, and I have to take intro to C next spring. The first course was rough, but I got through it. The problem I have is reading an assignnment provided by the professor and understand what it is asking.

Any advice is there for improvement?

 

[Ivan92]

I think you meant you didn't understand the reading. You should read and mess around with code you have. I have taken 2 programming classes so far and it is important to write out code and just mess with it until you get what you want.

 

[realism877]

I think you meant you didn't understand the reading. You should read and mess around with code you have. I have taken 2 programming classes so far and it is important to write out code and just mess with it until you get what you want.

Yeah, I have a hard time understanding the math problems.

 

[Adyssa]

What kind of math problems? I'm studing CS, and it's rough at times, but you have to practise a lot. Write some programs for fun. :)

As for maths, I'm no expert, but you could try writing a program to solve some simple maths problems (like Euclid's GCD, or Pascal's Triangle)

C is good, I'm learning it myself (a few courses in now), it's a bit more tedious than say Java, for some things (like string processing) but you get the hang them. One thing I've found helpful is to keep a library (.h) file of useful functions that I write, so I can use them later (like clearing the input buffer, a linked list implementation, and various other things).

As for reading your assignment and understanding what's asked. Be systematic when you read it. Note down what your input data is, what format it's in, what variables you might need to store this data, then have a think about what processing is involved, how do I get from the input to the output, what kind of algorithm do you need, and how do I format my output - to the screen, or a file?

I keep a scratch pad handy when I'm nutting out an assignment, it helps me to organise my thoughts.