aimforthehead

So, I'm familiar with the "use it or lose it" concept, but with programming there are so many languages and so many ways to program that it seems impossible to keep all of that information. I have taken about a year and a half of programming, finishing all of my lower division courses. I even got A's in every class (except for my first, which I got a B. Starting programming was rather hard for me). Next semester I am going to take an Exam in Programming Efficiency, and looking over all of the subjects covered I feel like I'm going to have trouble with it. Things like hashing, the several searching / sorting algorithms for data structures, writing operators, I remember doing them but it is like right when I finished the courses they were covered in, they just escaped my mind. I wish I could just jump in and start making random programs which use all of these skills, but I find it to be incredibly tedius. Unless the program is personally interesting (like a game project) or a school assignment, I just can't bring myself to get too motivated. The good news is if I fail the exam, I stay in a class which is just review over everything I learned and that might not be a bad idea for me. But going through school, I feel like I am going to be underprepared for the workplace. I'm getting straight A's, but I feel like a lot of information simply escapes me after I finish the class. I catch on pretty quickly, but is that enough? I feel like I need to actually hold on to all of this information...

Thanks for all of the great posts everyone! This was incredibly helpful. From the time I made this thread I finished Calc 1 - 3, and got A's in all of them. I feel it made my memorization and problem solving skills better and at the moment I am continuing with Discrete Math.

I'm a computer science major and I was wondering how important calculus grades (and GPA in general) are for this major. At the moment I have an A in my programming and Math courses, but this is mostly due to generous curving on my math professors part and while I'm doing okay in Calc I, I am struggling through it and am worried about future math courses. Is it worth stressing too much over? Of course I'll try to do the best I can, but is it really just more important that I understand programming and get good grades in those classes? Or is this a field where you have you show you are good in math and programming? Anyone else a programmer who isn't too great at calculus that could give me some advice? Thanks.

I'm afraid I still don't understand...I just got into anti-derivatives so my first guess is f(x) = 3/4x...but that isn't a curve, so I don't know.

I'm reviewing a calculus test I took and ran into this problem, which I got right but don't remember how... Find the equation of the tangent line to the curve y = f(x) which is parallel to the line 3x - 4y = 1 y = 3/4x - 1/4 So my answer was y = 3/4x + 5/4, where did the 5/4 come from? Without points how can we find what b is? Or am I missing information from the problem you think? Thanks.

So I'm studying for my final and I'm trying to understand what are some of the tradeoffs between creating a class function or a global function (consider operator functions I suppose, my professor mentioned that some operator functions MUST be global, and I didn't really understand). If anyone could help me understand this I would be grateful, thanks!

I am working on a class called "CashRegister", which uses a class called "InventoryItem" that is given to me. An InventoryItem objects has a description, cost, and unitSize ( "Pepsi", .85, 100); Basically what it does is constructs an array of 5 InventoryItem's, and get's user input from which of the 5 items they would like to purchase and how many of them, subtracting from the total amount. Then calls function Purchase, which does the calculating and adds the total for that choice into a subtotal. If it were all done as an array in a main program I could do this relatively easily...but I have no clue how to deal with multiple classes. What information would i put in main? Would i only call a CashRegister object from main? If so, how do I get into the functions/variables in InventoryItem? For example, if I wanted to display a menu of the 5 items I created in CashRegister, would I create a display() function in CashRegister that would display the items, and call that? What I was thinking is something like void display(InventoryItem items) //for loop that displays items But that wouldn't work because when I call it from main I would need access to the items to put into the parameter..I am so confused, if anyone could explain to me it would be helpful, thanks!

Well, I was pretty computer savvy myself when I got into computer science. I figured, I'm pretty good at math/logic, and I like computers, so programing should come naturally! Well I took a java programming course that was well, a little above beginner, and I had the hardest time after about half way through the semester. This semester I am taking Python which actually is a beginner course and I'm having an easier time. Don't have the experience to say if returning to college is recommended or not, but I would suggest taking a beginning programming class. In my programming courses I see people from all different ages coming in, it doesn't really seem to be a factor in how well you understand the material if that was your concern. Not sure about getting a degree in CS "quickly". The stuff is tough and you probably have to spread out the courses to comprehend it or you'll end up overwhelmed (unless you happen to be pretty damn intelligent and quick-learning).

Hi there, I hope this is the right forum to post this in, but I am needing some help in deciding where to go in my college career and maybe some of you who know a lot about computer science can help me. I'm currently majored in computer science, because I am somewhat talented (but not genius) in mathematics and logic, so I figured it would be perfect (plus I thought the idea of being a game programer would be amazing!) However...I am finding I actually dread going to my programming classes more than any other. I hear from programmers that this is normal, and it doesn't get fun until you actually get good at it and realize all of the potential involved. I've taken courses in HTML and Flash programming (which I feel I got nothing out of) and then moved to Java and now python. I have to say it does feel a little easier but I still find it to be extremely difficult. And I think the work itself isn't always so difficult, I haven't had a program that I simply could not get to work, it's just that I enjoy it SO LITTLE that it makes it hard to concentrate and reason out the logic behind the code. I actually enjoy my math courses, and even my logic course which even the professor says sucks ass, but I just cannot get interested or motivated in writing programs. Is this supposed to be so incredibly boring/challenging for me? Or is computer science a long-term pay off where I have to eat a lot of dirt before I actually enjoy it? Thanks

Yeah I get that, I don't understand how to get A2+B2=C2 out of 3 points though.

I am not sure I understand =/ I've forgotten almost everything about triangles, I have area=1/2b+h and d=sqrt((x2-x1)+(y2-y1)). Not much else.

How do I determine whether a triangle with a given vertices is a right triangle? It gives... (7,-1) (-3,5) (-12,-10)

Thanks for the time guys. I got... (4(x+a)- (^3sqrt {x+a}) (16(x+a)^2+4(x+a) (^3sqrt {x+a})+ (^3sqrt {x+a})^2) with a=4(x+a) and b= (^3sqrt {x+a})

Hmm okay, I've done a few wrong then...Thanks. Also. 64(x-a)^3-x+a I know difference of cubes, but the x+a is not cubed, so I am lost...

I have about 100 problems with a lot of factoring. (Difference of squares, sum of cubes, difference of cubes, etc.) But I need help on a few. First is x^3+3x^2+3x+1. What kind of problem is this...? I did some steps that I thought appropriate and ended up with... (3x+(x^2-x+1))+(x+1) If anyone can double check this that'd be great