Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+

 Is Computer Science or E&E Engineering for me?, A dreadful decision of pathway

views
     
Kcdw96
post Apr 13 2017, 10:29 PM

Enthusiast
*****
Senior Member
708 posts

Joined: Feb 2016
QUOTE(iSean @ Apr 13 2017, 10:26 PM)
Well, does not giving proper homework count? Compared to other classes, most of the lectures did gave out proper topical past years to students.
Only, he was forced to gave us assignment on stuff he doesn't know/want how to teach, for our maintenance of scholarship criteria.
I never received any proper homework or any practical discussion from him.

He might have a PhD and a Dr title, but really he's a somewhat weak teacher.
He literally waste time copy and paste stuff from the textbook, that everyone has, on the board, and everyone thought it as it was notes.
Personally I think the textbook, the college provided us to use is kind of rubbish.  doh.gif
Because he couldn't finish his lectures, he made these notes, scanned them and put them on the projector to teach.  rclxub.gif 
Eventually no ones really cared about his lectures.

You want to see, I has his lecture notes, and the actual coursebook.
His Notes: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0-JkrGVq...MjJ4cTJDRDg0b28
The Textbook : https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0-JkrGVq...TGs4LWUwSVVvTDg
*
Lol if you come nus, I think you'd probably feel most lecturers here are useless then

No homework + lecture content is very little compared to what is asked in exams + ancient outdated textbooks

No. An education is not about someone telling you what to study. It's about you studying a topic well using the resources provided and resources available

Kcdw96
post Apr 13 2017, 10:36 PM

Enthusiast
*****
Senior Member
708 posts

Joined: Feb 2016
Lol I find the notes quite reasonable, to supplement what you read in the textbook.

The textbook appears to be reasonable too... A lot better than most of the statistics and math textbooks I've been studying so far
TSiSean
post Apr 13 2017, 10:36 PM

iz old liao.
*******
Senior Member
4,352 posts

Joined: Jun 2011



QUOTE(Kcdw96 @ Apr 13 2017, 10:29 PM)
Lol if you come nus, I think you'd probably feel most lecturers here are useless then

No homework + lecture content is very little compared to what is asked in exams + ancient outdated textbooks

No. An education is not about someone telling you what to study. It's about you studying a topic well using the resources provided and resources available
*
Atleast most of the lectures there might be recorded, and replayed anytime.

From him I don't think he actually provided any good "resources", where we have it on from the very start.
"Outside resources" : I need to dig, buy and spend, borrow from library, self study, online discussion through forums, go through a dark corner of self inflected confusion.
I wanted him to help me, most of the time, thanks to the college's great time table, him and other lecturers aren't there. I only can see him after 4pm. If he haven't cabut back home yet.

I went through all that, just to suffer there. Haish, atleast it is over now.

He's a relative weak lecturer, who can't connect and give interest to his students.
He doesn't really know "his stuff", but just blindly following the books.

----------------------------
Anyhow in NUS, even with outdated books, atleast you might have lecturers who knows their stuff and might be dedicated in teaching.

This post has been edited by iSean: Apr 13 2017, 10:38 PM
Kcdw96
post Apr 13 2017, 10:53 PM

Enthusiast
*****
Senior Member
708 posts

Joined: Feb 2016
QUOTE(iSean @ Apr 13 2017, 10:36 PM)
Atleast most of the lectures there might be recorded, and replayed anytime.

From him I don't think he actually provided any good "resources", where we have it on the start.
"Outside resources" : I need to dig, buy and spend, borrow from library, self study, online discussion through forums, go through a dark corner.

I went through all that, just to suffer there. Haish, atleast it is over now.

He's a relative weak lecturer, who can't connect and give interest to his students.
He doesn't really know "his stuff", but just blindly following the books.

----------------------------
Anyhow in NUS, even with outdated books, atleast you might have lecturers who knows their stuff and might be dedicated in teaching.
*
In nus, a lot of lecturers in my opinion, are more interested in research and less on teaching. Meaning, they'll just do what they need to get by.

Not saying all lecturers are bad, but I believe such lecturers form an overwhelming majority. That's the whole point why they were hired in the first place, for research to push up their rankings.

You got to depend on yourself and be resourceful if you intend to do well. This is where NUS shines, it provides a lot of opportunities and is very supportive of students taking their own initiatives (eg research projects, a lot of likeminded peers to support each other academically, etc)

And I don't believe your lecturer does not know his stuff. It's really elementary stuff. Perhaps he isn't good at communicating but in that case, the onus is on you to clarify if you have doubts, as after all, he gets paid regardless if you learn anything or not, but the converse isn't true.

This post has been edited by Kcdw96: Apr 13 2017, 11:03 PM
TSiSean
post Apr 13 2017, 11:05 PM

iz old liao.
*******
Senior Member
4,352 posts

Joined: Jun 2011



QUOTE(Kcdw96 @ Apr 13 2017, 10:53 PM)
In nus, a lot of lecturers in my opinion, are more interested in research and less on teaching. Meaning, they'll just do what they need to get by.

Not saying all lecturers are bad, but I believe such lecturers form an overwhelming majority. That's the whole point why they were hired in the first place, for research to push up their rankings.

You got to depend on yourself and be resourceful if you intend to do well

And I don't believe your lecturer does not know his stuff. It's really elementary stuff. Perhaps he isn't good at communicating but in that case, the onus is on you to clarify if you have doubts.
*
Well, maybe I might be wrong about NUS after all, because seeing those Singapore A-Level lecture videos, all JC Lecturers seems to know their stuff very well.
I know from the start I joined A-Level to be dependent on myself, as I know I won't be receiving external tuition classes anymore. But not everyone can do it tho.
But with a shaky start, from A-Level with one bad Chemistry lecturer that doesn't write on the board, never let us use the textbook in class, is already enough to cause damage to my other subjects, with bad communicating lecturers.

Anyhow, most likely his engage factor and his language barrier problem. He doesn't speak fluent English, yet still teaching A-Level course. sweat.gif
He gotten numerous complaints from other students from classes before. I think he might need to reflect on his teaching profession.
But really he doesn't really knows the syllabus, or do practicals. He has a PhD in Theoretical Physics only can talk syiok syiok about String Theory in class that no ones understands. doh.gif
I need to engage and bring him facts to validate numerous times, before he say "can pakai" in exams. Haish.
Hopefully, if he plans to keep his job in the next 2 years in the college, improve a bit. Because he taught 4 classes from my batch, due to complaints, he was only teaching my class left. Others got new replacement lecturers. doh.gif

This post has been edited by iSean: Apr 13 2017, 11:07 PM
Kcdw96
post Apr 13 2017, 11:09 PM

Enthusiast
*****
Senior Member
708 posts

Joined: Feb 2016
Can't comment on JC, but I think for JC, the videos you saw are for those outstanding teachers. That's why their videos are available publicly in the first place! tongue.gif

I am not saying all of them don't know their stuff well. On the contrary, they are experts in their relative fields.

But some may prefer research over teaching, as after all, that's their main role. But if students have doubts, they will be happy to clarify

And regarding language barrier, you will be suprised how many NUS lecturers/tutors dont speak english as their first language. Its understandable but quite hard to catch sometimes. But the onus is on the student to understand what was said in class, and clarify their doubts, in which the teaching staff will be happy to.

This post has been edited by Kcdw96: Apr 13 2017, 11:10 PM
TSiSean
post Apr 13 2017, 11:17 PM

iz old liao.
*******
Senior Member
4,352 posts

Joined: Jun 2011



QUOTE(Kcdw96 @ Apr 13 2017, 11:09 PM)
Can't comment on JC, but I think for JC, the videos you saw are for those outstanding teachers. That's why their videos are available publicly in the first place! tongue.gif

I am not saying all of them don't know their stuff well. On the contrary, they are experts in their relative fields.

But some may prefer research over teaching, as after all, that's their main role. But if students have doubts, they will be happy to clarify

And regarding language barrier, you will be suprised how many NUS lecturers/tutors dont speak english as their first language. Its understandable but quite hard to catch sometimes. But the onus is on the student to understand what was said in class, and clarify their doubts, in which the teaching staff will be happy to.
*
Well, hope so, hopefully no more Chinaman England for me.
Hopefully my future lecturers aren't that bad. Besides, most of the shouldn't be hardcore researchers I guess? Working in a Private University. laugh.gif
Their A-Level JC stuffs are very streamline and detailed, links and reference packaged very nicely I learn quite a lot of stuff there.
Well if only our teachers could be half as rajin as them lah. rclxub.gif
Because really the digital age is coming, can't expect every students going to read books point by point in class. Or just do fill in the blanks modules.
SilverCrest
post Apr 15 2017, 11:40 PM

New Member
*
Junior Member
31 posts

Joined: Mar 2017
If you really prefer EE over CS you should just go for EE. You will still learn about programming in EE. I have a senior who's studying EE but really likes software stuffs so all the electives he took are programming related (or you can choose hardware-focused electives if you want).

This post has been edited by SilverCrest: Apr 18 2017, 10:57 PM
maximR
post Apr 16 2017, 02:25 PM

Remember who you are
*******
Senior Member
3,864 posts

Joined: Dec 2009



I think you're spending way too much time on matters unrelated to your education. What has Myers-Briggs got to do with CS & EE?

Plus you've asked quite a few people about what it's like studying those subjects. I think what you're looking for isn't advice per se, but advice that is in line with your heart's desires. In other words, you know what you're looking for, but you just want external validation from somebody; a pat in the back, a word of encouragement that your choice is sound, so to speak.

The more you ruminate on these matters, the more conflicted you'll become. Why? Because each person giving you advice doesn't know you. He or she isn't you. The advice you get will be based on journeys which are completely different from that which you have tread.

I noticed a few issues with your post. First, your crippling self-doubt. You worry that you're not good enough for CS or EE, because your A-Level grades aren't up to par. This leads you to coming up with a narrative to defend yourself against potential judgements about your own perceived lack of ability to handle mathematics. I see this in your posts and threads. You keep harping back to how poor your A-Level teachers were.

Here's the kicker: It's not about how poor your teachers were. It's about you. Your grades were largely a result of your own actions, and not the external circumstances which you found yourself in, at least not as much as you think. Now before you think that I'm being overly harsh, read further, because this post isn't what you think it is; it's not a vicious criticism constructed for my own pleasure.

The first step towards gaining back your confidence is to stop entertaining the narrative that you've created, and start afresh. Forget about A-Levels. You're past it now. This means you shouldn't rant about your college experience here, or anywhere else. Never again. If you keep doing it, you'll forever be trapped in a cycle of self-pity. Self-pity is destructive.

You should realise that although your grades were a result of your own actions, they don't, in any way, reflect your intellectual level. Many people, after doing poorly in exams, feel that they might be "intellectually inferior" to others. This is a wrong way to think, and quite a destructive one. This is the reason why so many people claim that they "hated mathematics" in school, because in order not to appear dumb, they project the image of never wanting to work on the subject in the first place.

Yes, people think in different ways; some are quicker than others. But the only benefit of being fast is to catch fleas. If you really enjoy doing CS or EE, you won't mind spending all your time on the content. This means working hard, and over sustained periods of time. I'll come back to this point, because it's important. I have had plenty of experiences of working on a particular math problem for months, even years.

When I claimed that being quick is only good for catching fleas, I was half kidding, because speed clearly matters in exams. So what can you do? Practice, of course. If you feel that you're at a disadvantage because of time constraints, you must practice until you become competent, and there's no way out of it, if you want to succeed. I know that this is cruel, and I despise exams myself, but it's part of the culture here.

Let me get back to the concept of hard work.

If you're really sincere in your interests, then you must be prepared to sweat it out. This wouldn't be an issue if you're interested in the thing you do. You don't need to prod kids to play video games. They wouldn't mind doing it all day, all night. But what if you don't enjoy CS or EE at all? That's a possible scenario, because most students are unaware of what they put themselves into fresh after pre-university.

I really don't have an answer. I generally avoid committing myself to things I don't enjoy doing, and before I embark on something, I'm quite clear on what it entails. I think you're doing the right things; watching introductory computer science videos is a good way to start. You mentioned A-Level Computing; I wouldn't go there if I were you, because A-Level Computing does not tell an honest story about what CS is all about. You can do much worse than working through How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. It's a great introduction to the elements of computer science via Python. You'll learn the basics of a programming language, data types, algorithms, and the usual stuff. If you find yourself getting excited about these things, great! You might enjoy CS. If you don't, don't count yourself out too quickly; some books are better than others. Try searching for different books, or, better yet, free internet resources on the topics mentioned in How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. There are lots of resources available, you'll just need to know how to search.

Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science is a huge part of the subject; you'll do yourself good if you familiarise yourself with its general content. You might find it much more interesting than a lot of the mathematics you had done in school, because it's about discrete structures: counting, graphs, logic, recurrences, etc.. Here's a good set of notes offered by M.I.T: Mathematics for Computer Science. You might find it difficult because everything's new. By the way, your course might do very basic discrete structures stuff, and focus more on software engineering instead. It depends on where you study, but in general, Malaysian CS courses tend to be less theoretical, so you might see very little math.

CS has many subbranches. Some people devote their whole life to studying programming languages, some work on algorithms, some on computer security, some on computer architecture, and the list goes on and on. Different universities emphasise different things.

EE is another huge, sprawling field, but I don't know enough to give reasonable comments about the subject. What I do know is you'll do a lot of continuous mathematics (as opposed to discrete mathematics in CS), which means you'll be working with lots and lots of continuous methods (Fourier & Laplace Transforms, Vector Calculus, PDEs). Depending on your course, you may also encounter discrete stuff for your electronics course. Again, look around, you'll find plenty of resources for free.

I think I'll stop now.
TSiSean
post Apr 16 2017, 02:57 PM

iz old liao.
*******
Senior Member
4,352 posts

Joined: Jun 2011



QUOTE(maximR @ Apr 16 2017, 02:25 PM)
I think you're spending way too much time on matters unrelated to your education. What has Myers-Briggs got to do with CS & EE?

Plus you've asked quite a few people about what it's like studying those subjects. I think what you're looking for isn't advice per se, but advice that is in line with your heart's desires. In other words, you know what you're looking for, but you just want external validation from somebody; a pat in the back, a word of encouragement that your choice is sound, so to speak.

The more you ruminate on these matters, the more conflicted you'll become. Why? Because each person giving you advice doesn't know you. He or she isn't you. The advice you get will be based on journeys which are completely different from that which you have tread.

I noticed a few issues with your post. First, your crippling self-doubt. You worry that you're not good enough for CS or EE, because your A-Level grades aren't up to par. This leads you to coming up with a narrative to defend yourself against potential judgements about your own perceived lack of ability to handle mathematics. I see this in your posts and threads. You keep harping back to how poor your A-Level teachers were.

Here's the kicker: It's not about how poor your teachers were. It's about you. Your grades were largely a result of your own actions, and not the external circumstances which you found yourself in, at least not as much as you think. Now before you think that I'm being overly harsh, read further, because this post isn't what you think it is; it's not a vicious criticism constructed for my own pleasure.

The first step towards gaining back your confidence is to stop entertaining the narrative that you've created, and start afresh. Forget about A-Levels. You're past it now. This means you shouldn't rant about your college experience here, or anywhere else. Never again. If you keep doing it, you'll forever be trapped in a cycle of self-pity. Self-pity is destructive.

You should realise that although your grades were a result of your own actions, they don't, in any way, reflect your intellectual level. Many people, after doing poorly in exams, feel that they might be "intellectually inferior" to others. This is a wrong way to think, and quite a destructive one. This is the reason why so many people claim that they "hated mathematics" in school, because in order not to appear dumb, they project the image of never wanting to work on the subject in the first place.

Yes, people think in different ways; some are quicker than others. But the only benefit of being fast is to catch fleas. If you really enjoy doing CS or EE, you won't mind spending all your time on the content. This means working hard, and over sustained periods of time. I'll come back to this point, because it's important. I have had plenty of experiences of working on a particular math problem for months, even years.

When I claimed that being quick is only good for catching fleas, I was half kidding, because speed clearly matters in exams. So what can you do? Practice, of course. If you feel that you're at a disadvantage because of time constraints, you must practice until you become competent, and there's no way out of it, if you want to succeed. I know that this is cruel, and I despise exams myself, but it's part of the culture here.

Let me get back to the concept of hard work.

If you're really sincere in your interests, then you must be prepared to sweat it out. This wouldn't be an issue if you're interested in the thing you do. You don't need to prod kids to play video games. They wouldn't mind doing it all day, all night. But what if you don't enjoy CS or EE at all? That's a possible scenario, because most students are unaware of what they put themselves into fresh after pre-university.

I really don't have an answer. I generally avoid committing myself to things I don't enjoy doing, and before I embark on something, I'm quite clear on what it entails. I think you're doing the right things; watching introductory computer science videos is a good way to start. You mentioned A-Level Computing; I wouldn't go there if I were you, because A-Level Computing does not tell an honest story about what CS is all about. You can do much worse than working through How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. It's a great introduction to the elements of computer science via Python. You'll learn the basics of a programming language, data types, algorithms, and the usual stuff. If you find yourself getting excited about these things, great! You might enjoy CS. If you don't, don't count yourself out too quickly; some books are better than others. Try searching for different books, or, better yet, free internet resources on the topics mentioned in How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. There are lots of resources available, you'll just need to know how to search.

Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science is a huge part of the subject; you'll do yourself good if you familiarise yourself with its general content. You might find it much more interesting than a lot of the mathematics you had done in school, because it's about discrete structures: counting, graphs, logic, recurrences, etc.. Here's a good set of notes offered by M.I.T: Mathematics for Computer Science. You might find it difficult because everything's new. By the way, your course might do very basic discrete structures stuff, and focus more on software engineering instead. It depends on where you study, but in general, Malaysian CS courses tend to be less theoretical, so you might see very little math.

CS has many subbranches. Some people devote their whole life to studying programming languages, some work on algorithms, some on computer security, some on computer architecture, and the list goes on and on. Different universities emphasise different things.

EE is another huge, sprawling field, but I don't know enough to give reasonable comments about the subject. What I do know is you'll do a lot of continuous mathematics (as opposed to discrete mathematics in CS), which means you'll be working with lots and lots of continuous methods (Fourier & Laplace Transforms, Vector Calculus, PDEs). Depending on your course, you may also encounter discrete stuff for your electronics course. Again, look around, you'll find plenty of resources for free.

I think I'll stop now.
*
Okay, thanks for really understanding my situation, you did mentioned about my inner thoughts, because it has always really coming down on me fearing with my insecurity, and not graduating on time and even worst dropping out from university is my biggest fears on what lies ahead, like some of over worrying teenagers out there.

I don't rally see harsh in your following sentences, and I reason with that. I know at times I might be 'overly confident' after exams claiming predicting I did well, and overly worried before even entering the examination hall with "kiasi-ism", but ended up with moderate average grades. Maybe I just really need more time of practice, proper sleep time, so I could properly reason more in classes, and exploration into these courses, but sadly in most university cases, there isn't "try out" periods for students to explore the course structure will it be suited for them, or let them change courses within a time frame.

I do appreciate your resources given to me. But I need to find out what's more lies hidden within the course, and after finishing the courses on which pathway leading me that particular sub-branch career. Because for that, I don't really know what possibility could really lies ahead, because there's too much information online for its sub-branches of these courses, hence I will feel it being too overwhelming, confused, making harsh indecisive decisions that might not be catered to my interests and my needs, with these uncertainties. Eventually ending up in the wrong place again.
Kcdw96
post Apr 16 2017, 05:25 PM

Enthusiast
*****
Senior Member
708 posts

Joined: Feb 2016
QUOTE(maximR @ Apr 16 2017, 02:25 PM)
I think you're spending way too much time on matters unrelated to your education. What has Myers-Briggs got to do with CS & EE?

Plus you've asked quite a few people about what it's like studying those subjects. I think what you're looking for isn't advice per se, but advice that is in line with your heart's desires. In other words, you know what you're looking for, but you just want external validation from somebody; a pat in the back, a word of encouragement that your choice is sound, so to speak.

The more you ruminate on these matters, the more conflicted you'll become. Why? Because each person giving you advice doesn't know you. He or she isn't you. The advice you get will be based on journeys which are completely different from that which you have tread.

I noticed a few issues with your post. First, your crippling self-doubt. You worry that you're not good enough for CS or EE, because your A-Level grades aren't up to par. This leads you to coming up with a narrative to defend yourself against potential judgements about your own perceived lack of ability to handle mathematics. I see this in your posts and threads. You keep harping back to how poor your A-Level teachers were.

Here's the kicker: It's not about how poor your teachers were. It's about you. Your grades were largely a result of your own actions, and not the external circumstances which you found yourself in, at least not as much as you think. Now before you think that I'm being overly harsh, read further, because this post isn't what you think it is; it's not a vicious criticism constructed for my own pleasure.

The first step towards gaining back your confidence is to stop entertaining the narrative that you've created, and start afresh. Forget about A-Levels. You're past it now. This means you shouldn't rant about your college experience here, or anywhere else. Never again. If you keep doing it, you'll forever be trapped in a cycle of self-pity. Self-pity is destructive.

You should realise that although your grades were a result of your own actions, they don't, in any way, reflect your intellectual level. Many people, after doing poorly in exams, feel that they might be "intellectually inferior" to others. This is a wrong way to think, and quite a destructive one. This is the reason why so many people claim that they "hated mathematics" in school, because in order not to appear dumb, they project the image of never wanting to work on the subject in the first place.

Yes, people think in different ways; some are quicker than others. But the only benefit of being fast is to catch fleas. If you really enjoy doing CS or EE, you won't mind spending all your time on the content. This means working hard, and over sustained periods of time. I'll come back to this point, because it's important. I have had plenty of experiences of working on a particular math problem for months, even years.

When I claimed that being quick is only good for catching fleas, I was half kidding, because speed clearly matters in exams. So what can you do? Practice, of course. If you feel that you're at a disadvantage because of time constraints, you must practice until you become competent, and there's no way out of it, if you want to succeed. I know that this is cruel, and I despise exams myself, but it's part of the culture here.

Let me get back to the concept of hard work.

If you're really sincere in your interests, then you must be prepared to sweat it out. This wouldn't be an issue if you're interested in the thing you do. You don't need to prod kids to play video games. They wouldn't mind doing it all day, all night. But what if you don't enjoy CS or EE at all? That's a possible scenario, because most students are unaware of what they put themselves into fresh after pre-university.

I really don't have an answer. I generally avoid committing myself to things I don't enjoy doing, and before I embark on something, I'm quite clear on what it entails. I think you're doing the right things; watching introductory computer science videos is a good way to start. You mentioned A-Level Computing; I wouldn't go there if I were you, because A-Level Computing does not tell an honest story about what CS is all about. You can do much worse than working through How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. It's a great introduction to the elements of computer science via Python. You'll learn the basics of a programming language, data types, algorithms, and the usual stuff. If you find yourself getting excited about these things, great! You might enjoy CS. If you don't, don't count yourself out too quickly; some books are better than others. Try searching for different books, or, better yet, free internet resources on the topics mentioned in How to Think Like a Computer Scientist. There are lots of resources available, you'll just need to know how to search.

Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science is a huge part of the subject; you'll do yourself good if you familiarise yourself with its general content. You might find it much more interesting than a lot of the mathematics you had done in school, because it's about discrete structures: counting, graphs, logic, recurrences, etc.. Here's a good set of notes offered by M.I.T: Mathematics for Computer Science. You might find it difficult because everything's new. By the way, your course might do very basic discrete structures stuff, and focus more on software engineering instead. It depends on where you study, but in general, Malaysian CS courses tend to be less theoretical, so you might see very little math.

CS has many subbranches. Some people devote their whole life to studying programming languages, some work on algorithms, some on computer security, some on computer architecture, and the list goes on and on. Different universities emphasise different things.

EE is another huge, sprawling field, but I don't know enough to give reasonable comments about the subject. What I do know is you'll do a lot of continuous mathematics (as opposed to discrete mathematics in CS), which means you'll be working with lots and lots of continuous methods (Fourier & Laplace Transforms, Vector Calculus, PDEs). Depending on your course, you may also encounter discrete stuff for your electronics course. Again, look around, you'll find plenty of resources for free.

I think I'll stop now.
*
Well said!

Its not uncommon for local CS courses, especially in private unis, to not even have a math module throughout the entire course. Even if there are math courses, its quite basic and its just a recap of A level math + perhaps the surface of linear algebra.

I really feel local CS courses, even the one in UM (after looking through my friend's course content), is really watered down into an IT course.

Though I don't think this isn't entirely the fault of the unis, CS for some reason in Malaysia is still regarded as a less prestigious course. Not many top students enrol in it and some even enrol in it as their last resort (apparently its quite easy to enter CS courses in IPTA). To accomodate these students, the uni is probably forced to water down the course content or risk failing a substantial proportion of the cohort .

Though, I partially disagree with your point about not using A level computing as a gauge. I feel it provides a high level view of CS as a whole. From what I understand (I didn't take it, but i tutored some of my friends and I am currently a TA for an introductory CS module), it provides a good overview of what CS is about, and the topics learnt are around 30-40% of what a CS student learns in his first year.

Although it serves as a good introduction, but I do agree that the content is a little dry and may put off some people. Therefore, I recommend reading it ONLY after you sit through MIT 6.00 Introduction to CS and Programing using Python, or another similar online course and decide that you want to learn more.

And regarding discrete math, yup the resource you suggested is probably sufficient, but I don't think provides a good intro to someone who does not have a formal intro to discrete math. I would recommend reading the book Discrete Mathematics Demystified by Krantz. Its quite a short book, and covers most of the main topics in discrete math such as propositional logic, set theory, graphs, etc. If you feel comfortable with the book, only then I recommend moving on to a more formal intro to discrete math, such as the resource suggested earlier or, perhaps a discrete math textbook, in which I recommend Discrete Math and its Applications, by Ross.

Btw, just curious, are you a CS student? If I remember correctly, you mentioned something about doing physics before?

This post has been edited by Kcdw96: Apr 16 2017, 05:59 PM
maximR
post Apr 16 2017, 07:33 PM

Remember who you are
*******
Senior Member
3,864 posts

Joined: Dec 2009



» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «


I was a bit worried about linking MIT's Math for Computer Science notes when I realised that most students straight out of pre-university wouldn't know what proofs are for. There's a good possibility of someone complaining "Why the hell would somebody care to prove that you can always reduce every fraction to its simplest form !?" upon encountering the proof that sqrt(2) is irrational.

I think CS courses here don't emphasise proofs that much. Then again, I might be wrong.

Well, I figured that there are better introductory CS books out there, so why bother with A-Levels?

No, I learned bits and pieces of CS a while ago when I was deeply into mathematical logic; the field started out from the seeds planted by logicians like Boole, Godel (my signature's from Godel's most well-known paper), Turing, Church, Kleene, and others, after all. I am fascinated by the study of programming languages, particularly the work on type theory, though I don't claim competence in the field. I truly admire the people who put rigor into CS; I think people like Dijkstra care more about correctness of proofs than most practicing mathematicians.

The language of sets and maps, mathematical induction, basic counting, recurrences, and elementary graph theory were acquired through the study of mathematics (every math student needs to know this stuff). I think one should not be too dogmatic about "labels" like CS or Math; many topics bleed into each other. The modes of thinking employed by a computer scientist are especially valuable, so I try learning as much as I can, but as it stands, I know more about real analysis than I do about discrete math.

Yes, I was once adamant on pursuing physics, but I realised, over the last couple of years, that I'm more of a "worrier" than a "warrior". By that I mean I fuss over details, and spend a lot of time trying to reason out why something is true from first principles rather than marching bravely towards understanding nature with just an intuitive understanding of continuous math methods, so my interests have shifted largely towards mathematics. Once in a while, I spend time thinking about physics, but not as intensely as I used to. But who knows, since physics and mathematics are so intimately intertwined, I might be led back to it through my mathematical studies.

This post has been edited by maximR: Apr 16 2017, 07:34 PM
tin_math
post May 24 2017, 01:27 PM

New Member
*
Junior Member
17 posts

Joined: May 2017
QUOTE(iSean @ Apr 12 2017, 10:59 AM)
I'm still been very uncertain for my future pathway after consultation with my college counselor and people on this forum, with people who have studied in UCSI's EEE.
I've been thinking of joining UCSI with their Electrical & Electronic Engineering, but my parents and relatives condemn me to study Computer Sciences instead.
It is already the mid of April already. And the UCSI's intake is on May.

I haven't really registered myself for courses for private university, besides applying to UPUOnline and NTU, where my options are either EEE, Computer Science and "Chemical Engineering".
But I'm still pending on my replies from these university, on whether or not I'd been accepted or not.

I'm currently still not working, so that's another parents nagging factor over there.

From the senior I'd asked on Facebook, and most of them, they told me I'm too stressed out about University Life.  sweat.gif

My overall A-Level results are :
- Chemistry : B(b)
- Biology : B(b)
- Physics : C©
- Mathematics : D(d)

My recent Myers-Briggs Score is INTP, suited for E&E but not Computer Science. But this is highly unreliable as the scores could be influenced easily by mood swings.

But can someone tell the details what I'm missing out in Computer Science if I join Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and vice versa?
Because my family members have been condemning me joining the Computer Science course. They are always questioning me why do EEE instead and not CS.
I don't really know how to answer them, besides I just find the interest is building gaming computers, or taking a part broken electronics and put them back together, i.e. old Astro TV remotes, GameBoys.

I didn't really know how to fix broken electronics tho. I just really like admire how the electronics circuits goes and run, and admire what's inside the components.

I do have an interest on computers as I will blank out myself onto social webs for hours, I used to play MapleStory from 2006-2013 then stopped completely because my computer wasn't running for around 12-20 hours a day.

I don't think an undergraduate degree for "IT" will lead me to anywhere. Hence, my family members always try to ask me to do CS instead.
If I really wanted to do Computer Science, it might be only Sunway University, based on solely the reputation only, no APU, no MMU, just Sunway.
Because I'm really afraid of bad lecturers that I'd experience throughout Secondary 1-5 and A-Levels. I will not want to suffer this much anymore.
But I'm afraid my family couldn't afford if the fees are too high, and cost of living is high as well.

My worries: 
For Mathematics, for certain topics, so far in from SPM Additional Mathematics and A-Level Mathematics, it is always been either love or hate.
I need to go through more than 20-30 questions just to see through a single answering patterns and keywords.

That's why I'm very concerned if whether I could survive university with E&E or not, since I also have a constant fear of losing PTPTN and had to repay them eventually without borrowing the full loan.

Because with E&E, Engineering/Mathematics Method a compulsory subject. But I'm not sure about the weightage, or can I proceed to the next year if I only have one bad subject. Because university is quite a new thing for me.

I'm generally "slow" in Mathematics, but I could solve them if I have excess time. This doesn't realy fair well in the examinations tho.

Meanwhile if I join CS, my main concerns is understanding computer science "Mathematics Logic" and "future coding".
Because I have not much experience at all with coding and the basics. I heard most students who intends to study Computer Science, already have a good coding background.

--------------------
Did I go find out more about Computer Science?
Not literally, I only watched a video about Introduction to Computer Science about an hour video by MIT Open Courseware, and CrashCourse's channel.
I read the few chapters of IGCSE and A-level Computer Science eBooks. I didn't really approached Computer Science, but my family still bugging me and intends me to study for it today so I made this thread.
--------------------

Hence, much appreciated if someone could answer me below. Sorry I know Computer Science Threads are posted numerous times.
I hope the users here won't be fed up and ask me read through their previous posts.  sweat.gif

*
You should do what you're really interested in, free from the constraints put forth to you by your environment, marks, and other people's opinions.

Both CS and EEE are very mathematically intensive, just in different specialties. As someone who has worked and/or studied in both areas of mathematics, the math in EEE is in my opinion more challenging academically, in part because EEE had a longer history to develop and so its curriculum tends to be a lot more denser, and the mathematics that you explore in EEE branches into many realms of abstraction. The same goes for CS, except that you probably reach those similar levels of abstraction in a masters degree when you branch out to artificial intelligence, computer vision, cryptography or other such things. In my opinion, they haven't had a lot of time to distill the relatively younger CS discipline into the core fundamentals, so what you end up learning is still very useful but very applied at the undergraduate level, for example, comparisons between programming languages, data structures and algorithms.

So you rightly choose that one degree that is more in demand, perhaps because it is more inaccessible in terms of the mathematics of it, unless you happen to be very lucky to have a very good handholding along the way. Mathematics as you rightly pointed out requires time investment to go through the exercises to get the hang of it, and of course it helps if you have someone pointing out a certain way of looking at things.

As a math practitioner, I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to give me a buzz should you require any paid tuition help in areas of math and I'd be happy to sit with you over a cup of coffee for an initial consultation.

3 Pages < 1 2 3Top
 

Change to:
| Lo-Fi Version
0.0170sec    0.31    5 queries    GZIP Disabled
Time is now: 29th March 2024 - 03:01 AM