I have been slowly thinking about taking a programming class. My first thoughts were to buy a book and teach myself, but I don't think that would get me very far. Right now I am just wondering if the people of hatrack think that this would be a good place to start programming. I know that next year when I start college I will be taking one or a few of these classes and want to really see what it is like.
If the instructor is the one who wrote the course description, I'm suspicious; using the word "subroutines" to describe anything in Java reveals a certain approach to programming, one that is rarely consistent with good java style.
A good class is certainly one approach to learning to program, though.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
This is another class I was able to find from the same school. C/C++ this time though. There is a few other schools in the area that have alot more credibility than this school though. I am looking into them now.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Given the duplication of "subroutines", I doubt the instructors are writing the descriptions (or they're mostly relying on a template). The Java class would probably be fine.
Something worth asking: what do you hope to get out of programming?
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
The discussion of applets, at least as a major bullet point, seems a little anachronistic. No one really writes applets any more.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
I really just want to see if I enjoy it. Right now I am enrolled in both my high school and a technical high school where I have and will be taking a computer systems class. I like messing around with the hardware side of computers, I like messing around with tweaking and fixing computers and stuff. Right now I am planning on going into Computer Science in college, but I might want to shy away from that and go towards more hardware based things based on if I like and am any good at programming.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Yeah, you sound like more of a Computer Engineering/Electrical Engineering sort.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I've always wanted to teach programming, and am a highly experienced Java developer. Not sure how well my teaching style would translate over the web though, as I am a white-board and marker kind of instructor.
I can't say how much my classes taught me about programming, but I suppose it can't hurt. Writing my own code (for fun and later for money) is what developed my skills. You do need to get your foot in the door, and a class could help with that.
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
Can you get a listing of some past programming assignments from each class? In my experience, the best thing about programming classes were the assignments. A good course will have the assignments planned out just right so that they will push you into making good use out of new while still being structured so that you can roughly figure out what needs to be done to arrive at the solution.
So given two courses that you are unsure about, I'd say that the best determining factor would be to look at the quality of the assignments, rather than the material on the syllabus.
Posted by Xann. (Member # 11482) on :
I looked up the teacher to these classes, a software consultant to IBM for eleven years. Seems to be teaching for fun, since he still seems to work for IBM. I am going to go for the Java class for now since it will fit into my schedule.
I will keep you all updated on whether or not I am the programming type.