Effective Ways to Learn and Study CS

James Ortiz — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 04:13:13 +0000

If you are an early beginner, or perhaps someone who is currently enrolled in a Computer Science program you might be wondering what are efficient and effective methods to approach this study? Computer Science is an evolving field, and it requires a mind that is open to new technologies as well as self-improvement of important concepts inside and outside of study circles. In this article, I will mention several ways you can improve your method of learning and approaching Computer Science.

Time Management Is Key

In order to effectively study the most basic up to advanced concepts of computer science, you'll need to invest your time outside of university of college to make the most out of the concepts you are learning. I have found that mapping out the week using google calendar helps with this a lot, especially if you are having trouble partitioning the day into parts. This helped me considerably throughout my education as a Computer Scientist, since I also work (and used to work) full-time following my degree.

Pick a Language, Master It Well

Ever since my freshman year as a student, I had already learned ANSI C, as a beginning language, and from C escalated to C++ (C, with classes) to further understand Object-Oriented-Programming (OOP) and Data Structures. During high-school a long while ago, I did some projects on my own using the WIN32 API to make Windows applications. Having that edge, and interest in programming helped me become flexible in learning other languages. I might be a bit biased in learning C first, but this is also possible with Java, Python, C#, or any other common language. The key is learning the language to the extent that you can easily transition and extrapolate towards another one that you might not be as familiar with, as this can happen various times in your career. Flexibility is a key attribute in the role of a Developer.

Seek Mentorship

Having a study buddy or a classmate friend throughout your college and university years can help you considerably. Some TA's will also be open to giving you advice on the topic or subject you are learning. While being at university, you may notice that some professors do not perform that well in teaching certain topics in Computer Science - like Theory of Computation or Data Structures, for example. To help cover these areas in better detail beyond the explanation of the professor, make a study group. Alternatively, social meetups away from academia are good to join if you want to meet like-minded developers and students in your area.

Conserve Reference Textbooks

This is important on topics you will find in junior or senior level work. I have already made a bookshelf-worth of programming textbooks I saw during my college years, especially on capstone courses like operating systems design, data structures & algorithms as well as reference books on programming languages and technologies. Whether you are preparing for an interview for a company, or refreshing your memory on sorting algorithms for arrays it comes in handy to have these books despite the world-wide-web information openly available.

Participate in Hackathons

It is true that there were some hackathons that were canceled because of the current covid-19 pandemic, but there is good news! There are some hackathons that you can attend online. I participated in the LA Hacks Hackathon earlier that was done virtually from UCLA, as well as many others I attended personally at the University of Florida (SwampHacks IV, V), and Florida State University (HackFSU). The reason why Hackathons are great to participate in is because they give you a chance to learn about the newest trends in Software Development like Web Dev, Microservices, Game Development, AI & Machine Learning, and so much more. It's also great because it give you the chance to network with students across the country (and the world) and developers from large top-10 technology companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Adobe.

Add an Internship or Personal Project in Summer

Over the past few years as a Junior and Senior student, some Summer semesters were vacant, as I had already fulfilled the requirements for some Summer semesters in previous ones. That makes a great opportunity to create your own side project(s) to demonstrate to add to your resume, and demonstrate your knowledge of programming, or even participate or prepare to do an internship in anticipation for future months. If you don't have one already, create a GitHub, and make commits or contribute to open-source!

Go Above and Beyond to Gain an Edge

Some courses you'll learn only give an introductory approach to a particular topic of computer science. For example, you might take an operating systems course, but it may not cover all of the topics that you might need to know in the future. If you like working with systems programming, then perhaps doing your own project on Embedded Systems or creating a Linux Driver can give you an edge. In fact, I did this once during last Fall, and it was one of the projects that got me considered for an internship from Adobe early this year. Again, what your professors will teach you goes to a certain limit.

Ultimately, the difference between you and your peers begins with preparation, and demonstrating interest by application. It will set you apart not only in academia, but also as a professional developer.

Thank you for reading!

More articles on C++, and C# Development Coming Soon!

About Me and My Interest in Computer Science

James Ortiz — Sun, 26 Jan 2020 19:55:20 +0000

Hi Everyone! 👋

My name is James, I am a Computer Science major at Florida State University. I am originally from the US (Midwest). I am currently in my Senior year and will be graduating in the upcoming semesters. My interests are mainly on Software Engineering Processes, Mobile Development, and AI through Machine Learning.

I created this post as a way to show what I have learned in the past, what my goals are here at Dev, and what I want to achieve as a career.

My Journey In Computer Science:

I got introduced to Computer Science in the early 2000's when I obtained my own computer, this was a bit before I had access to the internet at home (we have gone quite a long way) 😆 My relatives worked in the IT sector, mainly on Database Admin stuff, and had some books on C programming, which was at one point (and still is in many cases) the ideal language to begin learning Computer Programming.

One of my first computers was a Compaq Presario with about 40 GB of Space, and 660 Mhz of processing speed, not much now, but typical for that time. With that computer I also learned Ubuntu Linux. Good times! 😄

I took courses on Web Design using HTML5, and CSS during my high-school years and then went on to take an actual course in C Programming during my junior college years. After getting my Associates I ultimately transferred over to Florida State University, where I am currently now. During the 3rd year of my degree, I completed coursework on Discrete Math, Computer Architecture, Engineering Statistics with R, Unix Administration, and Mobile Programming, and in my senior year with advanced topics such as Operating Systems, Analysis of Algorithms, Rule-Based AI and so on!

Last Fall, I helped complete a semester-long project in designing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to detect nearby cars for Cyclists on the road. My team used a go-pro camera, and a Raspberry Pi for portability. I helped design the code and train the neural network via PyTorch using Python 3, and OpenCV to aid in the image processing. While the project may not have been very complex, it did show the potential for AI in many uses. As I write more articles, I will elaborate more on this interesting project!

What Am I learning At The Moment through Dev, and as Coursework:

I am currently learning Node.js and Software Engineering concepts around Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) using RESTful web services. After learning and applying so much C/C++, my Web Design skills have become a bit rusty. I am also taking on courses in Analysis of Algorithms, Algorithm Design, and Internet Programming using Java.

Main Programming Languages and Topics I am Familiar With:

ANSI C/C99:
- Low-level programming
- Compiler Construction
- Operating-Systems Design
C++11/C++17:
- Advanced & Generic Data Structures
- Object-Oriented Programming and Analysis
- Competitive Programming
Python:
- Data Science
- Machine Learning Applications
Java:
- Mobile Development through Android

I will be making a complete series on fundamentals for each one of the topics.

My Goals at Dev:

Teach others and share what I have learned in the past several years, and meet new friends
Create my own blog
Ultimately work in either AI, .NET Development, or Android Development

Other Hobbies:

Reading: A lot of science-fiction stuff
Playing Retro Video Games: I still enjoy a lot of 90's video games
World History

That's me in a nutshell! Stay tuned for more articles!

Thanks for reading and following! 😃

DEV Community: James Ortiz