Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

mikau · 2006-03-08 11:00:51

I finished calculus! It took me way longer then I'd hoped but the book turned out being longer then the previous books in the series. Also there were countless delays.

Anyways, I've now completed the Saxon math series. I can now boast i've taught myself algebra 1 & 2, trig and calculus. Now I'm confident in my math skills and feel ready for college to persue a career in computer science.

Many thanks to all the forum members who provided assistance when I needed it. I only hope some day I'll be SMARTER THEN ALL OF YOU!

Like I said my next objective is getting into college, but I intend to continue my self study in the meantime lest my brain muscles get flabby. There are no more books in the saxon math series, therefore I'm open to suggestions for good math texts on calculus II, multivariable calc, or whatever comes next.

Anyways, I intend to celebrate with a calculus party this coming tuesday, March 14. PI DAY! :-D (3,14) what better day to celebrate? You're all invited!

MathsIsFun · 2006-03-08 11:41:00

May I be the first to congratulate you!

Computer Science? Maybe you could start reading books about programming, logic, etc ... Do you know c++, php, sql, etc?

mikau · 2006-03-08 11:47:42

Thanks! I read about one third of a C++ book and got stuck. The sad thing about C++ is you can't do practice problems and check your answers like you can with math. Therefore its not as easy to self study. But I'm going to study it some more now that I've got some extra time.

Ricky · 2006-03-08 12:11:59

But the great thing about programming is that you know when you're right, and you know when your wrong, although it normally takes at least an hour to figure out why you are wrong.

If you need any help with C++ or just about any other programming language, just ask.

mikau · 2006-03-08 12:13:35

are you a computer scientist, ricky?

justlookingforthemoment · 2006-03-08 17:49:43

Well done, mikau. You must have worked hard.

How can we celebrate your party? Next week could be 'Mikau week'.

Jai Ganesh · 2006-03-08 18:07:41

Ricky · 2006-03-08 18:13:01

Yes, mikau. I am in college, majoring in both computer science and math.

mikau · 2006-03-09 06:01:31

Many thanks, Ganesh and Ju!

Thats cool, ricky! Thats what I'd like to do. Major in both compy science and math.

Last edited by mikau (2006-03-09 06:02:00)

ryos · 2006-03-09 07:52:38

As far as math goes, you'll probably be better off waiting, since you'll have to learn it all anyway when you get to college.

However, a little programming sk1lz should come in handy, to jump start your courses. I would recommend against C++ as a starter language, not because it can't be done, but because it's hard to do anything useful without knowing a lot. (And I hate that language, as I've said before.)

Java makes a good intro to OOP. It's fairly intuitive, strict enough to make you learn the rules, and it makes a nice environment to play around in.

You may also take a look at Ruby (I've been meaning to). It's all the rage these days, eh?

Ricky · 2006-03-09 08:30:28

Sorry for the rant, but I really can't resist....

I'm going to side with my favorite CS professor on this one (go figure...) and say that learning Java first ruins people.

Java is a very structured language, rigid if you will. Java also includes a very extensive library. Finally, java handles all memory allocation and deallocation. These three things make it a bad language to learn first.

Don't get me wrong, structure can be a good thing. I've learned that from doing projects that include 5000+ lines of code. But it's important to learn that without having to conform to it. In essence, Java doesn't let you "be free." You are trapped behind Java's structure, and there is literally no way out.

The extensive library in Java allows very new programmers to do some very sophisticated things. However, those new programs don't know how things like hashes work, but use them anyways. And they won't learn until they are forced to. What you end up with is a bunch of programmers who know how to make function (method...) calls, and not too much more. Reinventing the wheel is a way of learning, and Java takes that away from you.

Finally, memory allocation and deallocation is very important to learn when dealing with other languages. It's best to learn it while you are still a beginner. So I would always recommend a language that deals with pointers when learning.

Consequently, those three reasons why I gave not to learn Java first, are the same three reasons why Java is a great language to a more advanced programmer. Having structure makes finding error and reading code much easier. Not reinventing the wheel is a great thing, if you aren't learning. And having to deal with memory leaks or errors can slow a project down to a halt (and in my experience, have progress go backwards).

I would recommend C++. It's kind of like the piano of programming languages. Once you learn it, all other languages become easier. Going from Java to C++ can be hard, but the reverse is never true.

Ricky · 2006-03-09 08:34:22

Oh, and Whitespace has to be one of my favorite programming languages.

mikau · 2006-03-09 10:44:17

I have never done any other language so my oppinion is pretty worthless, but I do like C++. Its just not too easy to teach yourself.

ryos · 2006-03-09 13:02:29

Hey Ricky, the three reasons you cite are the same reasons I think Java is good to learn on.

I learned on C, not ++, and got quite frustrated with it. I was young at the time (13), so that may have had something to do with it. But also, I was frustrated when trying to go beyond simple stdin/stdout. The leap of knowledge required is tremendous, and the means was not available to me at the time to make it.

It wasn't until I learned Java that programming started to make sense to me. When forced to adhere to the structure, it became ingrained and I realized the sense of it (especially when learning PHP, which tries hard to be accommodating). Perhaps nobody'd ever explained the finer arts of memory allocation, but it always seemed like voodoo; Java garbage collection was a breath of fresh air. And the extensive, well-documented, platform-neutral library let me experiment with things (like gui programming) that I never could have dreamed of doing in C without, well, going to college.

But, maybe my experience fits into one who was "not learning," since I understood pointers and how to make a linked list. :

(Yes, I just used a dunno. It is jU week, after all.)

kimrei · 2006-04-08 08:05:31

I picked up c++ easily after learning java, java is simple enough to allow you to write extremely complex code without too much knowledge yet is strict enough to make sure that you don't get lazy (python coders complaining about else if (python uses elif)), and although it doesn't teach you about assigning memory it does make sure that you decide on a type for everything and use type conversion methods to swap between types which is a good grounding for memory management.

Java also holds enough limitations to ensure that a coder learns another oop language like c++, by limitations I don't mean to put it down, it can do almost everything if you know how but doesn't always do things in an elegant way.

PHP and SQL are just for web designers and database management, it's easy to make money with them but they're not much fun, and non-oop languages are becoming redundant.

George,Y · 2006-04-09 13:19:28

Congratulations mikau ! ! !

cool computer guys, can java make faultless Operating System instead of Windows??

ryos · 2006-04-14 03:59:12

An OS written in Java? *shudder*

Nothing can make a faultless operating system, just as no program is ever bug-free. But that doesn't mean you have to use Windows. I use Mac OS X, myself. If you're adventurous, try Linux; it's free, and there are exactly too many choices to choose from.

Patrick · 2006-04-16 06:42:15

I have to say - WOW.. It's a big accomplishment (without any knowledge of these books) in my opinion!

edit: Oh yeah, congratulations

Last edited by Patrick (2006-04-16 06:42:39)

mikau · 2006-04-16 07:13:43

lol, over a month later and the congrats are still pouring in! :-D

Thanks, patrick!

Patrick · 2006-04-16 07:16:55

Well, didn't see this untill now

George,Y · 2006-04-16 16:46:41

ryos wrote:

An OS written in Java? *shudder*
Nothing can make a faultless operating system, just as no program is ever bug-free. But that doesn't mean you have to use Windows. I use Mac OS X, myself. If you're adventurous, try Linux; it's free, and there are exactly too many choices to choose from.

Recently I read some books on business. One of them say it was Apple's fault to persue a flawless system at the cost of openess and software variety.

Math Is Fun Forum

#1 2006-03-08 11:00:51

Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#2 2006-03-08 11:41:00

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#3 2006-03-08 11:47:42

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#4 2006-03-08 12:11:59

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#5 2006-03-08 12:13:35

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#6 2006-03-08 17:49:43

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#7 2006-03-08 18:07:41

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#8 2006-03-08 18:13:01

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#9 2006-03-09 06:01:31

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#10 2006-03-09 07:52:38

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#11 2006-03-09 08:30:28

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#12 2006-03-09 08:34:22

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#13 2006-03-09 10:44:17

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#14 2006-03-09 13:02:29

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#15 2006-04-08 08:05:31

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#16 2006-04-09 13:19:28

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#17 2006-04-14 03:59:12

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#18 2006-04-16 06:42:15

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#19 2006-04-16 07:13:43

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#20 2006-04-16 07:16:55

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

#21 2006-04-16 16:46:41

Re: Horraaaaaay!!! :-d :-d :-d

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