i'm trying to supplement my college cs curriculum with outside projects and self-learning, but I'm not sure what exactly I should do at this point.
I'm still a beginner, i've only taken two intro classes (on python and c++). next quarter I'm taking 13 units of CS classes but I really want to be productive over winter break and most of those units are in basic theoretical topics that aren't too relevant to industry/practice.
i'm trying to land some kind of a CS internship for the summer, so it'd be really great if i can manage to accelerate my learning and produce some tangible projects to show to a potential employer
anyone got any advice/help/tips/stories/racial slurs? thanks!
www.udacity.com have courses thatt teaches by building projects. you can always tweak it a bit. and their courses are excellent.
There is a git course there, learn git if you don't know it already. It makes it easier to have your code in some repository.
thanks, I'm doing that now! and I've heard of git before, but i thought it might be a bit beyond me given that i literally have no code i would want to commit to a repository (if thats even the right terminology)
Learn algorithms and theory instead of making meme programs like fuckie birds
>>51954849
Just put your homework on git to show that you can use it
https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.romack.me/lvcc/ebooks/python/violent-py.pdf&q=vicious%20python%20book&ved=0ahUKEwiOgvjCpunJAhWEXR4KHRYICJAQFghUMAk&usg=AFQjCNF6gIX4H3tnfT7V7rmCOjF2lhGATg&sig2=CWctLk6npFJ2zekT9yDp2A
any advice for getting summer internships? I go to school in Santa Barbara, CA and will probably live in the bay area, an hour north of silicon valley, during the summer
>>51954693
>most of those units are in basic theoretical topics that aren't too relevant to industry/practice.
drop that attitude now
Cool picture OP. Saved.
Just apply whatever you've learned in school. Easy way is to write games, if you know how you could also make websites. Basically just anything that does a specific task, then you can show ppl you did it. Start with the most simple version and then make more complicated ones. Most of the info is online, you almost don't even need school.
First find out how you want to specialize, then become proficient in that. Jack of all trades, master of none.
You want to wrtie webapps as a freelancer? I know a guy in chicago who charges 10k for a custom web app.
You want to get into mobile dev? Learn swift/java for android and make some apps.
If you want to do web dev stuff learn html, css, and js/node/php etc
So ultimately, supplemental projects will only be effective if you can somehow focus in on a specific , and be able to relate to why you did it, i.e how perspective employee will view it all.
Ive worked at a grocery store doing point of sale accounting for some years now, so a relevant project for me is to make a point of sale application that connects to a SQL db for inventory/sales etc. (Which is exactly what im working on. Written the logic in C++ (odbc) and python (pyodbc), currently working on django and making it a web app instead of a console app.
Best of luck anon. Btw i also had python first the C++. You in a Midwest school?
>>51954693
list the subjects
>>51956130
It's just that I want to be able to create something concrete very soon to put on a resume for applications to summer internships, I'm totally interested in all things CS, so far.
>>51956130
>drop that attitude now
Not him;
earlier today I needed to, between two lists of ID's, find only the ID's listed in both.
My friend had coded it using some for loops (n^2), but I took a second and realized we could do it with a hash (2n). You're totally right, even if we want to get stuff done NOW, the theory they teach is paramount
>>51958759
Ah I just realized that since I knew the first list had no duplicates, I could have just done the check in (n) operations. Step one, copy the first list to the hash. Step two, go through the 2nd list, comparing to the hash and marking (incrementing) hits
>>51954693
As others have said, the basics are important. They don't play directly but they matter. If you understand the material cool, move on. If you don't make sure double back and cover it. Best thing I found when I was in your position was find some cool kind of hipster garbage you want to play around with (Node, Clojure, Lisp, Haskell, Rails, Git, Python, Nim, and recently Rust were mine). I started chugging through a book or tutorial on the topic then I would try to do something simple on my like download a file. You can build it up from there. When your done pop your project on github to build a portfolio that way you can show employers ya moves. Also double down on the theory because theory will always play, no matter where you decide to set up shop.
>>51954693
Learn to fuck bitches you faggot. Just kidding the first three anons have good advice
>>51954693
Contribute to OSS (something appropriate for your skill level) on github or elsewhere, in between your classes /when you have time. Pick something you are interested in and brush up on whatever skills are needed to be productive and actually able to contribute.
Once summer comes, do Google Summer of Code.
>>51954693
Learn how to use the CLI
Learn how to use git via cli (don't just rely on github gui)
learn how to use a legit text editor like VIM
Learn how to learn - aka u will never know everything, what u need to know is how to learn things fast when you are faced with problems, always try to figure things out for yourself first before you go asking for help on forums or irc, asking for help is good, but don't be lazy about it or you will never learn anything.
Learn to make good documentation about how to do things. Like when you are stuck on something and then finally figure it out, clearly write down how you solved the problem and save those notes, chances are you'll encounter the same problem again later and you'll be glad you have good documentation of how to solve it, don't fool yourself into thinking you'll just remember everything, this also applies to leaving good comments in your code, it may seem pointless at the time, or you may think no one else will ever read this code so why bother commenting on it, but guess what, there's gonna be tons of times you are going to look at old code you wrote and you're going to be like wtf is this? What does this function even do? And you are going to wish u wrote good comments in ur own code as a note to the future you.
>>51959988
>Learn how to learn - aka u will never know everything, what u need to know is how to learn things fast when you are faced with problems
So much fucking this, so fucking this. So so so this. biggest thing i learned at university. biggest thing i learned at 2nd college. biggest thing ive taught myself. 100 times over this
>write down how you solved the problem and save those notes, chances are you'll encounter the same problem again later and you'll be glad you have good documentation of how to solve it
i personally do this now after observing this happen time and time again, wish i had read a post like yours years ago
>>51960058
i just learned that by taking Coursera: learning how to learn mooc. it's not bad
