I like computers but I'm stupid.

[Tinystarz]

ok I'm not stupid but lets say I'm not to hip on computers. But I am interested. I know basics like a baboon would know about a computer. Like how to use one haha. However I am interested in learning how a computer works and what makes it go faster or slower..stuff like that. I would like to maybe design my own pc and maybe new software. I brought this up to some of my friends and most say you have to be like some nerd to be into that and that I would have to love math. Since you have to take many math classes to get a degree in such a field.
I'm in my last yr of high school and been putting it off. I do plan to take a yr off for work to build some funds but when I am ready I do plan to attend school.

Since I am interested in this field what degree should I pursue? Is it true I will be taking tons of math classes(I hate math I suck at it). Do I even need a degree to get my foot in the door? Any books/videos I should look into to get a head start? How about tech schools?
I do plan to go to a local college to get information however I thought I would ask here since this is the GEEK zone. A lot of you seem to be tech savy.

[baseline bum]

ok I'm not stupid but lets say I'm not to hip on computers. But I am interested. I know basics like a baboon would know about a computer. Like how to use one haha. However I am interested in learning how a computer works and what makes it go faster or slower..stuff like that. I would like to maybe design my own pc and maybe new software. I brought this up to some of my friends and most say you have to be like some nerd to be into that and that I would have to love math. Since you have to take many math classes to get a degree in such a field.
I'm in my last yr of high school and been putting it off. I do plan to take a yr off for work to build some funds but when I am ready I do plan to attend school.

Since I am interested in this field what degree should I pursue? Is it true I will be taking tons of math classes(I hate math I suck at it). Do I even need a degree to get my foot in the door? Any books/videos I should look into to get a head start? How about tech schools?
I do plan to go to a local college to get information however I thought I would ask here since this is the GEEK zone. A lot of you seem to be tech savy.

To get a good knowledge of computer science you will need some math, but it's not all math by any stretch. You'll probably have to take a year of calc, which won't be all the useful explicitly for the field, but will develop mathematical literacy. The core math you need to know will be covered in a class called Discrete Math, Discrete Structures, or something along those lines. In that you will learn counting (don't laugh; it's actually very subtle and at times non intuitive), you will learn combinatorics and a little bit of probability, you will learn graph theory, and most important of all, you will learn mathematical induction and a lot about the logical foundations of math. Induction is absolutely critical to understand. If you do EE along with CS then the math load goes way up, as you'll have to learn a lot about multivariable calc and Fourier transforms.

Check this intro class from MIT, complete with video lectures and assignments, and see if it interests you:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrica...ideo-lectures/

If you don't like math now it doesn't mean you won't like it later. High school math education in the US is a nightmare and turns a fascinating subject into boring formulas and long drills of useless 60 problem homework assignments and the like.

[Muser]

I'm in my first year of a Computer Science degree, like bb said above you need a decent understanding of Calculus to start. Also read up on coding in languages such as Java and C ++.

[baseline bum]

On second thought, I'm underselling the math needed by quite a bit. For instance, any data structures and any algorithms class will rely very strongly on mathematical induction, probability, and graph theory, and you will almost certainly need both of those classes for a CS degree. Queuing theory will creep up in your study of networks and operating systems. The ability to make good induction arguments will be critical for writing do entation as you design and code a program.

[ElNono]

When somebody tells me they don't like math, I normally steer them the other way...
You don't have to love math, but you'll have to be good at it in this field, which automatically means you'll have to figure out to find some sort of motivation to get there.

[ElNono]

(double post)

[baseline bum]

When somebody tells me they don't like math, I normally steer them the other way...
You don't have to love math, but you'll have to be good at it in this field, which automatically means you'll have to figure out to find some sort of motivation to get there.

I hated math at her age, though I was ok at it. I didn't start liking it until I bought a precal and a calc book and taught it to myself for fear of getting killed in freshman engineering classes.

[Libri]

Precal book by Michael Sullivan is pretty good.

edit: I also like the Cal book by Larson and Hostetler.

[MannyIsGod]

I'd say you're not the norm though. I can't imagine pursuing a science without enjoying math quite a bit.

[baseline bum]

I'd say you're not the norm though. I can't imagine pursuing a science without enjoying math quite a bit.

To me it's hard to know if you like math when you have been taught it by such a substandard educational system. As soon as I got in college where people know how to teach it I started loving it.

[baseline bum]

I'm in my first year of a Computer Science degree, like bb said above you need a decent understanding of Calculus to start. Also read up on coding in languages such as Java and C ++.

I gotta disagree somewhat on learning Java first and strongly strongly disagree with learning C++ first. Java is a really cool language, but I think it's too much to learn OOP from the very beginning. Python or Scheme are probably better for learning without getting buried under tons of syntax or getting locked into thinking programming is writing a bunch of for loops. Java would be a great second language though. C++ is way too complicated to be an effective teaching tool early on; memory allocation / deallocation is best learned in a course on systems programming, computer organization, or assembly programming where you really get to look under the hood of what you write, and multiple inheritance is a bit much that early on too.

[NASpurs]

I love math and I love computers so it was only natural that I went into Computer Science during college. I hated every moment of my Computer Science classes and found it so boring and monotonous. I switched majors into business.

[TDMVPDPOY]

I love math and I love computers so it was only natural that I went into Computer Science during college. I hated every moment of my Computer Science classes and found it so boring and monotonous. I switched majors into business.

comp science or any computer programming related course, lol hang out and used the nerds man.....thats what my friend did to get by in his course...

[baseline bum]

comp science or any computer programming related course, lol hang out and used the nerds man.....thats what my friend did to get by in his course...

Any CS department will run programs to compare object code and look for plagiarism. Not worth it.

[ElNono]

I hated math at her age, though I was ok at it. I didn't start liking it until I bought a precal and a calc book and taught it to myself for fear of getting killed in freshman engineering classes.

I didn't particularly like math either as a kid (or physics for that matter), but I was decent at it. Nowadays I'm fascinated with some of the most complex challenges it presents and the clever solutions it provides (might sound too geeky, but I'm talking about things like finite/Galois fields for example).
And it's been mostly self-taught since I don't have a college degree.

That's said, hating it AND being bad at it is a bad combo unless you can find a very powerful ulterior motivational source.

[ElNono]

I gotta disagree somewhat on learning Java first and strongly strongly disagree with learning C++ first. Java is a really cool language, but I think it's too much to learn OOP from the very beginning. Python or Scheme are probably better for learning without getting buried under tons of syntax or getting locked into thinking programming is writing a bunch of for loops. Java would be a great second language though. C++ is way too complicated to be an effective teaching tool early on; memory allocation / deallocation is best learned in a course on systems programming, computer organization, or assembly programming where you really get to look under the hood of what you write, and multiple inheritance is a bit much that early on too.

LOGO is where it's at... Turtle, up 3...

[baseline bum]

LOGO is where it's at... Turtle, up 3...

Haha... at first I was going to recommend Berkeley's CS61A class (with full video lectures available on their webcast), which has you write a Logo interpreter as one of the projects. Then I realized it would have killed me if I didn't have any programming experience, and held off.

I didn't particularly like math either as a kid (or physics for that matter), but I was decent at it. Nowadays I'm fascinated with some of the most complex challenges it presents and the clever solutions it provides (might sound too geeky, but I'm talking about things like finite/Galois fields for example).
And it's been mostly self-taught since I don't have a college degree.

What algebra book do you like? My personal favorite is Artin since he does so much with matrices, linear algebra, and geometry in his text. Dummit & Foote is also pretty good at times, though sometimes it feels like you're just working in a sea of definitions. Lang is great once you have mastered either of the first two, but goes too fast and is too abstract to use before then (IMO at least).

[rickross]

son math not da enemy.

Depends on watchu gonn do ... if u go networking/graphics u gon need a load of math 4 analitics/procedural content/gpgpu/cryptography, but if u in 4 databases|web then u gon need only relational maths which is easy.

God bless.

[ElNono]

What algebra book do you like? My personal favorite is Artin since he does so much with matrices, linear algebra, and geometry in his text. Dummit & Foote is also pretty good at times, though sometimes it feels like you're just working in a sea of definitions. Lang is great once you have mastered either of the first two, but goes too fast and is too abstract to use before then (IMO at least).

None, really. I mostly scrounge through papers on demand these days based on whatever I'm working on, research I need to do. A couple of years ago I had to go heavily into RSA and elliptic curve, so a lot of reading there with modular exponentiation, intractability, the general number field sieve and stuff like that. Some of which is pretty fascinating...

[baseline bum]

None, really. I mostly scrounge through papers on demand these days based on whatever I'm working on, research I need to do. A couple of years ago I had to go heavily into RSA and elliptic curve, so a lot of reading there with modular exponentiation, intractability, the general number field sieve and stuff like that. Some of which is pretty fascinating...

Wow, that's really cool stuff. I haven't done anything in the subject other than a problem set and a C implementation of RSA for a class in school, and didn't know about cryptography based on elliptic curves.

[ElNono]

Wow, that's really cool stuff. I haven't done anything in the subject other than a problem set and a C implementation of RSA for a class in school, and didn't know about cryptography based on elliptic curves.

I've done some stuff on real-world security analysis that I really can't comment on too much. But basically when you exhausted software bugs as means of penetration and you start looking at side-channels attacks like glitching, differential power analysis, etc. you really need to understand the algorhitms and the different ways they can be implemented in order to asses the likelihood of key bits leaking, and all that jazz...

As a result of that work I ended up learning quite a bit, and I have to say it was really interesting stuff. Our latest product also contains a heavy amount of crypto, so for me it also has been paying off too, lol.

[koriwhat]

wish i knew what yall know... damn! i only got regular ol' ass html/css under my belt and the knowhow to implement web technologies which ain't jack compared to what i'm reading in this thread.

that 's cool, the stuff yall are doing.

[The_Worlds_finest]

I just want to be able to make farting and vomiting sound apps for phones....what do y'all recommend?

[TwAnKiEs]

I just want to be able to make farting and vomiting sound apps for phones....what do y'all recommend?

Frat party

[baseline bum]

I've done some stuff on real-world security analysis that I really can't comment on too much. But basically when you exhausted software bugs as means of penetration and you start looking at side-channels attacks like glitching, differential power analysis, etc. you really need to understand the algorhitms and the different ways they can be implemented in order to asses the likelihood of key bits leaking, and all that jazz...

As a result of that work I ended up learning quite a bit, and I have to say it was really interesting stuff. Our latest product also contains a heavy amount of crypto, so for me it also has been paying off too, lol.

LOL, you're snowing me over there, man. If someone had asked me a few minutes ago about how to crack RSA, I'd have just told them to build a quantum computer.

wish i knew what yall know... damn! i only got regular ol' ass html/css under my belt and the knowhow to implement web technologies which ain't jack compared to what i'm reading in this thread.

that 's cool, the stuff yall are doing.

Check that MIT course I posted above. It's a little mathematical, though nothing like the grad-level algebra ElNono is talking about. One of the most interesting lectures is the one on how to properly rob a house.

You can seriously learn tons of this stuff for free right now. MIT has that programming class I posted above, a more advanced one using LISP that's incredible, an algorithms class, and I forgot what else. Berkeley has probably half a CS bachelor's degree posted at their webcast, with courses ranging from programming, operating systems, networks, computer organization, computer architecture, and so on. Stanford has some great stuff at the SEE page (Stanford Engineering Education or something like that), and IIT, the toughest CS programs in the world to get into, have an enormous amount of material on the nptel channel at youtube (though I question if some of the online stuff they have is as difficult as the real courses).