Engineering at UNSW - computing 1A?? (2 Viewers)

[17theorm]

Hey guys, so I will be doing the flexible first year engineering course at UNSW and was looking at some of the required courses needed to pursue mechanical or Mechatronic and noticed that computing 1A is a prerequisite. The other computing course offered in the first year is Computing for engineers and this looks like more the mainstream course while computing 1A the more advanced course. Does anyone know if computing 1A requires any sort of prior knowledge on programing or software or do they start from scratch??? Will I will able to do computing 1A without having done any kind of computing course in the past or should i stick with computing for engineers?

 

[kaz1]

They start from scratch in computing 1a but I hear it's quite a difficult course.

 

[17theorm]

If I start the semester with computing 1a but find it too difficult, will I be allowed to drop to computing for engineers?

 

[kaz1]

If it's before the census date I think you can.

 

[Lolsmith]

Non-Software Engineers can do COMP1911 (I'm very sure) as their required Computing course. They aren't required to do COMP1917. COMP1917 is harder and especially so in first semester.

 

[riots]

Can't be assed starting my own thread.

If I do COMP1911 or COMP1917 instead of ENGG1811, would I still be able to go into the civil engineering stream (or any other stream that suggests taking ENGG1811) next year?

Wondering about COMP1917 in particular, btw.

 

[Aclipse]

bump,

i've also enrolled in COMP 1917 in a combined commerce/engineering degree because I read somewhere that comp 1911 or engg 1811 is not sufficient to eventually progress to a Computer Engineering program.

Am i crazy for taking this course on with like almost zero computing experience

 

[UnrealAnchovies]

fuck i put down comp1917 too

 

[Amogh]

bump,

i've also enrolled in COMP 1917 in a combined commerce/engineering degree because I read somewhere that comp 1911 or engg 1811 is not sufficient to eventually progress to a Computer Engineering program.

Am i crazy for taking this course on with like almost zero computing experience

I did the course while in high school and it's definitely manageable. They start from scratch and the lecturers definitely account for people with no computing experience. It'll obviously be a tad harder if you have no prior experience, but it's a good introduction to programming. If you get Richard Buckland, you'll enjoy it for sure
Besides, you can always drop down to COMP1911 like kaz said.

 

[UNSW COMPUTING]

If you are interested in studying further COMP Courses later in your degree, it will be an advantage to take COMP1917. While it is possible to do this from COMP1911, you will need to take an extra Course, and this will slow you down a bit.

You can enrol in COMP1917 and then, if it is too much, drop down to COMP1911 BEFORE the 31st of March. It is much more difficult to start in 1911 and then go to 1917 but dropping down is relatively straightforward as long as it's done BEFORE the 31st of March.

You learn more in COMP1917, but we also push you hard (that's a part of being an academically rigorous university!), so it will take dedication, but most students find it very fulfilling!

 

[UNSW COMPUTING]

Also, tomorrow is the day that you can come in to get enrolment advice: https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/commencing/AcademicAdvising.pdf

 

[TheStallion]

COMP1917 is pretty damn hard, but so worth it. Looking back on doing it now, I'm glad I did it instead of COMP1911 or ENGG1811.

 

[Shadowdude]

COMP1917 is pretty damn hard, but so worth it. Looking back on doing it now, I'm glad I did it instead of COMP1911 or ENGG1811.

How is it hard, actually? Is it the concepts you're taught or applying it? Because it's like programming - right? And if you're not well-versed, you'd struggle?

 

[pwoh]

How is it hard, actually? Is it the concepts you're taught or applying it? Because it's like programming - right? And if you're not well-versed, you'd struggle?

I think it's because there's more content and it's more fast-paced than COMP1911.

 

[Shadowdude]

I think it's because there's more content and it's more fast-paced than COMP1911.

pwoh, you did it... would you recommend COMP1917 to someone who's noob and hasn't programmed at all -ever-?

 

[pwoh]

pwoh, you did it... would you recommend COMP1917 to someone who's noob and hasn't programmed at all -ever-?

They don't assume you have ever programmed - you start from the very beginning and the tutors are very helpful. That said, having programming experience certainly makes it easier. I think it would depend on how much time you are willing to put into it - it was one of the more time-consuming courses for me.

You would learn a lot from COMP1917, it was a lot of fun (especially with Richard Buckland as a lecturer).

As usual, imo it is better to take the harder course and drop down later if necessary.

 

[TheStallion]

You would learn a lot from COMP1917, it was a lot of fun (especially with Richard Buckland as a lecturer).

This. So much this. The content isn't actually too hard to learn, but the assignments that are set are very difficult to do. Mark allocation is pretty good though, 1/3rd of the marks is just on a portfolio if I can remember correctly. That portfolio does have to have all the completed tasks in it, but still, marks for blabbing on about what you've learnt are free marks when all you do is maths/phys these days.

Like said above, they don't assume you know any programming at all. 2 friends of mine did the course with 0 prior coding experience and managed marks of about 65 with very little effort put in up until the weeks before the exams. I can't comment more than that, since I went into it with a lot of programming experience.

 

[Shadowdude]

How are the assignments difficult? Like... tough to apply the content you learn to make the programs required?

 

[TheStallion]

Yeah pretty much, they're generally really long with a really short amount of time to do them in. There's a major project which you do as part of a team too, team co-ordination is always hard in cse, dunno why, everyone just seems way more disorganised than the group projects in eng. Or maybe the project was just really hard.

I still remember last year S1, Richard -> "Task 2 is released! Now i'm going away for a week to Melbourne, so you can't ask any questions, and it's due in 2 weeks."

 

[Shadowdude]

Aha, now it makes sense.

Thanks!