Major Spotlight: Computer Science
Can you imagine a world without the devices you use daily? A world without Google to help us find information? A world without video games to entertain ourselves? It’s really crazy to think about just how far humanity has come with technology and how essential it has become to everyday life. That being said, how do these devices work? Is it magic? Nope, it’s all ones and zeroes.
I feel like describing the computer science major as just “learning to program” would be an understatement. The computer science major here is really all about problem solving and different ways to go about it in the STEM field.
In Computer Science students learn how to solve various problems using a programming language known as Python. It’s a lot of typing, but it’s really satisfying to see the code you made run and work successfully. From there, students go on to apply these basic skills in different ways. For example, in a later course, Introduction to Computer Organization, students typically work with physical hardware and construct basic circuits. The same concepts and ideas of the previous classes apply of course, but the method of applying these skills is a little bit different.
Math is pretty much an essential to all parts of the major. As you go into more advanced classes, you’ll begin to see familiar types of equations that result in a “hey, I know this!” moment. From my own experience, I absolutely loved seeing concepts from courses such as Discrete Mathematics pop up in a coding course. While I know that some people think they can’t do math, I firmly believe that anyone can be successful no matter how challenging the math of it is. Besides, the more challenging it gets, the better it feels to successfully solve a problem.
While it certainly is a major with a lot of required credits, I recommend it to anyone undecided with a passion for technology. There are a lot of cool concepts to explore, and it can open a variety of doors to the future. You might even be able to program a door to open as well!
