Dowloading apple quicktime

Status
Not open for further replies.
What will you be studying there man? Seattle University or Washington?
nah, going to the Art Institute of Seattle actually....gonna get my AA in Audio Production and then see what happens from there. They got an Internship program as well as pretty good job placement in the industry after I get out.

"Why not something in computers?" because honestly computers annoy the shit out of me :p I like to fiddle with mine as a hobby, but overall they piss me off.

I'm getting math and english out of the way here at the local college.....much cheaper and by the time I get up in seattle it'll be all audio classes.
 
Chankama said:
University of Waterloo
Computer Engineering

Wish I went to math though :(.. I even got their Rene Descartes Scholarship (math). But, didn't take it and decided to go to engineering instead. All the **** hype :mad: :(
Hmm...interesting. I'm actually considering Waterloo (among other places) for engineering at the moment.

Could you elaborate on the 'hype' bit? And why you now wish you were out of engineering? AND, what career you would have persued with pure maths? My apologies if this is taking too much time, I just need to start hearing all of these opinions and evaluating my options.
 
Nubius said:
"Why not something in computers?" because honestly computers annoy the shit out of me :p I like to fiddle with mine as a hobby, but overall they piss me off.

Blasphemy! That's a significantly different path from computers man :p.. I guess you want to make movies.. Who knows. Maybe you could end up in Lucas Arts :D..

Qiranworms said:
Hmm...interesting. I'm actually considering Waterloo (among other places) for engineering at the moment.

Could you elaborate on the 'hype' bit? And why you now wish you were out of engineering? AND, what career you would have persued with pure maths? My apologies if this is taking too much time, I just need to start hearing all of these opinions and evaluating my options.

No problem.

Well, the "hype" bit involved essentially (back then anyways) the [Waterloo Computer Engineering program] being "THE" program in Canada to get into. So, without even doing much research, I just jumped into it - even though math was my favourite area. Now don't get me wrong, I did learn a lot of things. But, I found that it was all over the place, without a sufficiently theoretical foundation.

A lot of Engineering concepts are based on math - but, we don't really learn that foundation in detail IMO. Plus, why would a person go into Computer Engineering? If "h/w" is your answer, then you should check it out. Same goes for wireless networks and signal processing.

If "s/w" is your answer, then you should probably look somewhere else. And definitely make sure you stay away from "Software Engineering". I don't know what the heck that program is about :rolleyes:.. I say this, b/c just down the road, the Mathematics department offers a "Computer Science" program.

Now, "Computer Science" itself is an interesting program. If you go into that program, you will program during the morning, day, and night. Sometimes, you won't even sleep. b/c they really make you program like dogs. Is it worth it? Not IMO. I went to Computer ENgineering, and I didn't do much programming "in school". Yet, I consider myself to be a pretty good programmer - which was confirmed by the companies that I've worked for during co-op. However, that being said, if you like s/w, then I'd pick "Computer Science" over Computer Engineering anyday. The hype doesn't mean anything to me anymore. But, I do know the facts.

So where does that leave us? I like math, and I like s/w. I also like h/w, wireless networks, and signal processing - but not as much as s/w and math (as I've discovered over the years).

btw, what I mean by h/w is not assembling computer parts or troubleshooting. I mean chip design, circuit design, semi-conductors, photonics, etc. etc.

If I had to do it again, what would "I" do? I'd go into the math department. Get a degree in statistics (applicable to many real world problems including finance, signal processing, etc.) and do a minor in Computer Science with a emphasis on DSP and such. With a degree in statistics, you could "learn" youself any material on Signal Processing if you need to.

But, everything I've said is from hindsight. But, back when in OAC (grade 13) I didn't know any of this stuff :).
 
I can't choose between Physics (or Chem, but I like Physics more) and Computer Science (both Hardware and Software) for College...My Dad says I should go into the latter because it'll be easier to get a job, but I still don't know.
 
It's not as easy as saying "s/w" and "h/w" man. It's not easy to know what you want to do for the rest of your life - while still in high-school. I know how it is. And it's not fair.

The only thing I can say is to do some research. If you "really" want to know what a particular field is about, go to the graduate studies department's webpage and see the types of research they do. If any of those "topics" interest you, you should probably check out the undergrad version of the program.

And math is always a great thing to go into. Every field, and I mean every field, needs math. Especially statistics.

And no offense to your dad, but parents are not the most upto date people re: what the industry will be like in the near future. I am sure you've heard about the out-sourcing to overseas stuff going on these days. I think I've read earlier today that IBM is doubling it's worker force in India.
 
Well, you're right, I don't know what I want. I don't even know what UCI's classes give.

But to clarify some, by hardware I meant chip design, circuit design, semi-conductors, photonics, etc. etc. I don't want to major in that though. Kind of something I want to know about.

By software, I don't know what I meant. Want to learn programming though, since thats what I believe the world is headed towards; Better, smarter computers. The actual "powerful people" will be those that know what to do with those computers.

Physics is also one of those things that I need to know. Even though I'm thinking of doing it just for fun, I'm also considering majoring in it.

Chemistry...same as physics, but definately not gonna major in it.
 
Flanker said:

By software, I don't know what I meant. Want to learn programming though, since thats what I believe the world is headed towards; Better, smarter computers. The actual "powerful people" will be those that know what to do with those computers.

Well.. If you are thinking about Artificial Intelligence, then Computer Science is the way to go. doing a university degree "just to learn programming" is overkill IMO

In anycase, if you really want to do stuff with AI, you are going to have to do a graduate degree. Undergrad just doesn't teach you enough to make anything of it - other than follow established techniques.

Quantum Computing is something to look into. As far as I know, the Quantum Computing Center at the University of Waterloo (my campus) is one of very few in North America that actually does this research seriously. Who knows, maybe you'll luck out and your local campus also offers at least some classes on it - even if they don't actual research.
 
No no, I didn't mean AI. I just meant that I believe computers will become more and more integrated into our society, and everyday life. The knowledge of how to make your computers do what you want them to do is a very good skill to have, IMO.

Anyways, I still have a year or so to think about it.
 
Chankama said:
No problem.

Well, the "hype" bit involved essentially (back then anyways) the [Waterloo Computer Engineering program] being "THE" program in Canada to get into. So, without even doing much research, I just jumped into it - even though math was my favourite area. Now don't get me wrong, I did learn a lot of things. But, I found that it was all over the place, without a sufficiently theoretical foundation.

A lot of Engineering concepts are based on math - but, we don't really learn that foundation in detail IMO. Plus, why would a person go into Computer Engineering? If "h/w" is your answer, then you should check it out. Same goes for wireless networks and signal processing.

If "s/w" is your answer, then you should probably look somewhere else. And definitely make sure you stay away from "Software Engineering". I don't know what the heck that program is about :rolleyes:.. I say this, b/c just down the road, the Mathematics department offers a "Computer Science" program.

Now, "Computer Science" itself is an interesting program. If you go into that program, you will program during the morning, day, and night. Sometimes, you won't even sleep. b/c they really make you program like dogs. Is it worth it? Not IMO. I went to Computer ENgineering, and I didn't do much programming "in school". Yet, I consider myself to be a pretty good programmer - which was confirmed by the companies that I've worked for during co-op. However, that being said, if you like s/w, then I'd pick "Computer Science" over Computer Engineering anyday. The hype doesn't mean anything to me anymore. But, I do know the facts.

So where does that leave us? I like math, and I like s/w. I also like h/w, wireless networks, and signal processing - but not as much as s/w and math (as I've discovered over the years).

btw, what I mean by h/w is not assembling computer parts or troubleshooting. I mean chip design, circuit design, semi-conductors, photonics, etc. etc.

If I had to do it again, what would "I" do? I'd go into the math department. Get a degree in statistics (applicable to many real world problems including finance, signal processing, etc.) and do a minor in Computer Science with a emphasis on DSP and such. With a degree in statistics, you could "learn" youself any material on Signal Processing if you need to.

But, everything I've said is from hindsight. But, back when in OAC (grade 13) I didn't know any of this stuff :).
Hmm. I probably should have been clarified that I don't want to go into Computer anything. I'm very interested in the Waterloo Nanotechnology program. That's the sort of thing I think I'd like to do (at least at the moment). Actually, more interested in designing materials by assembling the molecules from scratch as opposed to MEMS. My favourite technical subject is Physics, but I'm a bit scared of going into pure physics to tell you the truth, and I somehow feel engineering would suit me better. I have no idea. There's also the option of going into mechanical engineering, totally different and probably less physics related, but when I look at things from a different angle it seems like it offers a lot that I'd like. Lots of choices, so many mistakes to make. Oh well, I still have some time (less than when OAC still existed) to evaluate options and decide. Appreciate this discussion. Thanks.

Quantum Computing is something to look into. As far as I know, the Quantum Computing Center at the University of Waterloo (my campus) is one of very few in North America that actually does this research seriously. Who knows, maybe you'll luck out and your local campus also offers at least some classes on it - even if they don't actual research.
What undergraduate program would you start in to get into that field?
 
Holy Crap, lol, Nanotech. I was into that full-time until a while ago. Nanophysics rock :)

UCI actually has a very nice Nanotech program, or so I hear from someone that goes there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom