When I took CS 142 (two years ago, haha, mission), the only software that was needed was eclipse. Personally, I'm not a linux guy (OS X and Solaris are my big unix hooks), but I believe that linux users tend to have an alright experience at BYU. I do remember that when I took CS 124 (again, two years ago), windows software was -absolutely- necessary to flash the TI MSP430 chips that the class was using at the time. I considered writing a USB driver for OS X and possibly for the linux guys, but decided it wasn't worth it. I just ran Windows 7 in a VM. CS students can get free copies of Windows (and Visual Studio, Office, etc) through MSDN, if I recall correctly.
As far as general tips, you might want to not have an xbox or whatever. I know that I spent enough time playing minecraft to lower my gpa about a tenth of a point. In fact, this semester I'm bringing in an old iBook that can pretty much only run Word and play DVDs to use on days when I absolutely need to force myself to be productive. A study habit that I would recommend is keeping notebooks for whatever topics / subjects you're studying (say you're doing calc II and linear alg at the same time, might want to just have a "math" journal) and write about what you learn each time you go to class and study. Be specific and make lists of what you don't know or understand. That way you always know what you need to study first. And here's something I learned from good ol' Kearl. Find something you love that isn't related to your studies. Something new. And love it and spend time doing / studying it. He learned to love French cathedrals, if I recall correctly, and I learned to love ice skating. That makes your college experience valuable, like real life instead of just dry training. Find people to hang out with that don't fit the crew you had in high skool. Join World Series pools. Whatever, have fun. There ya go. Questions? Concerns? Shoot me an email. RT Hatfield On 5 August 2013 20:12, Oliver Reed <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm an incoming freshman, and I was wondering if any of the more > experienced BYU students have tips or suggestions to help me (and any other > freshman that happen to be subscribed) succeed. Study habits we should > start, time management techniques we should practice, and activities we > should attend could be helpful as well as any other information you can > think of that you wish you had known on entrance. > > Particularly, I'm interested in the CS program. What tips and tricks do > you have for a Linux user going to school? Specifically, for CS 142, do I > need some way to run Windows or Windows software? > > Thank you for any time and effort you put in to answering my questions. > I'm extremely excited to experience college life, and I want my first > semesters to be the best possible experience. > > -Oliver Reed > > -------------------- > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > > The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their > author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info (unsubscribe here): http://uug.byu.edu/mailman/listinfo/uug-list >
-------------------- BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ The opinions expressed in this message are the responsibility of their author. They are not endorsed by BYU, the BYU CS Department or BYU-UUG. ___________________________________________________________________ List Info (unsubscribe here): http://uug.byu.edu/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
