By the way, course requirements for a major can be explored through BYU's MyMap, or by searching for "BYU $MAJOR map". I know the CS map is being significantly reworked this year, but I don't think it's available online yet.
I'd generally agree with Lloyd's overview of the different technical degrees, though I've added some notes on CS, as it's what I know best. David On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 9:39 AM, Lloyd Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > I know these terms mean different things at other institutions, but > here's my take on the various computer-related majors at BYU. I only > have direct experience with one or two, so some of this is probably > oversimplified or biased. > > - Computer Science - Lots of algorithms and programming, but absolutely > nothing on systems or hardware > It depends on what you mean by systems. I'm thinking of OS-level systems programming vs. application level system programming (including distributed systems), and there are courses that go into both subjects. There isn't anything for systems administration or anything like that, though. CS 345 is a fairly rigorous course, and is about as hardware-specific as you get in the major (well, except for CS 124 where you do assembly on a basic microarchitecture and the few optional electrical engineering courses). Other courses do involve interfacing with hardware, but just the subset of hardware relevant to the course (graphics: opengl stuff, internet: sockets, etc.). > > - Electrical Engineering - Lots of electronics and some CS-like work > (eg. real-time OS, etc.) > > - Computer Engineering - A mix between Electrical Engineering and > Computer Science. Basically EE, minus a little of the low-level > electronics, and plus a lot more of the CS stuff than the EE has > > - Information Technology - IT system design, integration of disparate > systems, service management, etc. Note that this is where my degrees > come from, so I'm a little biased toward it. > > - Information Systems - How to be a manager of an IT team, and delude > yourself into thinking you're an IT guy. Much more of a business degree > than anything else. > > > Did I miss anything? > > > Lloyd Brown > Systems Administrator > Fulton Supercomputing Lab > Brigham Young University > http://marylou.byu.edu > > On 08/06/2013 09:31 AM, Bryan Murdock wrote: > > This is where I probably say some things I shouldn't say. > > > > If you are an incoming freshman and already know that you want to > > focus on computers and are already running linux on your own, don't do > > CS at BYU. Go directly to Computer Engineering in the EE department. > > You still take the best classes the CS department has to offer, but > > you also get to learn how the hardware works, all the way down to the > > device physics of the transistors. And as fun as that is, the main > > advantage is that they teach you how to learn. The CS department > > teaches you how to whine until they offer "extra credit." Guess which > > skill serves you better throughout your life? :-) > > > > Sorry, that's probably a little unfair of me. There are some really > > smart people that come out of the BYU CS department (in spite of the > > shortcomings?) and it was 10 years ago when I finished BYU and maybe > > things have changed. Ask others who spent time taking classes in both > > departments. When I was there, CS classes were the relaxing, > > take-a-breath classes for the Computer Engineering majors. > > > > Bryan > > > > On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 7:12 PM, 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 > > > -------------------- > 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
