nate890
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| Joined: 22 Nov 2008 |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:04 PM |
Having trouble deciding whether to take a robotics course (and possibly join competitions, etc.) or take a programming course specifically for a language (C++, C#, Java, etc.).
Any suggestions?
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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myrkos
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| Joined: 06 Sep 2010 |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:05 PM |
It's a "course"?
I thought it's a club usually, which means you can take both... but I guess some schools are different... |
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aboy5643
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:06 PM |
You probably know more about the languages on your own now than they'll teach you. I'd go robotics.
"Locked" - Sorcus |
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nate890
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| Joined: 22 Nov 2008 |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:08 PM |
Oh, no, no, no; it's not a school course, it would be outside of school, on my own time.
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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nate890
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| Joined: 22 Nov 2008 |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:11 PM |
Haha, my school's business course only teaches how to use microsoft word + excel and in my opinion, I think it's horrible, as business is more than microsoft word and excel. Think you would actually learn about being an entrepreneur, or how to start a business. Maybe some things about the economy from a political POV.
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:13 PM |
I would go for robotics. Depending on the program, you might learn programming there.
Anyway, I think computer languages classes are kind of overrated/worthless. The only one I would go to is Haskell, because functional programming eludes me. |
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aboy5643
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:15 PM |
"DECA"
Oyus, that post
"Locked" - Sorcus |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:18 PM |
| Go for Robotics and depending on how far you want to go look for any nearby FRC competitions in the next few weeks and go take a look. The FRC build season is actually ending next Tuesday and the competitions start a week after that. Oh, and FRC costs about 15-25 thousand to run a team each year so the robots are actually quite large. If you can you should join a team next year. |
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aboy5643
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:18 PM |
That's what happens at my school as well
"Locked" - Sorcus |
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nate890
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:18 PM |
Robotics would be fun and interesting. Would give me a chance to join a competition and be apart of something for fun.
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:21 PM |
| Oh and there is something like 3 billion in scholarships for FRC team members around the nation. |
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Varp
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:24 PM |
"Anyway, I think computer languages classes are kind of overrated/worthless. The only one I would go to is Haskell, because functional programming eludes me."
Anything that's not imperative is worth learning (if you already know imperative programming). Mathematical models (like Turing Machines & Lambda Calculus*) are also worth learning. Although, that's probably not stuff you'd find in high school. :(
And, in the off chance that your school offers a course on esoteric languages, you should take it. You might not learn too much practical (or maybe you will), but it'd be fun!
(*Which is oddly unrelated to derivatives & integrals) |
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stravant
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| 15 Feb 2012 08:35 PM |
"Anything that's not imperative is worth learning"
I would totally learn Haskel even if it's not to make real stuff in it. You'll learn so much about new takes on data structures (And in general about some real non-trivial data structures and how they work) and that you really want do programming different than the typical imperative style.
Also, I would take the Robotics class. The language courses for specific languages are probably mainly about learning the syntax of those languages, which is stuff you can easily enough do on your own, probably at a faster pace than you would in the class anyways. With a robotics course you will probably get your hands on some stuff to play with that you wouldn't have access to otherwise. |
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| 16 Feb 2012 02:48 AM |
| It's always fun to use a two ton mill that can only be programmed with a floppy disk! :) If you want to take a look at my FRC team go to ROBOTEKNICS. youguesswhat I don't know the current state of it at the moment but we might have some pictures of our shop in it, maybe even a timelapse that spans several hours. And a useful thing you might learn in robotics is how to use a CAD program like Solidworks or Autocad or even Inventor. |
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Quenty
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| 16 Feb 2012 03:02 AM |
| Robotics is fun. People in my robotics club spend time playing halo. :P |
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nate890
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| 16 Feb 2012 11:03 AM |
I was looking up a few videos on how their contests work, seems legit. And going with all of your suggestions, I'll go with robotics; seems extremely fun and hands-on stuff is always cool to do.
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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Tenal
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nate890
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| 16 Feb 2012 01:00 PM |
Bleh, I live in Canada (Ontario), so finding a team might be difficult.
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'> |
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nate890
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| Joined: 22 Nov 2008 |
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| 16 Feb 2012 01:02 PM |
...Though it'd be awhile before a join any teams
<'+1 Post. Ujelly?'>
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| 16 Feb 2012 04:08 PM |
| You can program in C in FRC as well. And good luck you might be able to find a FTC or FLL team in Canada too. |
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Quenty
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| 16 Feb 2012 04:23 PM |
Most people end up using Labview. My team uses Java. :P
Today, a kid on my team installed halo onto the school district drive. D: |
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