Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#1

Post by frodwith » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:15 PM UTC

My 14-year-old cousin came over to my place, woke me up, and asked me (a career software developer) "What should I learn now to become a computer scientist?" I didn't have a really good answer for him. I told him to pay attention to algebra, take a class in symbolic logic if he could find one, and take any programming classes he could find. I started learning to program in college (not counting little games in BASIC and hello-world level stuff in C growing up). I'm sure there's plenty of good teach-yourself-to-program books aimed at people his age, but I don't know what they are.

TL;DR: What does HN recommend as a course of study for an aspiring young pre-CS student?

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#2

Post by pook » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:35 PM UTC

MIT's OpenCourseWare is an excellent way for him to study CS on his own while in high school.

I would recommend, at 14, getting him utterly hooked on the mindset of CS and related subjects. Godel, Escher, Bach, etc. If you can get him fascinated with the field, he'll find all the information he needs on his own better than any list of required reading you'll get.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0465026567

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#3

Post by bmalicoat » Sat, May 08, 2010, 5:36 PM UTC

Get a TI calculator and try making some simple games for it in TI Basic. The calculator is nice because you can program in your not-so-great history classes or whatever.

Also start messing around with Python, there is no overhead and you can get started quickly.

Paying attention to math is important, but more important is honing your problem solving skills.

(Addressed everything to the OPs cousin for readability)

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#4

Post by amock » Sat, May 08, 2010, 6:04 PM UTC

Does he want to study computer science or software engineering? If he wants to study computer science he should take lots of math, particularly courses that involve proofs. I recommend algebra, graph theory, and combinatorics in particular. I'd recommend Haskell or SML as programming languages since they have so much theory behind them. Haskell has a great community and is really nice to use, but SML is simpler to start with and has a concise definition.

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#5

Post by j_baker » Sat, May 08, 2010, 6:27 PM UTC

amock wrote: post #4

Does he want to study computer science or software engineering? If he wants to study computer science he should take lots of math, particularly courses that involve proofs. I recommend algebra, graph theory, and combinatorics in particular. I'd recommend Haskell or SML as programming languages since they have so much theory behind them. Haskell has a great community and is really nice to use, but SML is simpler to st…

Erm.... this is all well and good, but is this really something you'd want to start a 14 year old out with?

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#6

Post by j_baker » Sat, May 08, 2010, 6:29 PM UTC

I'd recommend the little schemer: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/BTLS/

I think if I'd seen this book when I was about that age, I'd have loved computer science.

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#7

Post by mquander » Sat, May 08, 2010, 6:32 PM UTC

j_baker wrote: post #5

amock wrote: post #4

Does he want to study computer science or software engineering? If he wants to study computer science he should take lots of math, particularly courses that involve proofs. I recommend algebra, graph theory, and combinatorics in particular. I'd recommend Haskell or SML as programming languages since they have so much theory behind them. Haskell has a great community and is really nice to use, but SML is simpler to st…

Erm.... this is all well and good, but is this really something you'd want to start a 14 year old out with?

How is 14 early to take courses on graph theory or combinatorics, or learn SML? He sounds like a bright kid, or else he wouldn't be asking his cousin how to study computer science. He might or might not actually be interested in these things, but if he's interested in them, then he should learn them.

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#8

Post by GrowWebs » Sat, May 08, 2010, 6:35 PM UTC

j_baker wrote: post #6

I'd recommend the little schemer: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/BTLS/ I think if I'd seen this book when I was about that age, I'd have loved computer science.

Another ebook I recently came across is: http://inventwithpython.com/

It teaches python through building basic computer games. A fun way to learn.

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#9

Post by Amanjeev » Sat, May 08, 2010, 7:36 PM UTC

mquander wrote: post #7

j_baker wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Erm.... this is all well and good, but is this really something you'd want to start a 14 year old out with?

How is 14 early to take courses on graph theory or combinatorics, or learn SML? He sounds like a bright kid, or else he wouldn't be asking his cousin how to study computer science. He might or might not actually be interested in these things, but if he's interested in them, then he should learn them.

I think if a kid wants to learn something is asking about it, then there should be a way. I think instead of starting straight with high school Math, he/she can be started with some basic stuff of upcoming classes.

Re: Ask HN: What should I learn to become a computer scientist?

#10

Post by s2r2 » Sat, May 08, 2010, 9:00 PM UTC

amock wrote: post #4

Does he want to study computer science or software engineering? If he wants to study computer science he should take lots of math, particularly courses that involve proofs. I recommend algebra, graph theory, and combinatorics in particular. I'd recommend Haskell or SML as programming languages since they have so much theory behind them. Haskell has a great community and is really nice to use, but SML is simpler to st…

http://homepages.cwi.nl/~jve/HR/

Jan van Eijck's »The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming« does exactly that: it introduces you to mathematical proofs, basic logic issues (including relations) and programming using Haskell. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to someone who's not yet had much contact to maths.