AP comp sci vs DE Intro Comp Sci @ CC

[Hilltopmom]

I know all CC are different. I'm just curious if anyone can in general compare the AP Comp Sci class (the original, not the brand new one) to basic Intro to comp Sci.

 

Obviously, AP takes a year to cover what DE would cover in a semester. For us, the price is the same, but we'd need to find a testing location which is looking difficult ( rural area). There are drawbacks to DE too though.

 

Academically though, differences & similarities between the two?

I can't find a syllabus online for our CC class, but there is a class description. Not sure exactly what the AP class covers. We'd be looking at PAHS for it most likely.

 

Ds has programming experience from his FTC group & has taken an EdX Intro to Comp Sci in Java class. I do know our CC uses Java for intro while our local state U uses Python (& costs more to DE at).

 

Thanks.

[Matryoshka]

AP Comp Sci is not necessarily going to have anything to do with what an intro Comp Sci class at a CC or Uni does.  It depends what their curriculum is.

 

Dd took AP Comp Sci last year, and is taking Java Data Structures this year (apparently the curric. is what used to be AP Comp Sci B, which no longer exists).  She wants to major in Comp Sci, and so we've looked pretty closely at the various scopes and sequences. At one school, the AP would get her out of the intro class - they actually have a whole next level class set up just for kids who took AP Comp Sci (and that class would probably be mostly review, as I think it covers Java Data Structures).  At another, it wouldn't - they use C in their intro class, and strongly discourage skipping it, as C is a lower-level language, which actually requires you to know more about what's going on in the computer itself as it executes all the commands.

 

And oddly, the local CC classes don't tie in at all to the Comp Sci sequence at that latter 4-year Uni, which is not only in the same state system, but in the same city(!)

[daijobu]

 

Dd took AP Comp Sci last year, and is taking Java Data Structures this year (apparently the curric. is what used to be AP Comp Sci B, which no longer exists).  

Could you share which Data Structures class she is taking?  Is it online?  

[daijobu]

If cost is an issue Edhesive offers AP CS A for free, but you can also pay extra for additional services.  We didn't pay extra, and my dd took is last year and got a 5.  

 

It will be hard to say how different that is from the DE class.  Compared to Java, he will find python to be very easy to learn and understand.  He should be able to learn python on his own without any problem.  

[Matryoshka]

Could you share which Data Structures class she is taking?  Is it online?  

 

No, this is my one dd who actually went to and stuck with ps for high school, so she's taking it there.

 

[daijobu]

It's a rare public school that offers more advanced Java.  Good call.  

[Brad S]

I am not an expert, but I've heard many in the past, say, three years say that Python is more important than Java going forward; this was in a professional, somewhat sophisticated context.  I also know a computer scientist family who are having their homeschooled high schooler learn Python.  I'm sure there are other views and your mileage may vary.

[AEC]

This varries WIDELY - I mean really WIDELY, by university.  There's been a 40-year long religious war among academics as to what intro CompSci courses should include - should it be a pure functional language so you 'start out right', should it be higher-level so you think in abstractions or lower-level © so you learn 'what really goes on inside'...every academic institution has a different opinion and it changes over time.  FWIW, I landed @ my uni when they were transitioning so I did both extremes - LISP and a model of a turing machine (complete w/ infinite tape and all).

 

This also depends on the degree to which the college program believes they're producing 'computer scientists' vs 'software engineers'.

 

Realistically - the AP CompSci program is neat, but probably NOT a replacement for whatever freshman course you'll take at a Uni or a DE class @ a CC.  Personally, I wouldn't use AP exams to test out of classes in my major anyway - but that's me.

 

I wouldn't over-index on language.  By the time you get a BsCompSci you'll be reasonably fluent in 2-4 programming languages and another 1-3 scripting languages.  Fluency with algorithms, basic datastructures, understanding of computational complexity and ability to break a problem into a clearly defined set of modules are more durable skills.  That, and do learn to be comfortable on a linux/unix command line interface.

 

 

 

[...................]

My son took the Harvard X intro to Comp Sci and it was not just programming. It also used C but one or two of the problems were really difficult.

 

I can't really say...intro to comp Sci was in C and was more for all people to stretch their brains and learn a little programming.

 

Looking at AP Comp Sci it seems like it's for people who are already into programming and want to pursue it and test into a higher level from the get go in college.

[MarkT]

Personally I think the AP Comp Sci course should be restructured to reflect a more typical University level CS 101 class. They should probably switch to Python (and maybe some Haskell) at the same time.

 

http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/176450-python-is-now-the-most-popular-introductory-teaching-language-at-top-us-universities/fulltext

 

Many community colleges have poor intro CS courses (our local one is weak) which are just intro programming so be careful there as well.  

 

You can find recommended topics:

http://www.acm.org/education/curricula-recommendations

 

https://www.acm.org/education/CS2013-final-report.pdf

 

community college guidelines:

http://ccecc.acm.org/guidance/computer-science

Edited February 21, 2016 by MarkT