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Jumping From Burnaby CMPT 126 java to Surrey CMPT 225 C++

JMed
edited August 2013 in General
Hi, in my first semester of SFU, I took CMPT 126 in Burnaby campus. Now for professor and schedule reasons, I made the switch to Surrey for CMPT 225 for my third semester in my second year. I now learn that I have to make the jump from Java to C++ (a language I have no prior knowledge in.) Am I SOL or will the learning curve be manageable.

Comments

  • 112233
    I did this last semester. John Edgar is teaching it again right? Ok so about half your class will be in the same situation. Start getting familiar with c++ right now! Just start doing simple programs you did in 126 in c++. Its not really much more difficult but it takes awhile to get familiar with it. Words of advice for his class: start the assignments as soon as you can he makes some of them tricky, study the powerpoints before the midterm and final, he gets lots of his questions from there. He is a great Prof though. Good luck!
  • ryan
    I would not say you are SOL, but you will be at a disadvantage when compared to kids with C/C++ experience. I think it is a good idea to get some experience in a C language though since some upper division courses will use it (in particular the systems ones, CMPT 300 etc) and it is popular in industry.

    The main thing you will have to wrap your head around is memory management. In java all that is taken care of for you. In C++ though you will need to allocate memory yourself, understand how to use pointers, and clean the memory up once you are finished. These are typically subjects that take a while to wrap your head around, so you might benefit from doing a little self study at the beginning of the semester. Don't worry too much though. Many second year students with prior C++ experience often do not fully grasp these concepts yet either. With some extra work you should be able to do just fine. Plus John Edgar is a cool prof, so at the very least lectures will be entertaining. 
  • iStudent
    If it helps you feel better, most students in my 225 class had no prior experience with c++. Also for us, aside from the assignments, there was only one question on the midterm that needed c++ syntax and the final was entirely theoretical.
  • JMed
    Thanks a lot for the responses! Ok, its good to know I will not be all alone in the struggle to learn C++
    Ya, John Edgar was 80% of the reason I am going to Surrey in the first place (I heard Evans is tough to learn from.)
    Anyone got a good online tutorial for C++ or should I just stick with cplusplus.com?
  • JMed
    Is the textbook necessary for this class with Edgar or are the power points gonna be the tools to use?
  • vfl
    I also did this last semester w/ John Edgar. I bought the textbook but I barely looked at it. Textbook doesn't seem to be necessary. I am not very good at programming, but his test was kinda on an easy side. Some of his assignments were tough and time-consuming. If I were you, I would focus on studying his ppt for exams. Be prepared to spend a lot of hours doing the assignments! If you can manage to do all of his assignments by yourself, you will do well on the course and the exam. Good luck :)
  • 112233
    You don't need the textbook just take out any c++ book from the library, or you can just look anything up online.
  • JMed
    Thanks vfl, seems pretty standard for a programming course.

    As for the textbook, that is what I thought. I still regret the day I went to go buy that CMPT 126 text. Saying that text was "Required" was the biggest overstatement of my uni career thus far. 
  • iStudent
    Hey, if you need help with c++, i recommend looking at toby donaldson's notes for cmpt 125 here : http://www.cs.sfu.ca/CourseCentral/125/tjd/#notes

    I found his notes extremely helpful!
  • iStudent
    I took 125 in c++ with him, and felt that he covered c++ very thoroughly, and i felt extremely prepared for 225

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