Reflections on My First Semester as a Computer Science Major

Back to School!

6/7/2022

As a computer science student, my first semester at university has been an exciting and enriching experience. I had the opportunity to study a diverse set of subjects that introduced me to the fundamental concepts of computer science and prepared me for future courses.

In my Computer Programming 1 course, I was introduced to Java and object-oriented programming. This was a new experience for me, as I had only self-taught the basics of JavaScript before studying. I found the course to be challenging, but also rewarding, as it helped me develop problem-solving skills that are essential for computer science students.

In Mathematics Fundamentals A, I had the chance to revisit my mathematical skills. I was enlightened about relations, inequalities, polynomials, derivatives, exponentials, and logarithms. Even though I had studied these concepts in high school, I found it beneficial to revisit them, as they are absolutely essential for computer science tasks such as optimization algorithms and data analysis.

Data Science was an absolutely pivotal subject in my first semester. In this course, I learned about the design of experiments, descriptive statistics, probability, and data management. This course was particularly challenging but fascinating. I learned how to work with massive datasets, analyze them, and interpret the outcomes. The skills that I acquired in this course will be utterly valuable in my future studies and career in Computer Science.

Fundamentals of Computational Intelligence was one of the most fascinating courses that I took in my first semester. I was introduced to the history of machine computation, system architecture, data manipulation, algorithmic design, and human-machine interaction. The course even provided me with the opportunity to write a literature review on language learning models. This was an incredibly engaging and thought-provoking experience that helped me comprehend how humans and machines can collaborate to achieve shared objectives.

In summary, my first semester as a computer science student was a multifaceted and gratifying experience. I had the opportunity to learn new skills, develop problem-solving capabilities, and explore interesting subjects. I am thrilled to continue my studies and push to become a great software engineer.