So I have to my professional requirements, and I need help picking at least 3 of the classes listed below. I figure, someone might have a good insight on which class would be more beneficial. So these are the list of CSE classes :

• CE 3110 Mechanics of Materials


• CSE 4500 Parallel Systems


• CSE 4102 Programming Languages


• CSE 3300 Computer Networks and Data Communication


• CSE 4701 Principles of Data Bases


• CSE 3802 Numerical Methods in Scientific Computation


• CSE 4703 Computer Graphics


• CSE 3800 Bioinformatics


• CSE 3002 Ethics and Professionalism in Computer Science and Engineering


• CSE 4707 Computer Security


• CSE 4705 Artificial Intelligence


• CSE 4095 Special topics in CSE (with permission)

This is what I was thinking, in no particular order :

1) Computer Networks and Data Communication
2) Bioinformatics
3) Computer Security
4) Parallel Systems
5) Artificial Intelligence



Those are my top 5's. Anyone have any suggestions? And btw, I realize that I should go for the one's that intrigues me, but the problem is that I don't know enough about those subject to judge at this point. So I am asking if anyone has any knowledge on the above subject, to guide me or give me some advice on which ones will be more useful. Maybe this was a stupid question, and I'm sorry if thats the case, but at this point I already wrote all of this so what the heck. Thanks guys/robots?.

Unless you live in a place with lots of software/ tech companies then computer networks and data communication is the most important (bear in mind I am no professional and this is all coming from a random guy on the internet). 'IT Guys' are employed by most companies now and most of what they do is Network Admin. Other jobs are usually shorter-term (programmer for example) and harder to find.

My father's company employed a team of programmers to write a property browser with custom GUI and internet access etc. They had the job for 6 months, but the network admin/IT Guy will have a guarenteed job for a long time.

Of course I am a random guy off the internet who will probably be pointed out to be wrong within seconds of hitting reply.

I would perhaps lean away from networks and data communication. It's not something that is overly complicated, or should take more than a week or so to learn the important/useful stuff.

Depending on their content, programming languages or computer graphics seem like they might be worthwhile.

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Original post by Telastyn I would perhaps lean away from networks and data communication. It's not something that is overly complicated, or should take more than a week or so to learn the important/useful stuff. Depending on their content, programming languages or computer graphics seem like they might be worthwhile.

I'm looking at the description and this is what I see:

Programming Language: The study of programming language features and programming paradigms. Data types, control, run-time environments, and semantics. Examples of procedural, functional, logical, and object-oriented programming. Features used for parallel and distributed processing. Classic and current programming languages and environments.

That might be useful, but I get the feeling like its nothing thats not intuitive to me already. And probably won't be so useful.

And for computer graphics, its just basic 2d/3d data representation, transformations, culling, nothing I didn't learn from myself. So I am thinking that will be a waste of time and money.

I figured that networks and data comm, would be useful to me, since I never really delve into that field.Since I have a chance now, I might get into it, but not sure.

Sounds like you've answered your own question then :)

If you're not sure, just ask yourself why not any of the other four? What would you expect to gain from bioinformatics, computer security, parallel systems or artificial intelligence? If it's a job you're aiming at you need to consider whether any of these other fields is as likely to get you a job.

Let me drill it: Parallel Systems. Do it, learn it well. That is of the most importance (based off of all other ones)for potential employers. Yes networking can be important, but without a server or client written in parallel it becomes close to useless. Computer Graphics, pretty close to applied linear. Nothing that can't be taught pretty quickly (at least basics).

Parallel systems comes into play in all of the above mentioned areas, and there are quite a few special things to work around (locking data and the likes, also communication is a huge one).

The programming languages class at my school gives the oppurtunity to create a compiler or interpreter (both can be useful to understand). Also it looks at many other languages and different types, all of which have their uses and strengths and weaknesses. I'd suggest this type of class to anyone who would like to get a better grasp over the why's and what's for languages (these must be discussed to create a compiler).

Also another reason to not do computer graphics: most college computer graphics classes will only go over transforms, getting triangles on screen (and textured) and thats pretty close to it. They will go through some of the math, but a lot of the shader (which many people associate with graphics programming) isn't hit upon. This may be different from your school but I highly suggest Parallel and Programming languages.

Thanks for the wonderful reply. I agree, I looked at the computer graphics syllabus and it doesn't teach anything more than intro to intro material.

I have no idea why this is in the "breaking" section. Its has nothing to do with being a game programmer, at least, I didn't intend it to be.

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Original post by Concentrate I have no idea why this is in the "breaking" section. Its has nothing to do with being a game programmer, at least, I didn't intend it to be.

It's about education, is it not?