While working on your computer science degree, you’ll pick up a host of skills and develop strengths you may not have realized you had. You’ll pick up the fundamentals of hardware, software, user interfaces, networking, multi-media, databases, e-commerce, privacy and digital security.
After you’ve mastered the basics, you will learn how the systems are designed and begin to work with programming languages. C++, Perl and Java are the most common but you will also touch on other languages syntax and semantics; compilers and interpreters; representation of data types; sequence and data control; type checking; run-time storage management; functional, logic, and object-oriented programming paradigms; concurrency and multi-threading.
You might then opt to follow a curriculum more focused on your discipline. Database courses usually cover relational model of databases, structured query language (SQL), normalized structure of database management systems based on relational model, in addition to protecting the security and integrity of databases.
If you are gravitating toward a career working in operating systems, you will take classes that cover the benefits of Unix, Linux and Windows. Material will include Internal design and operation of a modern operating system; process scheduling and memory management, demand paging and file space allocation, file and directory management, security and file access methods.
There are also computer science degree courses that are geared toward platform game designers and programmers. These classes will include skill development in game engines, interfaces, platforms including PC, game boxes (Playstation, X Box, Game Boy, etc.) Networking will also be covered.
If networking is more your speed, you can take specialized classes to cover the peculiarities of that field. While studying for your computer science degree, you’ll learn protocol definitions and compilation; how to manipulate client and server machines and various networking application software. You’ll also become skilled at systems programming, file contexts and remote database queries.