I hate C++! Changing majors advice?

[science]

I hate C++ so much. Last semester I liked it, but this semester "we" have learned about classes, vectors and pointers. "We" is in quotations because I haven't learned dick all. My girlfriend went to the city this weekend and I was going to go with her, but I stayed back so I could read my textbook and maybe get some info in my head. I can't read it, the stuff is so brutal and boring, and it just seems so pointless. I kinda understand the basics of it, like classes have private and public, you can only get private through public, pointers just point to other things, vectors are like arrays but better... just the basics of it. But I can't do the assignment because it feels so hard. I really dislike this course so bad.

Now the worst part of this is that its my major. I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. I am taking a design course and I really like it a lot. I am thinking of switching into that, like graphic design or web design or something like that... I don't really know. I'm good with photoshop and illustrator but have 0 art skills outside the computer. So does anyone have any suggestions what to do?

And another hitch... my parents will probably be very mad at me for switching majors. They will get mad and say that this year at Uni was a waste of money, computer science will pay more, blah blah blah, shit like that. My parents are very anal about good marks and stuff, but they never went to Uni so they don't know what its like. Actually, just now, I got a call from my mom, told her I was trying to study and that I hate this class and she says "Well you're just going to study hard and do really well in it, right?". Ugh.

So how should I tell them I want to switch?

 

[Golfman560]

Switch and don't tell them. You don't HAVE to tell them, just let them find out and then be anal to them about how they never went to college.

 

[science]

But I am also going to be switching schools next year, so thats kinda hard :S

 

[JPH]

Why don't you stick with it for a little while and keep going at it, try to make some sense of it.
Don't flop over and give up completely, just yet.

 

[science]

Why don't you stick with it for a little while and keep going at it, try to make some sense of it.
Don't flop over and give up completely, just yet.

I'm trying man, I'm trying. Its horrible though!

 

[CockroachMan]

Well, if you're certain that it's not your thing.. than get out of it! If you're not happy doing that, I don't see the point.

About money, I believe that, when you really like what you're doing, you're gonna do it well, and if you do your job well, money will come. Simple like that.

Many people might not agree with me, but.. that's what I think.

edit: On another note, I like C++, but it's a really hard language.

 

[Exershio]

If you need help learning about classes, vectors, pointers, etc, why not just hit up one of the members of GBATemp? We're mostly programmers here, we can help.

What exactly do you not understand?

 

[science]

If you need help learning about classes, vectors, pointers, etc, why not just hit up one of the members of GBATemp? We're mostly programmers here, we can help.

What exactly do you not understand?

I just don't know what to do with them! This is my first assignment and I don't even know where to begin

http://www.cs.uleth.ca/~bomhof/cs2620A/assn/assn1.txt

 

[science]

I think I'm going to try and start coding that assignment now. See if I can get anywhere, and reference my text if I get messed (which I will)

 

[JPH]

Why don't you stick with it for a little while and keep going at it, try to make some sense of it.
Don't flop over and give up completely, just yet.

I'm trying man, I'm trying. Its horrible though!

I'm not Dr. Phil, but that's life for ya yo. There's shit you're not going to like to do but you have to do anyway.

Stick with it - you've come too far to through it away. You liked the class at the beginning, how do you know it's not going to pick up and get interesting again? And of course, you're in college - it's pretty much a given you're should be busting your ass reading text books trying to comprehend subjects.
Personally I think you should stick with it for the rest of the year and see how it goes. Then next year when you swap colleges you could start debating whether or not you want to swap majors.

But hey, it's your life and this is about you and your parents, do what you feel you have to do. If you don't want to be programming software, etc. for the rest of your life then do something about. It'd taken my cousin a lot of wasted money and time to finally figure out what he wanted to pursue and which major he felt comfortable..majoring in.

 

[dinofan01]

Is this class you major; looking at it as your possible career? Or is just another class? If this is suppose to be your future and you don't like it this early on, you need to get out know. You don't want to get in to deep to the point where its to hard to get out.

 

[science]

Yeah, I am going to stick with this class for the semester and see if I really do hate it. But I don't think my stance is going to change. Bleh.

 

[Issac]

wow, that was quite a painfully written assignment... our assignments were written less formal.
but really, that assignment isn't too hard if you strip all the bull shit text, and have a good book to look in, and one I recommend is "C++ primer" or something like that, by "prata".
pointers are devilish, but vectors aren't that bad, and classes are quite easy once you figure them out

HOT TIP FOR THE ASSIGNMENT!
Start with the most basic stuff.. make an empty program that work!
then, add ONE thing at the time, figure out which ones doesn't need anything else first, and build it step by step!
never start coding something from the top, like writing a forum post ^^

 

[science]

wow, that was quite a painfully written assignment... our assignments were written less formal.
but really, that assignment isn't too hard if you strip all the bull shit text, and have a good book to look in, and one I recommend is "C++ primer" or something like that, by "prata".
pointers are devilish, but vectors aren't that bad, and classes are quite easy once you figure them out

Thanks, I'll give that book a look

 

[Issac]

if you have any special question, just ask away...
I'm doing a project on soft body physics simulation, written in openGL (with c++) with a few friends.. so I have some c++ fresh in memory ^^

Wooop third year university!

 

[OneUp]

I bet you are already doing this, but have you planned out what you are going to do on paper first? I'm just starting in c++ and that was something the teacher was emphasizing so that you don't get confused in the long run.

 

[Issac]

OneUp: That's one great advice, and our teachers have always told us to do that too...
Doesn't have to be code, just write down the basics of what's most important for it to run

 

[Noitora]

Continue learning, then you can be my romhacking bitch!

 

[Psyfira]

Try not to worry too much about what your parents think about switching subjects. At the end of the day I think they'd rather you were sucessful in a field you enjoy, sure they may not be pleased in the beginning but it's not like you're leaving college altogether, sometimes a transfer is a brilliant idea. Moods are strange things, they can affect your performance and even if you get a job in computing you may find your disliking of it affects how you do.

About this semester; it's only Febuary, you've only been back for a few weeks so you're still adjusting to second term and being away from home again is probably wreaking havoc too.

But if you make up your mind that you definitely want to switch, and you're sure which subject to go to, do it.
Can you sit in on lectures from other classes to get a feel for what they're like? Is it specifically C++ you hate, or programming in general? Also, what's your lecturer like? If your teacher's rubbish then you can't blame yourself for finding it difficult.

As for this assignment, from personal experience if you're completely, utterly and totally stuck then it's sometimes a good idea to forget the assignment for now. Go off an follow a detailed tutorial or textbook instead about the general topic (or re-learn the language from the ground up if you're totally lost). You'll get it done a lot quicker coming back to the assignment after taking time out to re-cover the topic than if you keep struggling with it for a few days.

 

[Costello]

WTF, that assignment is confusing and boring!
believe me, there are lots of exciting stuff you can do with programming (eg. coding games

)
learning C++ is good cause you'll learn all the basics of object-oriented programming and more, the kind of stuff you'll need in every other language!

either way, if you really don't enjoy this, you'll have to get your parents to understand that this isn't for you.
If you don't like what you're doing, you'll probably end up failing because you lost interest or motivation.
Now if you explain that to your parents, I'm sure they'll understand and want you to do something you do appreciate instead.