CSULA offers Lynda.com to all of the students. They basically offer video tutorials on how to learn new programming languages. Visit the website, click sign in, and look for "sign in with organization portal." You should be able to login with your CSULA username and password. Enjoy! 

Codecademy also helps a lot with coding, it's free but there are some paid features. All you need to do is register.

Thanks for the advise!

Would the Lydia videos be helpful for only first year students getting into computer science or is it helpful throughout the whole program?

@SEVENSEVEN:

At first, I thought that cal state la students can only access content that pertains to the students' respective majors (i.e. computer science, civil engineering, electrical, etc.), but after taking a quick look around, I found some courses involving graphic design (3D, 2D, etc.), marketing, and general tutorials for certain program suites (like adobe and whatnot). This is all pretty handy - though I don't know how I could find the time to learn a fraction of the subject material in the Lynda library! 

bprerak wrote:

Are we required to complete any specific Computer Science Course to get an internship?

The shortest answer I could give is: it depends on where you're applying and what you're doing! Most internships have a list of mandatory requirements (as well as a list of "preferred" requirements), though I wouldn't expect the average company to have a requirement like an online course, but there might be some cases around. 

One thing I would like to mention is that just having taken a course might not be enough in some cases. What I see as the purpose of sites like Lynda, Coursera, or Khanacademy is for you to apply what you learned to real-world applications. Having experience with the type of practice you are learning would probably look much better (say, on a resume?) than simply having watched some videos or done some assignments; plus: it makes you feel more prepared. Then again, there are tons of resources on learning anything ( gotta thank Google and Youtube! ), which you could then use to work on your own projects - thus hinting to the company that you are genuinely interested in the type of work that relates to the position. 

If you're wondering about university courses and not online courses, then it's a different story. The courses at cal state la have more weight than an online course because the courses are included in degree-programs and, for most of the courses, students gain hands-on experience on course material. In this case, if the course holds relevance with the internship position, then you improve your chances of getting the position. Suppose you wanted to apply for an internship as a software developer at IBM. If you passed some courses involving data structures and networking - to name a few - and you've proven your skills with group projects (or maybe even club projects), then you'll turn out a good candidate because those courses prove that your skills and abilities can grow into the position they require because you indicated that you have credible experience. 

Anyway, that's my two cents. I hope I answered your question thoroughly and informatively! 

As time progresses and program languages change, would the language change as a whole or would it pertain to the last language, but contain new information? c went to c+ and then to c++. All come from the same foundation, does it not? So can the whole foundation change? Just a wonder of mines. 

mruizbr wrote:

As time progresses and program languages change, would the language change as a whole or would it pertain to the last language, but contain new information? c went to c+ and then to c++. All come from the same foundation, does it not? So can the whole foundation change? Just a wonder of mines. 

DISCLAIMER: Due to the advanced level of the subject matter, I can only respond with the best of my knowledge of programming languages, programming language architecture, compilers, abstraction, and historical footnotes of software engineering. Take my word as my personal understanding rather than the definitive answer to your explanation. 

A programming language most commonly develops in the following ways:

1. through engineers who make abstractions from low-level languages to be added as supplement to the core libraries of a programming language (or certain bugs are fixed via inspection and debugging of the low-level language used to make the higher language)
2. through development of new libraries by programmers who use the language to develop software

The C and C++ languages (there is no C+ I've heard of) are a special case because they can be considered to sit on the same level of programming languages; they were both made with the intent of introducing object-orientation (among other features). Since the languages were originally written during a time when most programming was done with low-level languages, they were written in low-level languages like machine code and binary. C and C++ were created from low-level languages like binary, machine language, and/or assembly through abstraction (read my reply to LRAMI116) because most programming at the time was done with low-level languages, which were pretty much all there was if you wanted to develop computer software. 

Both languages were created using low-level languages. They have similar architecture and can conditionally coincide in a single program's source code, but this does not necessarily mean that C++ is a direct extension of C. As the first way (in the above list) describes, engineers can supplement the core of languages like C or C++ by updating the code used to write the languages. In this case, the only change was an addition to the language, which does not affect any respective high-level languages. 

If you are asking whether a change in the respective low-level language affects a language it was used to create, if the change is an addition that does not violate any language syntax, there may be little or no change because the respective high-level language had already been development. Do understand that the software development process includes testing. If engineers add to a language, then they ensure its proper functionality before making its use official (i.e. releasing an update). 

The saying "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" may apply to this situation in that if the foundation of programming architectures functions as intended (which it appears to be doing), then it needs no changes. Also, in my mind, it makes more sense to use abstraction to make a new language rather than make any huge changes to any fully-developed language, spending tons and tons of resources just trying to reinvent the wheel, and I don't know of any successful projects of this kind. 

Your question is remarkably interesting and I'll see to it that I do more research to comprehensively answer the question for myself, because I don't think my explanation was adequate (nor organized), but I do hope I can assist in your wondering with the limited understanding I have.