Do I Need to Learn Coding Before Joining MIT Manipal?

Most you have doubts like “How do I start coding?”, “Which programming language should I learn first?”, or “What should I do to improve my coding skills”. This post will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

First off, you can begin to code in any language. There no language which is the best to begin with. It all depends on you, if you find something easy start with that or if you want to go in a particular field of CS then choose that language.

Python, Racket, Lisp, Scheme are some Beginner friendly languages that you can start to learn coding with, but you can also dive directly in C, C++ or Java. Lisp is an old and outdated language.

Most universities in US and Canada have Python (MIT), Rachet or Scheme in their intro course, but some Universities even have C (Harvard), C++ (Stanford) and Java (Stanford and University of Washington) in their intro courses. So language does not matter.

You should have basic understanding of concepts like loops, functions, operators, structures, conditions, strings, overloading and classes, if you want to become a good coder. But this is not it. After you have done this, you should move on to Data structures and Algorithms. This is one of the most important topic as its frequently asked in internship and placement interviews, competitive coding and even in general purpose coding.

Using Data Structures and Algorithms many important problems are solved. Google giving you search queries in seconds searching from billions of webpages, Facebook showing you mutual friends in seconds, Google maps analyzing the best possible route between two destinations are just a few examples that rely on Data Structures and alogrithms. You can practice Data structure and algorithms on websites like Codechef, Topcoder, Hackerrank, etc.

Also many people in MIT Manipal/ Manipal University Jaipur, learn things like ML, AI, Big Data, Game Development, AR or VR. these technologies are very much in demand and have a lot of scope.( But again don’t pursue a field just because “It has a lot of scope” or “Package acha milega“)

Don’t aim for placements or internship, try to become excellent coders first. You should become capable of making anything with your coding skills once you graduate from college. Companies are interested in hiring only those people who have skills, who are doers and people who do not need to be taught technology for use in their jobs.

You should have the following skill once you are done with 4 years of you study

Be fluent in one of the these Languages: