What's "Intro to Programming in C++" at SL like??

[Merlin]

I'm thinking about taking "Intro to C++" at SL for my degree in CIS but I'm a bit nervous to do so at the moment knowing I only have one chance to pass the course and that's it. Is there anything I can do first to prep myself before diving in?

I took this a month or two ago and felt it was a pretty decent course. The lesson materials are straightforward. They walk you through everything slowly and give plenty of examples. If you run across something you don't understand, there are plenty of instructional support resources on the web. Plus there is a message board attached to the course that you can use to connect with the instructor (well, the guy who grades the submitted code) and other students for help.

I think there are at least two different versions of the course with different coding projects, but the projects in the version I took were based pretty closely on the material in the book, so there shouldn't be any surprises. That being said, that doesn't mean they were easy... just that they provide the framework necessary to understand what code you need to write. You will still need to evaluate the problems and come up with your own approach to the solutions.

Some of the exams can be a bit tricky since they word things oddly in a few cases, but they're not that bad overall.

The only real gotcha is that for all the projects you're expected to install and use a C++ compiler on your computer, but on the final exam there are like 4-5 coding questions which might be more challenging since you'll not have access to your C++ compiler. So you need to make sure you learn how to walk through the code in your head. (Technically there is one page in the lesson materials that contains a window with a live C++ interpreter. It can be used on the final exam, but it is fairly limited. It may help eliminate syntax errors though.)

In any case, if you work your way through the material and make sure you grasp the concepts well enough to complete the code projects, you will probably do pretty well. If you find yourself having issues, just slow down and spend more time on the theory. Don't be afraid to ask for help on the internal forum or use the external web resources.

As for retakes, at SL you can retake any course by paying for it again (or using a code to get a free course for that purpose, like RETAKE59 for example) as many times as you like. So don't sweat it too much.

I'm also planning on taking C++ for my CIS degree at TESU, so thanks for your input. As for the C++ compiler, do you know if that's compatible with a Mac computer? Or would it work better with a PC?

You install and use your own compiler so it is up to you. The course will provide some suggestions, but you don't have to use them.

Since I am also using a Mac for my school stuff, and I already had Xcode installed, I just leveraged the built-in C++ compiler from there (it uses the LLVM clang compiler). But you could install GCC or whatever you like. C++ is standards-based, so any C++ compiler should work. A PC is not necessary.