Should I pursue a Masters degree in computer science, considering that I have a mental illness?

[Red]

Well, I did study a lot for my Signals and Systems exam.

For one exam!? WOW!

Well, back in the middle school, I was interested primarily in computer science. But, in high-school, I found out that I enjoy reading papers about the names of places way more than I enjoy reading papers about computer science. However, my mother was often telling me that there is no bread in studying names of places.

Unless you go into academics she isn't wrong. It's good to have a STEM degree to fall back on.

That's, of course, not to say those things are mutually exclusive. I think that informatics actually has a lot to say about the names of places, but that people don't realize that, because people who know something about informatics mostly know zilch about names of places, while people who know something about names of places mostly know zilch about informatics.

Then do both.

[teo123]

Unless you go into academics she isn't wrong. It's good to have a STEM degree to fall back on.

I think that neither my mother nor my father have a realistic idea of what my work is.
My mother thinks that it's most likely pseudoscience (because real science can only be done by PhDs) and is not worth trying to understand it. She told me a few days ago, when I brought up that topic, that she doesn't understand what collision entropy is and that she is not interested in understanding that.
My father, on the other hand, thinks that my paper "Etimologija Karašica" (about applying information theory to calculate the p-values of some patterns in the Croatian river names which mainstream linguistics considers to be coincidental) would, if only edited differently, be a good PhD thesis.
I think my paper "Etimologija Karašica" communicates an interesting idea which may even be correct. But it's not a material for a PhD thesis. Has my father ever skimmed through some PhD thesis in historical linguistics?

Then do both.

What do you mean?

[Red]

My mother thinks that it's most likely pseudoscience (because real science can only be done by PhDs) and is not worth trying to understand it. She told me a few days ago, when I brought up that topic, that she doesn't understand what collision entropy is and that she is not interested in understanding that.

OK well don't listen to your mom on this.

My father, on the other hand, thinks that my paper "Etimologija Karašica" (about applying information theory to calculate the p-values of some patterns in the Croatian river names which mainstream linguistics considers to be coincidental) would, if only edited differently, be a good PhD thesis.
I think my paper "Etimologija Karašica" communicates an interesting idea which may even be correct. But it's not a material for a PhD thesis. Has my father ever skimmed through some PhD thesis in historical linguistics?

idk

What do you mean?

Study computer science and apply it to your linguistics research.

[teo123]

@Red, I talked to my psychiatrist today and she increased my doses of both Alprazolam and Risperidone and told me not to try to get a job in the next few months.

[Red]

@Red, I talked to my psychiatrist today and she increased my doses of both Alprazolam and Risperidone and told me not to try to get a job in the next few months.

OK in the meantime you can work on learning a new programming language and building your resume.

[teo123]

@Red, I talked to my psychiatrist today and she increased my doses of both Alprazolam and Risperidone and told me not to try to get a job in the next few months.

OK in the meantime you can work on learning a new programming language and building your resume.

And if having studied programming for 11 years, including winning the 4th place in a Croatia-level programming competition (Infokup 2013, when I was the 7th grade) and getting a Bachelor degree in computer engineering, is not enough to make me a competent programmer, what makes you think studying for a few more months would? I mean, I thought that way back in 2016: that, if only I intensively study programming for a few more months, I will be a competent programmer, but now I think that's not the case.

[Red]

And if having studied programming for 11 years, including winning the 4th place in a Croatia-level programming competition (Infokup 2013, when I was the 7th grade) and getting a Bachelor degree in computer engineering, is not enough to make me a competent programmer, what makes you think studying for a few more months would? I mean, I thought that way back in 2016: that, if only I intensively study programming for a few more months, I will be a competent programmer, but now I think that's not the case.

Teo, do you do this shit in real life, brag to people about your "accomplishments"? Given what you've told me earlier, it wouldn't surprise me, given that you're socially retarded.

You may not realize it but when you talk about these things, all it does it make you look like a pompus, self-centered asshole, especially if it isn't relevant or if no one asked. If you wonder why your real-life social interactions always flop, this is why.

Anyway, the fact that you won a middle-school programming competition means very little (and it's in Croatia no less, a country with a small population and not known for its technological prowess; I would not expect the pool of applicants to be very high there), especially since you're still not very adept at it. You probably don't realize this, but you might be sticking too much in your comfort zone and not actually making an effort to explore other languages. We tend to stick with what we already know to confirm our abilities, and we're hesitant to try something that we're gonna be bad at (but almost everyone is bad at something when they first start it). You might be sticking too much with languages you're already good at, and are only doing the things in those languages you already know.

My advice would be to start practicing Javascript.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBmSRK3 ... b3Vyc2U%3D

Do that over the course of the next month or so, then program something with it.

[teo123]

Anyway, the fact that you won a middle-school programming competition means very little (and it's in Croatia no less, a country with a small population and not known for its technological prowess; I would not expect the pool of applicants to be very high there), especially since you're still not very adept at it.

I think it means about as much as my Bachelor degree. How many people have been on that middle-school Croatia-level competition that year? It's about 40 each year (9 in my cathegory), and I was there twice (once winning the 4th place and once winning the 6th place). And about 400 students graduate computer engineering each year in Croatia (around 150 at FERIT in Osijek, around 150 at FER in Zagreb, around 30 at MATHOS in Osijek, and let's say around 70 at the small private colleges around Croatia).

My advice would be to start practicing Javascript.

Well, I've watched it (the part #2, I didn't bother to look through all of the part #1 since, chances are, I would find nothing new there) and I've learned only a few things:
1. JavaScript modules only work on live servers, not in the offline mode. I've never used JavaScript modules, so I didn't notice that. I couldn't have used JavaScript modules in my PicoBlaze Assembler and Emulator because it was important to me that my program works in Firefox 52 (many computers at the university are running Windows XP and are using Firefox 52 as the browser), and Firefox 52 doesn't support modules.
2. JavaScript has the `toFixed` directive to limit the number of decimal digits. In my programs, I used string manipulation for that. Using `toFixed` is really more elegant.
3. JavaScript modules sometimes need to be prefixed with `./`.
That's not surprising considering that I already went through two JavaScript tutorials: one at w3schools (back in 2017, and the content there was outdated even for that time) and one at Mozilla Developer Network (back in 2020, when I wanted to familiarize myself with modern JavaScript before making my PicoBlaze Assembler and Emulator).

[Red]

I think it means about as much as my Bachelor degree. How many people have been on that middle-school Croatia-level competition that year? It's about 40 each year (9 in my cathegory), and I was there twice (once winning the 4th place and once winning the 6th place). And about 400 students graduate computer engineering each year in Croatia (around 150 at FERIT in Osijek, around 150 at FER in Zagreb, around 30 at MATHOS in Osijek, and let's say around 70 at the small private colleges around Croatia).

Right, so it doesn't mean much. Now, if you were in a country like the US, which has a massive population with widespread education, and is well known for its technological ability, then maybe it might mean a slight bit more.

So yeah, don't waste so much of your energy thinking about these past "accomplishments," they obviously mean very little. Clearly, very few people in Croatia are educated enough or interested in programming, so you being top-ten in your country isn't something that should be taken seriously.

Well, I've watched it (the part #2, I didn't bother to look through all of the part #1 since, chances are, I would find nothing new there)

You don't know that, I would go through just to be sure.

1. JavaScript modules only work on live servers, not in the offline mode. I've never used JavaScript modules, so I didn't notice that. I couldn't have used JavaScript modules in my PicoBlaze Assembler and Emulator because it was important to me that my program works in Firefox 52 (many computers at the university are running Windows XP and are using Firefox 52 as the browser), and Firefox 52 doesn't support modules.
2. JavaScript has the `toFixed` directive to limit the number of decimal digits. In my programs, I used string manipulation for that. Using `toFixed` is really more elegant.
3. JavaScript modules sometimes need to be prefixed with `./`.
That's not surprising considering that I already went through two JavaScript tutorials: one at w3schools (back in 2017, and the content there was outdated even for that time) and one at Mozilla Developer Network (back in 2020, when I wanted to familiarize myself with modern JavaScript before making my PicoBlaze Assembler and Emulator).

OK, why are you telling me this? Don't waste your time telling me this, you learn it and apply it to a program.

[teo123]

Right, so it doesn't mean much.

Aren't you contradicting yourself now? You told me a few posts ago that it is important for me to have got a Bachelor degree in computer engineering, but now you are telling me that having been in the top-10 in Croatian middle school competition (which is at least as impressive) is not important?

Now, if you were in a country like the US, which has a massive population with widespread education, and is well known for its technological ability, then maybe it might mean a slight bit more.

Why? Croatia has about as many medals on the International Olympiad in Informatics as the USA has: https://stats.ioinformatics.org/countri ... total_desc

You don't know that, I would go through just to be sure.

How does it make sense to read another beginners tutorial of a language you already know?