How much programming can I expect in engineering?

Just wondering, because I'm a computer science major, just starting engineering as a second major, and if some of the engineering classes are going to be very programming-oriented then it would be nice to know that it won't be as hard for me as I might expect.

I'm taking a design class and the hardest part is supposed to be using MATLAB, a language which I spent half of the semester using in a scientific computing class. The instructor basically told me that I'm going to be very bored while other people are going to be struggling, so I'm wondering if I should expect this to occur any more in the future.

im doing mech eng

Some of the later MATLAB classes can be quite hard as the lecturers just jump into things without explaining anything. We had to write a program that did the same thing as the 'contour' function in matlab. It was quite tricky. In another assigment we had to make a game on matlab. That took some time as well.

Matlab is mostly 'try and error'. You write a line of code, if it doesnt work, you look it up in the very extensive help section and try again. You really shouldnt have any problems with matlab if you are a com-sci major. If you know c+, you know matlab.

The thing is, I know MATLAB. I wrote a 200 line program to simulate ferromagnetism in magnetic dipoles with it. I can most certainly write a 15-20 line program that does basic math problems.

What I'm asking is, how much programming can I expect in other engineering classes to follow? If some of the upper level classes involve a lot of programming, they will most likely be a lot less difficult for me than for most of the engineers.

It depends on what kind of engineering you are doing. After my introduction to MATLAB class, I really havnt done any programming. You don't get much (or any) pure programming assignment as you would in comp-sci. But you might get some assigments where you have to write a small program to calculate something (just because it's convenient not that you have to).

I'm starting on my 3rd year soon, and besides the intro matlab classes I had during my first year, I've barely used matlab. Maybe a couple of times to make some graphs, but that's it. Nothing extensive.

2nd year Mech Eng here. I took some C++ in high school, so my introductory MATLAB course was a breeze. Other than that, I haven't had to use it since. For graphing and stuff, I use Excel.

also a future mech eng. we used fortran for a quick&dirty intro to numerical methods, but other then that there hasn't been much influence on programming.

for you other mech engs:
how much have you been using comp. software, related with calculations, strength checks (for example, power transmission, welds, fatigue analysis, FEA..)

first of all, i'm not an eng. i'm a designer (no uni required)

PLC (?) (robotic contol)

I don't know if you have any classes on that or not, some universitys ofer it, others don't....i'm puity sure it requires some programing.

If you do get a desk job designing tooling, or anything else for that matter, there is some programing involved. You can do without it, but it's good to know, and it can save you time on jobs...

If you use "CATIA, UG, KeyCreator (and lots of others)" to design your product assamblys, there is some VB programing involved in crating macros, or adding certan functions that don't come with the software.... QUIET USEFULL if you have 30 drawings to detail out. Just write a VB code to place all your views in layout, including titleblock, border and overall demensions....

Originally posted by Caesar20
related with calculations, strength checks (for example, power transmission, welds, fatigue analysis, FEA..)

Click to expand...

unless you work for a really big company with lot of important jobs, lot of companys won't buy all that stuff, don't want to spend the bucks (they rather source it out). Lot of times it's trial and error, and experience (especially in the tooling end of it.)

Architects and Civil eng. use lot more of that stuff then mechanical eng...