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Computer Programming Requirement

The chemical engineering undergraduate degree program requires that you be able to program a computer to solve engineering problems - not just to be able to use a computer application such as a spreadsheet or document preparation package. The objective is twofold - to be able to develop a logic algorithm to solving problems and to be able to tell a computer to implement your logical solution.

In practice, you will likely be using a number of application packages as tools in solving problems. Not only should you have some idea of how the software packages are programmed, but you should become a power user in extending the applications to problem solving.

Computer Programming Language

The specific language you learn is your choice. While the Chemical Engineering Department does not require a specific language, a few comments can be made in helping you with your choice. The languages that we suggest are FORTRAN, C, C++, and Visual Basic. However, the reality is that eventually in your career you will likely need to be able to speak to the computer in several different languages.

FORTRAN has been used extensively in the past for solving chemical engineering problems and is a good language to use for numerical analysis. There are large libraries of computer programs available in FORTRAN. However, FORTRAN is a poor language for interactive programming.

C is used extensively for developing software tools for interactive and numerical programming. There also large libraries of software available. If you are just beginning to program, and want to learn C++, you should probably first learn to program in C and then learn C++.

Visual Basic is a proprietary language that is available on Microsoft based Operating Systems. VB can be particularly useful for extending the capabilities of spread sheet in solving engineering problems. Be aware that the most useful form of Visual Basic is Visual Basic for Applications which provides the statement language.  Point and click GUI interface development does not do much toward learning what is needed to program numerical solutions to engineering problems.

There are a number of programming languages that are no longer in significant use (such as Pascal, Algol and Cobol) and hence are not good choices for programming languages. There are also a number of recently developed computer programming languages that might also be used (e.g. Java, Perl, JavaScript) but you will likely find that most instructors are conversant in these programming languages and will probably not accept assignments written in these languages.

Computer Programming Course Replacement

If you already know how to program a computer, you are invited to petition the Chemical Engineering Department to substitute another course for the computer programming course. Your petition should outline your capabilities and experience in computer programming and designate another computing related course that would be more beneficial for you. You will have to demonstrate that you do know how to program a computer. To demonstrate that you are a capable computer programmer, you will be asked to successfully complete the tests of an on-line computer course provided by the University of Florida. 

If you have questions regarding computer programming requirements, contact the Department's Academic Office at (352) 392-0862 or email undergrad.advice@che.ufl.edu.