[nfbcs] Is majoring in information technology in a mainstream college a good idea?

[rjaquiss]

Hello Amy:

     I think an IT or CS degree is certainly doable by a blind person. I
obtained a BS in Computer Science in 1976, worked for Tektronix for 23 years
and the NFB for 5 years. Now, I do some consulting work. I am a braille
reader and use a braille display along with JAWS.

     I suggest that you learn braille if you don't already know it. I find
that an 80 cell braille display is invaluable when I program. Object
oriented program languages such as Java, Python, c++ and c# indent blocks of
code. Python requires blocks to be indented. A braille display displays
lines showing their indent.
Here is an example of a simple Java program.


public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }
}
The web site the above code is from explains the various lines.
http://www.learnjavaonline.org/en/Hello%2C_World%21 

Note there are two levels of indent in the above program. 
I would definitely look at free tutorials for learning a language like
Python or Java. You will likely need a skilled reader to deal with the
interactive development environments (IDE) that your school uses. The
Eclipse IDE can be used by a blind person. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Robert