PHYS 239Computational Physics 2
- Faculty
- Science
- Last listed
- Spring 2021
No longer offered. It was in Waterloo’s course catalog since at least Winter 2020 (as far back as Open Data goes) to Spring 2021 and last ran in Spring 2021. It isn’t in the 2024–25 or later calendars.
When it ran
- W20
- S20
- W21
- S21
Ran in 4 terms, Winter 2020 to Spring 2021.
Object-oriented programming applied to physical problems in astrophysics, electromagnetism, classical and quantum mechanics. Solution methods for differential equations and Monte Carlo techniques. [Offered: W,S]
Requirements, as last listed
Prereq: One of PHYS 139, 236, CS 115, 121, 122, 123, 125, 131, 132, 133, 135, 145, CHE 121, CIVE 121, ECE 150, MTE 121/GENE 121, NE 113, SYDE 121; Not open to students in the Faculty of Mathematics
In today’s calendar
Reviewed on UW Flow
71% liked it69% easy69% useful
From 17 ratings and 6 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
The first half of the course is absolutely useless if you've done any programming: the prof directly told the class to not bother showing up if you were experienced, and after finishing the course I got an email saying the course was antireqed to CS136. Once you get to the actual content the course is pretty interesting, and reasonably difficult.
Nov 2017 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Start the assignments early.
Jul 2020 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this
Yevick keeps it simple. I didn't care for the octave/matlab but the C++ was useful and fun.
May 2019 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Really easy depending on the prof. I had david yevick leanred c++ and Octave. Which was pretty useful. Most of the course is learning those two languages and then applying them to physics problems. Assginments were cool I like them.
Jul 2017 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Solid overview of C++ and Matlab. The Matlab components are particularly useful for other courses/labs.
Aug 2016 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
21 posts and comments in 16 threads mention PHYS 239, December 2012 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Spring 2024
PHYS 249 Advice/Notes 1 point, 3 comments
“I'm taking PHYS 249 in the fall and I heard it's a pretty tough course. Anyone wanna share their notes with me, or some advice to do well?”
u/Illustrious_Sea39: “… I took phys 239. Which was the combined version of 249 and 349. It is honestly not too hard. If you did well on PHYS 236, or if you have taken any CS course ( not including CS 100) you should be fine if you go to class/read the Jupyter notebooks. …”
Winter 2021
PHYS239 discord or Piazza 1 point, 1 comment
u/lilkuntryy: “?”
Winter 2020
Upper year phys student (math, astro or honours pure) 2 points, 9 comments
u/lilkuntryy: “… &x200B; PHYS 234, Quantum Phys 1: MCINTYRE: QUANTUM MECHANICS : A PARADIGM APPROACH 1ED PHYS 239, Computational Physics 2: GIORDANO & NAKANISHI: COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS 2ED PHYS 242, Electricity and Magnetism 1: Not sure about this one yet :) PHYS 263, Classical Mechanics and …”
Questions from an incoming student 0 points, 3 comments
u/Rick_246: “… So there are some computational courses you can take like phys 236 or phys 239. If you are interested in researching in physics don't take phys 111 or 112 take phys 121 , 122 and 124. And take cs 135 instead of cs 115. …”
Winter 2019
MathPhys Coops 8 points, 21 comments
“For the kids in mathphys, what were your coops like? And did you feel like they were somehow related to what you were learning ?”
[deleted]: [deleted]
u/Humble-Bragg: “No, I went into the first job with only the Computational Physics course (PHYS 239?) as programming experience, but there was enough support in the job. Experience in programming/DS/ML was invaluable, highly recommend to all physics majors for practicality if not employability.”
u/Humble-Bragg: “Not in anything academic, employer liked that I was taking Computational Physics (PHYS 239?), whole thing happened in continuous round.”
u/TheRealArjun: “Ah but isn’t 239 usually taken after the first coop, or did you take it during your coop term. (Since phys 239 is computational physics 2, unless you mean phys 236 which is computational physics 1)”
Spring 2018
Phys 224 (or any other 2nd year physics course thats manageable?) 3 points, 5 comments
“Looking for a manageable 2nd year physics course to take this fall term. I know the term birdy is looked downed upon so I dont want to specifically ask for a birdy physics course (which i doubt …”
u/Kakateo: “I took the following 2nd year (or 200-level) physics courses: PHYS 234 PHYS 239 PHYS 242 PHYS 256 PHYS 263 I thought PHYS 256: Geometrical and Physical Optics was the "birdiest" out of the bunch. …”
Winter 2018
PHYS 239 (Computational Physics 2) difficulty? 2 points, 7 comments
u/phys239pls: “Will be taking PHYS 239 (Computational Physics 2) this Spring 2018 with David Yevick. I have one of the pre-reqs (CS 115) but will that be enough to do well (>=85) in this course? How hard does the physics and math (e.g., integration) get? …”
Thoughts on PHYS 239? 2 points, 5 comments
u/RipplesOfFaith: “Planning on taking it this coming summer. How difficult is the course? What programming language does it use?”
u/CarlortheDestroyer: “… We used Python, which is standard for PHYS 239 now instead of c++. I found the first half of the course pretty easy since they just get you up to speed on programing, and the second half a little more challenging but still very manageable. …”
Winter 2017
Remote Access Through a VPN and Microsoft Remote Desktop - Mac OSX(Faculty of Science) 3 points, 4 comments
“Hello, as the title describes I am looking to establish remote access through a VPN and Microsoft Remote Desktop on Mac OSX but I am having issues getting onto sciterm2. …”
u/etotheithet: “I did it for phys 239 a while ago, are you trying to use the scifarm computer? nevermind didn't notice you wanted sciterm2. It may be different but try putting nexus(back slash)[your id number] as username or maybe it is nexus/.”
Fall 2016
Calendar for CS courses for 2017-18 have been updated with enriched options and a new minor-level algorithm course 13 points, 18 comments
[deleted]: [deleted]
u/I_NoScopedUrMom: “… The science department said they would waive PHYS 236 in place of my CS but I still need to take PHYS 239 to graduate. However, this does not work the other way as I found out. The CS department does not recognize either of those physics courses as substitutes for CS courses. …”
Spring 2016
cs 115 antireqs 2 points, 2 comments
u/BroodMilf: “I had the same problem. I sent an email to the undergrad office and they told me if I took CS 115 then I'd have to take Phys 239 (comp phys 2) 2nd year.”
1A - Math Physics Course Selection Advice 3 points, 24 comments
“Hello UWaterloo, I'll be entering my 1A term this September and I have some questions regarding course selection as well as some general advice heading into first year. …”
u/Huex3: “… If you're in science, IIRC you take PHYS236 and 239 for your programming courses, and thus they are antirequisites. I have a friend who took CS135, 136 and PHYS239, and he says that 239 sucked. …”
u/arblarglar: “I had to take both cs 371 and phys 239. You need a programming course through physics to graduate. Phys 239 is shite but so is 236. If you're interested in programming, bite the bullet and take 239 so you can take some proper courses offered by cs”
Check it elsewhere
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2020–21Its last calendar entry, on uwloo
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them