Yes, you should take the time to reach yourself programming before starting as it will help you greatly. You will struggle if you have never programmed before.
There is no theory behind programming, you kind of just start doing and solve small challenges / do projects.
But a good teaching...
In the end, its your decision, we can't decide for you. A guy I know started in SE and transferred to CS. He now works at FB after spending a winter there for an internship.
If you're doing a double degree go with computer science, you will have a much better time.
Also whoever says EE can be a replacement for CS doesn't know anything about CS.
Just cause they do some MATLAB doesn't mean its anything like computer science.
EE seems to offer broader opportunities.
Not true. Both fields offer broad opportunities. I would say SE actually will give you more flexibility after graduating, whereas in EE, you generally have to specialize in a field.
Would someone with a degree in EE and programming knowledge still...
ill do this after my last exam, but my guess is convert string to an array of char and iterate backwards to check for the word again.
Not sure how you would go about the second part. ill think about it later