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From: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.contract,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Qualified? or Dreaming?
Message-ID: <18454@rpp386.cactus.org>
Date: 16 Jul 90 00:29:03 GMT
References: <1990Jul8.063302.4076@xavax.com> <2616@igloo.scum.com> <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu>
Reply-To: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II)
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In article <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu> john@nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes:
>At New Mexico Tech, nobody gets a BS in CS without going
>through both the compiler class and the OS class; it's been
>this way for twenty years.  And these aren't just lecture
>classes, either.  Every student implements a whole compiler
>and a whole operating system from scratch, working in a team
>with one or two other students.

At The University of New Orleans everyone was required to take
a theory course in languages, operating systems and so on, but
there were few, if any, courses where students were required
to actually write useful code.  A suggestion to one of my
professors to implement a PL/1 compiler as a project for a
special studies course was met with incredible disinterest.

Many universities that I am aware of take a dim view at students
working together on large projects.  The fear being that the
students would cheat or slack off.  The only course I had which
produced something "useful" was an advanced O/S course taught
by Jim "Nothead" Thomas.  The course was excellent from a learning
experience, but a dismal failure as the O/S we wrote refused to
do much of anything.  Jim Thomas can be found someplace in New
Mexico [ UNM I think ... ] working on Yet Another Degree.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
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