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From: steve@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Steve Mitchell)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.contract,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Qualified? or Dreaming?
Message-ID: <1990Jul23.060010.20406@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>
Date: 23 Jul 90 06:00:10 GMT
References: <1990Jul8.063302.4076@xavax.com> <2616@igloo.scum.com> <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu>
Organization: College Park Software, Altadena, CA
Lines: 28


>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.
>-- 
>John Shipman/Computer Science Department/New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM 87801
>(505)835-5301; john@jupiter.nmt.edu

Most of the CS people I've known have this background, but that does
not mean they've learned how to write useful software in general.  A
few years ago I had a new CS grad working for me, and while she may
have been able to write a compiler she had a great deal of trouble
writing simple simulation code, even when the algorithms were
provided.  And forget about having her take a sketch of a solution and
derive the algorithm.  _VERY_FEW_ programming jobs in industry involve
writing compilers or operating systems: most (at least in my
experience) involve using computers to solve various real-world
problems.  It would be much more useful if CS departments turned out
grads with general problem solving and programming skills, rather than
aiming them at jobs developing system software at computer companies.
-- 
		-  Steve Mitchell	steve@cps.altadena.ca.us
					grian!steve@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov
					ames!elroy!grian!steve
"God is licht, an in him there is nae mirkness ava." -- 1 John 1:5