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From: john@nmt.edu (John Shipman)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.contract,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Qualified? or Dreaming?
Message-ID: <1990Jul23.202959.20621@nmt.edu>
Date: 23 Jul 90 20:29:59 GMT
References: <2616@igloo.scum.com> <1990Jul11.233006.17884@nmt.edu> <1990Jul23.060010.20406@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>
Organization: Zoological Data Processing
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Steve Mitchell (steve@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us) writes:
+--
| _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.
+--

I agree with you, general skills are what we aim for.  The
point of requiring a large compiler project and a large
op sys project here is not simply to try train people for
compiler and op sys jobs, however.

There is a tendency for new programmers to think that once
they have written a 200-line program, they understand how
to program.  But while it is possible to get 200 lines of
``spaghetti code'' working, such bad habits will be a real
obstacle to bringing up a 2,000-line program, not to mention
a 20,000-line program.

In my opinion, much of the value of these large projects is
in getting people used to programming-in-the-large.  Simply
assigning projects in compilers or operating systems is not
enough; as educators, I feel it is important to use these
projects as vehicles for convincing people of the need for
clarity, modularity and top-down design.
-- 
John Shipman/Computer Science Department/New Mexico Tech/Socorro, NM 87801
(505)835-5301; john@jupiter.nmt.edu