Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 exptools; site ihlpg.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpg!dms From: dms@ihlpg.UUCP (Spang) Newsgroups: net.cse Subject: Re: Exams vs. Programming Assignments Message-ID: <1327@ihlpg.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Oct-85 13:15:50 EDT Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1327 Posted: Wed Oct 2 13:15:50 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 3-Oct-85 06:14:24 EDT References: <823@dataio.Dataio.UUCP> <6358@duke.UUCP> <827@dataio.Dataio.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 42 > educations is that they teach you "programming"... they teach you how to edit > a file under VMS... they teach you how to write in assembly language... > they teach you what a barrel shifter is... they teach (etc.), but they > don't require any theory classes. > > They don't require a class on design and analysis of algorithms. They > don't teach the thoery of LALR parsers, they don't teach... > > So you graduate, and you know specifics: > 1. Unix > 2. recursive descent > 3. quick-sort > 4. linked lists. > But if the real world doesn't want linked lists then you > are out of luck -- no one taught you how to THINK, much less > about computer science. You are a Programmer. > > Opinions from the keyboard of > Bjorn Benson Do you know me by any chance? I just graduated from a small private school that has just declared itself a university complete with graduate computer science degrees. When I had finished learning every possible language and carried most all my programming classes with 99% of the points allowed, I decided to take the brand new Computer Algorithms (an analysis) course. My advisor strongly discouraged me saying it saying it was a poor course (he was the teacher!) and would be fairly useless in my career! I'm now here at BTL and never have syntax errors but much more emphasis is placed on efficiency in the real world than I would have guessed while I was in school. I sometimes think that a monkey with a keyboard could eventually produce what was expected of me in school. Debra Spang I hate it when my leg falls asleep during the day, then it's usually up all night -Steven Wright *****General Disclaimer****** Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com