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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!bellcore!decvax!decwrl!glacier!kestrel!ladkin
From: ladkin@kestrel.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Value of Computer Science degree
Message-ID: <4730@kestrel.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 10-Feb-86 16:16:40 EST
Article-I.D.: kestrel.4730
Posted: Mon Feb 10 16:16:40 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Feb-86 07:41:38 EST
References: <4514@kestrel.ARPA> <3407@nsc.UUCP> <4588@kestrel.ARPA> <256@hropus.UUCP>
Organization: Kestrel Institute, Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 36
Keywords: Computer Science, Bullshit about degrees

In article <256@hropus.UUCP>, ka@hropus.UUCP (Kenneth Almquist) writes:
> When Peter disparrages coding talent, [...]

I had not meant to disparrage coding talent. My words as quoted may
sound as if I had meant to.

> Yes, the article was an implied insult to CS professors since it implies
> that they are rather useless, but that's no reason why the issues raised
> should not be discussed. 

I agree, and refer interested parties to the net.singles 
discussion, which has recently become more mature than it was.
The discussion on this issue started when I responded to some
extreme comments such as
"CS degrees aren't worth the paper they're printed on", and
"CS Professors don't know anything about [...]"
I felt that if there were readers wondering about whether to
take courses to improve their abilities, these comments might
lead them to the wrong decision.
There are a number of important issues here, of which I shall
pick two:
1. How do we alter curriculum so that CS graduates become
better programmers?
2. How do we broaden the horizons of the kind of career 
systems programmers that make these extreme comments (and
believe them). There are many areas of computer science
that are only accessible to people with advanced degrees,
and some people in our industry seem to be, almost
deliberately, unaware of this. I had thought the
knowledge that Sun was started by academics to be
essentially universal, hence my choice of example.

Thanks to Ken for posting the discussion to net.cse,
and for drawing my attention to the change of venue.

Peter Ladkin