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From: freak@nsc.UUCP (Curt Mayer)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Value of Computer Science degree
Message-ID: <3422@nsc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 13-Feb-86 05:15:17 EST
Article-I.D.: nsc.3422
Posted: Thu Feb 13 05:15:17 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Feb-86 07:06:17 EST
References: <4514@kestrel.ARPA> <3407@nsc.UUCP> <4588@kestrel.ARPA> <256@hropus.UUCP> <645@frog.UUCP>
Reply-To: freak@nsc.UUCP (Curt Mayer)
Organization: The Zen Room
Lines: 21

i think that i need to clarify some things, in light of much discussion

a hacker grade programmer is not some bozo who writes dreck for her/his
trash-80 at home. what i meant for this is a hacker has an intuitive,
rather than learned, grasp of mechanisms in general. Laura Creighton
pointed out, better than i can, that there is an Engineer mentality,
and a Mathematician mentality. The hacker has the former.

also, when i flamed CS profs, it was aimed mostly at every two-bit state
school who thinks that hiring failed DP professionals gives them a viable
CS department.  It makes no sense to pretend the problem does not exist.
schools like CMU, Stanford, UCB, MIT and GIT have a much better handle
on the problem, since they attract talent.

i know many damn good programmers with degrees, but none of them have
CS degrees.  I am sure that they exist. Most of the degreed Hot programmers
i know have fuzzy studies (Psychology, Philosophy, Education, etc) backgrounds.

Every hacker i know has read Knuth. it is, after all, the bible.

	curt