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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!jjboritz
From: jjboritz@watnot.UUCP (Jim Boritz)
Newsgroups: net.singles,net.cse
Subject: Re: portable code
Message-ID: <11569@watnot.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Mar-86 10:28:03 EST
Article-I.D.: watnot.11569
Posted: Mon Mar  3 10:28:03 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Mar-86 02:00:05 EST
References: <653@moscom.UUCP> <569@hoptoad.uucp>
Reply-To: jjboritz@watnot.UUCP (Jim Boritz)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 29
Xref: watmath net.singles:10621 net.cse:658
Summary: 


I feel that you partly hit the problem right on the nose.  Most CS majors
fall into your type C.  I agree with this totaly.  However it is not their
fault (totally) that they do not (cannot) write good code.  A great deal 
has to do with the cirriculum.  Students can only be motivated to do things
when there are marks associated with them.  This is especially true of your
type C student.  
Taking this and then running with it.
Very few CS courses provide marks for things like style.  Sure you will 
lose marks if your programs are not clear, but not for bad sytle.  
This has to do with how hard it is for the TA to read your code, not
how concerned anyone is about your clarity.   
I have had some experience marking papers, and what I have seen is that
very few people are willing to do more than is required.
Much of this is due to the time pressure associated with doing an assignment
somone that has three other assignments to do is not going to worry about
more than the minimum required.

The only ones that will do more are those that live in front of a        
terminal.  (Hacks).  But hacks only write code for themselves and   
other hacks.  This means that it does alot but is close to impossible
to use.

Put this all together and you get a bunch of people graduating that have 
never had to write good code.

I will probably be one of them.

Jim Boritz