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From: gds@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: working programs
Message-ID: <1325@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 23:06:06 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.1325
Posted: Tue Mar 18 23:06:06 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Mar-86 03:19:47 EST
References: <9431@ritcv.UUCP> <13500007@uiucdcsb>
Organization: MIT Lusers and Hosers Inc., Cambridge, Ma.
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I have never taken a class where if your program didn't compile, you
got anywhere near 65% credit for it.  Especially in my software
engineering class, where 40% is testing & documentation -- if your
program won't compile you can't test anything!

There are some colleges that don't give out grades.  UC Santa Cruz is
one, there are probably others.  I don't know if it is better not to
have grades because in some circumstances it can discourage you from
doing work.  I used to say that it would be nice if I could just go to
university and study until I didn't feel like learning anymore, at my
own pace, instead of having to learn some minimum set of facts.
However, I suppose *some* metric muset be used by schools to
differentiate between students for admissions to graduate programs.  I
wonder though, would most companies rather have someone who took 6 or
7 years to graduate, but learned enough about their subject to be
quite proficient in it, rather than someone who did the traditional 4
years but didn't learn everything they could have, and those gaps
showed up on the job?
-- 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under.

Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{decvax!genrad, allegra, gatech, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds
gds@eddie.mit.edu