Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson
From: anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Role of computer science
Message-ID: <418@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 26-Oct-86 19:08:11 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.418
Posted: Sun Oct 26 19:08:11 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 27-Oct-86 05:11:59 EST
References: <1195@hoptoad.uucp> <3526@utcsri.UUCP>
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 45

> > Laura Creighton		
> > ihnp4!hoptoad!laura  utzoo!hoptoad!laura  sun!hoptoad!laura
> > toad@lll-crg.arpa
and
> Terry Coatta
> Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4
> {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsri!coatta

are providing two very different views of academic computing.
The distinctions raised by their different viewpoints are, I
believe, central to *all* education. They have always been
with us, and (quite properly) they always will be, for on the
one hand we have practical knowledge (bear with me), and on
the other we have knowledge for its own sake. While in my
view each person with any sense will do his/her best to be
active in both dimensions at once, there seems to be a fairly
pronouced drift of the pendulum towards the vocational side
right now. People want jobs, and they want the universities to
certify them as employable. To the extent one doesn't want
to work *for* a university, one had better get some such
certification, for there is real competition for jobs in
computing, at least the better jobs. In addition, there is
an emphasis on being an entrepreneur these days, and no one
dreams of being anything other than a success in that. 
   People coming to the universities so they can learn how
to get a programming job are not (as many others have said
already) looking for computer SCIENCE, they are looking
for COMPUTER science; they want general knowledge (small
science) about a specific thing (big computer). And vice
versa.
   The example of the Turing lemmas is perfect. Laura gives
them short schrift; Terry sees them as the main point.
Both are right, completely and unalterably right. It is
extremely inconvenient, my friends, but there you have it.
You take your choice and you pay your price; nobody said
life is a snap. It's OK to be frustrated, but that won't
get you anywhere. Better to play both sides of the street
at once, I think, and hedge your bets.
-- 
==ARPA:====================anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson======
|      (Please use ARPA if you can.)                     MACC              |
| UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz,                           1210 W. Dayton    | 
|    akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson   Madison, WI 53706 |
| BITNET:                            anderson@wiscmacc   608/263-6988      |
==Words are not just blown air. They have a meaning.=====(Chuang Tsu)=======