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From: laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Role of computer science
Message-ID: <1193@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Wed, 15-Oct-86 18:49:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.1193
Posted: Wed Oct 15 18:49:06 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Oct-86 00:00:56 EDT
References: <10331@cca.UUCP> <3447@utcsri.UUCP>
Reply-To: laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco
Lines: 36

In article <3447@utcsri.UUCP> coatta@utcsri.UUCP (Terry Coatta) writes:
>
>An academics job is to teach the ideals of academia -- they are not doing 
>the student a disservice by any means.  If a student wants to be a 
>professional programmer, then a professional school is the appropriate
>institution of post secondary education for them.  Those students attending
>universities should be well aware that the training offered there is
>academic, not professional.

I sure didn't know that, and I know a lot of people in the same boat.
I was interested in computers, and I had a scholarship to the University
of Toronto, and it was a good school, so I went.  I never thought about
it, which was, of course, my most serious mistake, and look what happened.

I think that over all I would have been much happier if I had gone into
electrical engineering. But I was looking at the course outline posted for
CS (Software Engineer) as opposed to CS (theoretical) and thought -- wow!
You see, I would have liked to take almost every one of the software
engineering courses, and a few of the theoretical ones.  Instead, I went
to a school that taught all (almost all) of the theoretical courses
and almost none of the software engineering ones. [I didn't think the 
emphasis on languages appropriate, but then again for a few not all that 
difficult filler courses they wouldn't be all that bad.]  David Marks
sure has me pegged.  Some day i would love to get published in the
COMMUNICATIONS of the ACM, but the JOURNAL -- I can't remember the
last time I wanted to read anything there.

Which is not the same thing as not wanting to learn -- I just wish that
I had met David Marks before I applied to university and he told me
about this list and the difference between SE and Theoretical CS.

-- 
``Never string ethernet in the presence of a kitten.''
Laura Creighton		
ihnp4!hoptoad!laura  utzoo!hoptoad!laura  sun!hoptoad!laura
toad@lll-crg.arpa