Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watrose.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watrose!jjboritz From: jjboritz@watrose.UUCP (Jim Boritz) Newsgroups: net.cse Subject: Re: Re: Role of computer science Message-ID: <8205@watrose.UUCP> Date: Fri, 17-Oct-86 10:03:57 EDT Article-I.D.: watrose.8205 Posted: Fri Oct 17 10:03:57 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 21-Oct-86 04:21:46 EDT References: <10410@cca.UUCP> <3477@utcsri.UUCP> <1195@hoptoad.uucp> Reply-To: jjboritz@watrose.UUCP (Jim Boritz) Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 75 Summary: In article <1195@hoptoad.uucp> laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton) writes: >to another.) > >But how to be a prefessional was not on the curriculum. And I found that > . > . > . >But like the bulk of the students that I went to U of T with, I went >there with the idea that I would be taught to be a professional >programmer there, at the university, in class. Everybody I met >when I was a teenager assured me that that was what I would get at >U of T. And they were wrong -- or mostly wrong. I learned how to >be a professional programmer at U of T by hanging around people in >the Physics and Astronomy department, who had a theoretical knowledge, >not of Computer Science, but of Physics and Astronomy. What they >did have was a good practical knowledge of: >-- >``Never string ethernet in the presence of a kitten.'' >Laura Creighton >ihnp4!hoptoad!laura utzoo!hoptoad!laura sun!hoptoad!laura >toad@lll-crg.arpa Well you'll be glad to know that nothing has changed. People still go to University with the idea that university will teach them how to be a professional programmer. These people are still all wrong. Unfortunately they are also wrong to expect this from the "university". There are very few universities which claim a ciriculum which will turn you into a professional. There are no courses labelled PRO 101. I don't think that there is a single academic that claimed that by simply attending classes anyone will become a professional. Most academics do not think that it is the responsibility of a university to teach students about being a professional blank (fill in the name of your favorite profession). If you look at universities historically you will find that it is only with our *modern* era that universities have become somehow turned into technical schools. University schools of engineering or computer science are fairly recent additions to the old notion of academia. When I say recent I mean 50 - 100 years. Now it is true that these fields did not exist in the well defined formats we see them in now, and they are outgrowths of older schools like science and mathematics. Now in the past there has not been a truly strong link between industry and academia except that academia turns out graduates that go into industry. A great many academics do not feel that the links between university and academia should be strengthed. I go to a university with very strong ties into industry though, but even here there is a distinction between academia (big on research small on development) and industry (big on development small on research). I guess I have done a lot of mumbling but to sum it up, if you want to be taught about how to be a professional, get a job and talk to other professionals. Do not expect a university to do it for you. They have never claimed to do it for you. Your friends told you that you would learn about being a professional by going to U of T. They did not tell you how though, and in the end you did learn about it while being at university even though not a single professor ever talked about it in class. This translates into: You went to university and somehow learned to be a professional. Those people that told you that you were going to learn about being a professional ended up being right after all. Ok I'll stop but just let me say that one of the goals of university is to teach you how to learn on your own and adapt to new enviroments and situations quickly. If you have ever been out in industry you will have to deal with the people that keep a list of all the commands they ever use on a piece of paper beside their terminal and when they loose the piece of paper they call an *expert* to help them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim turn the volume down. Huh? You're getting excited again. jjboritz@watrose Jim Boritz