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From: neitzel@infbs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: microcomputers - (nf)
Message-ID: <18100001@infbs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Aug-87 10:27:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: infbs.18100001
Posted: Sat Aug 15 10:27:00 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 16-Aug-87 18:42:07 EDT
References: <398@ndsuvax.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:ndsuvax:-39800:infbs:18100001:000:1763
Nf-From: infbs!neitzel    Aug 15 15:27:00 1987

/***** infbs:comp.edu / rruxa!gwl /  4:51 pm  Aug 12, 1987*/
> At the New Jersey Institute of Technology, each and every full time
> undergraduate is required to purchase a selected PC upon entering the
> university.
> [...]
> And from my experiences as an undergraduate dealing with long delays
> while waiting for my printout from a line printer, or punching hollerith
> cards I feel that today's students are lucky!

>					George W. Leach

But there is nothing bad about waiting for something!
In fact it gives you a good opportunity for talks with all other
students waiting for printouts, too.  Students that work on the same
problem.

You can read Gerald M. Weinberg's "Psychology of Programming" about this.
There is one place, where he writes about the change from batch operation
to time sharing systems.  In short, he regrets the loss of communication
among the programmers.

I think, the same applies to the students today and to the change from
time sharing systems to (further isolated/isolating) micro computers.

I am badly aware at this CS dept. here, that more and more students do
all their work at home == on their own == without seeing different
concepts  ( == without learning ?!?! ).  Looking back over the past five
years I get the impression, that all activities amongst students, which
went beyond/beneath any lecture, have vanished and were not repeated or
even continued by younger fresh{wo}men.

[ BTW: This *is* related to the last debate on assignments/cheating.
  Sometimes I was very startled, how cooperation between students was
  strongly discouraged.  Yes, "the 1st language should be English" is
  okay, but then let them use it, too!
]

Martin Neitzel
Tech.Univ. Braunschweig, W.Germany, Europe
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