Xref: utzoo comp.software-eng:422 misc.jobs.misc:1576
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!unisoft!hoptoad!dasys1!pepper
From: pepper@dasys1.UUCP (Angelique Wahlstedt)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng,misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: American Programmer (What's a Ph.D. worth?)
Message-ID: <3763@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 8 Apr 88 01:14:28 GMT
References: <555@psu-cs.UUCP> <1434@ur-tut.UUCP> <3415@bunker.UUCP> <3326@zeus.TEK.COM> <461@vsi.UUCP> <5775@bunny.UUCP> <2218@ttidca.TTI.COM> <5388@utah-cs.UUCP> <8295@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: pepper@dasys1.UUCP (Angelique Wahlstedt)
Organization: Datamerica Systems, NYC
Lines: 38

In article <8295@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> jmm@thoth20.berkeley.edu.UUCP () writes:
>I always thought that universities were supposed to teach theory more than
>practice.  There are going to be lots of different types of systems out there
>in the 'real world,' and if your educational background only prepares you
>to use one of them then it doesn't do you much good.  If your education
>teaches you the general way that systems are built, why they're built that
>way, and leads you to think about new ways they could be designed, 
>then your chosen place
>of employment can teach you the specific way it's implemented.
>
>Universities should not be expected to teach people the uses of any particular
>set of tools.  That's what vocational schools are for.


Good point!

HOWEVER, sometimes I feel that half the stuff that computer science
programs in many schools teach is pretty irrelevant to the Real World.
For example, at Colorado State University, I'm taking CS-201 (Discrete
Structures) (simply cuz CSU told me to. :-) that covers all sorts of
things from binary trees to boolean algebra. Some of those, obviously,
have uses in the Real World, such as binary search trees. But, to this
day, I still can't figure out what applications some of the other things,
such as monoids and isomorphisms (if you don't know what they are, don't
ask ME :-) have in the real world. I'm also taking Symbolic Computing
(LISP and Prolog) which is fun, but I doubt that most of us in the class
would ever use either language in the Real World.

Some of the courses that I think should be required in college are Software
Engineering and Technical Writing (some colleges such as Rochester Institute
of Technology already require this). Another possibility could be Database
Concepts since so many jobs seem to involve databases.

-- 
Angeli "Ms. Pepper" Wahlstedt

UUCP: wahlsted@handel.colostate.edu  - or -  ...!hao!handel!wahlsted
      ...!dasys1!pepper (Big Electric Cat)