Xref: utzoo comp.edu:2155 comp.software-eng:1317 comp.lang.c++:2893 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!mcnc!ece-csc!ncrcae!hubcap!mark From: mark@hubcap.clemson.edu (Mark Smotherman) Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.c++ Subject: Re: "Expertise" Summary: comparison to statistics Message-ID: <4972@hubcap.clemson.edu> Date: 31 Mar 89 20:25:40 GMT References: <354@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> <7531@thorin.cs.unc.edu> Distribution: usa Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC Lines: 25 In article <7531@thorin.cs.unc.edu>, coggins@coggins.cs.unc.edu (Dr. James Coggins) writes: > > I have a new question, and maybe you folks can fill in more > (even more irritating) examples. > > Why does... > ...anyone who has written a program (in BASIC, say) > think he's a computer scientist? > > Dr. James M. Coggins coggins@cs.unc.edu I think the misuse and presumptuous use of computer science has many similarities to the misuse and presumptuous use of statistics. Since both fields are so useful, many users of our respective "tools" think that they know better than the "toolmakers". Witness the (watered down) stat courses that appear in many college departments and the (watered down) computer introduction courses that many college departments want to teach themselves. While I would certainly agree that application of the "tools" in the student's domain of discourse is valuable, this is not what these courses end up doing. -- Mark Smotherman, Comp. Sci. Dept., Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 INTERNET: mark@hubcap.clemson.edu UUCP: gatech!hubcap!mark