On Wed, Mar 14, 2007 at 11:29:51AM -0700, David Mathog wrote: > > Conversely, the CS departments like to teach with idealized didactic > computing languages. What that language is changes from era to > era, but they are in any case notable for rarely being used to > accomplish anything significant outside of academia. While these > languages may be ideal for conveying key CS concepts to the > students, they in no way represent the sorts of code the > students will be encountering in the real world. That code, like > the mechanic's practice cars, are imperfect, and most of what > they will be doing when they encounter such code is dealing > precisely with the problems associated with those imperfections.
You may need computer programming to do Computer Science, like you need English/French/Chinese/Farsi/whatever to do History. But History isn't English, et al, and Computer Science isn't computer programming. What programming language you use for Computer Science is quite arbitrary. Or, maybe, a matter of taste - de gustibus non est disputandum. David S. > > I'm kind of glad the folks who teach CS this way don't teach foreign > language too - they'd make the students learn a fair amount of Latin > before letting them enroll in a Spanish class! Sure Spanish is based > on Latin, but "Ubi latrina est?" isn't the fastest way to find a > bathroom in Madrid. Well, maybe if you ask in a church. > > Let's see, what language is CS is using here these days? It has > been a while since I looked: > > CS 1 (Introduction to Computation, first quarter) uses Scheme. > CS 2 (Introduction to Programming Methods, 2nd quarter) seems > to be mostly Java. > CS 3 (Introduction to Software Engineering, 3rd quarter) uses who > knows what, since the course info is locked up in a "moodle" > I do not have access to. > CS 11 (Computer Language Shop, any quarter for up to 3 > quarters total) is for programming practice in any of > several languages, including C, C++, Java, Python, and others > but not (any type of) Fortran. > > So the undergrad here who just wants to learn to program in order > to get some work done in engineering, physics, etc. would either > slog through a quarter of CS 1 and then enroll in CS 11 > for a few quarters, or would maybe try to talk their way into CS 11 > without having to take CS 1. CS 1 is "strongly recommended" for > those taking CS 11, which is catalog speak for, "it is possible > to weasel out of the prerequisite". > > Regards, > > David Mathog > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
