On Thu, 28 Apr 2016, Rich Alderson wrote: > I received undergraduate and graduate degrees in historical linguistics;
That is an interesting field of study. I don't really understand a lick of it (talk about jargon! nobody beats linguists) but it's neat. As academic fields go, I'd do operations research if I ever went back. Those guys seem to be the brusin' bad dudes of math when it comes to getting things done. > all my computer science background is due to my own self-directed > study--and I do mean study. I've read any number of primary papers and > books in the field, since that study made me better at using computers > for what I really wanted to do. I've read some Dijkstra, Knuth, Jacob Ziv, and some stuff by David Wheeler, Martin Hellman, and a few others. The math for the last three is pretty well over my head but I got about 80%. What I read is mostly for implementation and "applied" reasons, but it's still interesting. > I've implemented compilers, and even my own Lisp interpreter, just for > the fun of it. Making compilers is fun. I've done it a couple of times using Jack Crenshaw's old papers (and he quotes Chomsky!). The lexical scanning tools are a lot better, now though. It's actually not too bad of an exercise if you don't have to extend or maintain the language afterwards. :-) > As you might imagine, I'm a good bit older than either of you; I started > at university (since you both want to equate "college" with "trade > school"; in the US, we usually say "go to college" even if the > institution grants higher degrees as well) It just seems like using the world "college" irritated fewer people when I implied that training & education were not mutually exclusive. It feels like some folks really recoil at that idea for universities. I just wonder how they apply that same principle to law school, nursing, metallurgy, etc... All (at least) 4 year degrees from universities where you'd darn well better come out with some training, or you are going to be in something of a pickle (failing the bar, losing your license, burning your face off, etc..). Maybe it's only for CS, since that's all we've mostly been talking about, and that's fair. > before Liam was born. I was married and in grad school by the time > Swift came along. I was born in 75, graduated (high school) in 1993, and dropped out of college in 1998. > I'm sorry that Swift took amiss my intended humor, but it's sparked an > interesting long thread. Ah, did I? Sorry about that. I'm always game for a good joke. -Swift