On Fri, 21 Nov 2008, Lindy Mayfield wrote: > While searching for CCW command codes (x'08' actually) I ran across this > page of a computer science professor at Northern Illinois University. > It seems they are learning some serious mainframe. > http://www.cs.niu.edu/~rrannie/homepagA.html > > > My favorite bit is from the CS-468 course syllabus. > http://www.cs.niu.edu/~rrannie/syl468S7.html > > "In this course programming will be carried out under a number of rules > that, if you have not already discerned them, are those used in the > 'real world' and which you may be assured you will encounter shortly > after graduation. One of those rules is that a program which does NOT DO > WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO -- REGARDLESS of how long or how hard or how > much you 'sweat blood over it', is still, just, and only, a pile of > chicken scratchings. It is NOT 50% or 10% or ANY percent a program! IT > IS AN UN-PROGRAM! > > "AFTER you graduate you won't get paid by an employer for a program that > doesn't work and BEFORE you graduate you won't get a grade in this > course for a program that doesn't work. Don't ever forget that folks > won't pay for parachutes that 'almost' work!" >
WOW! A very harsh dose of reality! I wonder how many students will protest that they can't get "partial credit" for something that "mainly works". After all, that pretty much describes all the Windows programs that I've ever used. Well, Windows Calculator doesn't seem to have any bugs. But most everything else has some "gotchas". Of course, they also have "Easter Eggs" as an added bonus!! Heaven knows that accountants really need a stripped down flight simulator in their general ledger program. -- Q: What do theoretical physicists drink beer from? A: Ein Stein. Maranatha! John McKown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
