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I would have loathed this teacher as a student. Fifteen years later I kind of get it – maybe it's right or wrong, but there is something to be said for writing

I would have loathed this teacher as a student. Fifteen years later I kind of get it – maybe it's right or wrong, but there is something to be said for writing to your audience and your medium. And papers written for this guy should use illogical punctuation. Probably writing code and doing code reviews has increased my sympathy: I frequently reject code that uses a style I might theoretically prefer, but which is not consistent. This can add some tedium to reviews for both parties. Of course since it's a one-way non-discussion point penalty that will possibly affect your permanent record, it's a little annoying, but that's just the shittiness of school.

n0us 11y ago
If I were in charge of reviewing code for a coworker I might object to their coding style as a matter of preference but if they were able to provide a reasoning for their position then I would "pass" them without requiring them to modify the code. This is the type of instruction the does not teach critical thinking that is crucial for success in higher education. Instead it teaches the student to memorize the book no matter how wrong it may seem. It also teaches them that the authority in any situation has the absolute ability to determine what is right and wrong, not that one style might be appropriate in some situations and inappropriate in others. If I were writing a novel, I might use the illogical American style because I don't anticipate quoting other individuals and having to convey their exact meaning. In philosophy courses I struggled with this because professors would request that I quote exactly, but also request that I put the period inside the quotes. As a result the style of the paper and the readability would both stuffer while I was stuck putting in more effort to disambiguate what I was trying to say when it could have been done in a simpler manner. The solution was often block-style quotes at the beginning of a section and references back to that section, or direct references to a page and line no. in the book.

n0us 11y ago

If I were in charge of reviewing code for a coworker I might object to their coding style as a matter of preference but if they were able to provide a reasoning for their position then I would "pass" them without requiring them to modify the code. This is the type of instruction the does not teach critical thinking that is crucial for success in higher education. Instead it teaches the student to memorize the book no matter how wrong it may seem. It also teaches them that the authority in any situation has the absolute ability to determine what is right and wrong, not that one style might be appropriate in some situations and inappropriate in others. If I were writing a novel, I might use the illogical American style because I don't anticipate quoting other individuals and having to convey their exact meaning. In philosophy courses I struggled with this because professors would request that I quote exactly, but also request that I put the period inside the quotes. As a result the style of the paper and the readability would both stuffer while I was stuck putting in more effort to disambiguate what I was trying to say when it could have been done in a simpler manner. The solution was often block-style quotes at the beginning of a section and references back to that section, or direct references to a page and line no. in the book.