4 ms·

> It's now possible to make your way through a university education in CS without ever touching or understanding C. This is a problem. I did not study CS, but

by vostok 10y ago

> It's now possible to make your way through a university education in CS without ever touching or understanding C. This is a problem. I did not study CS, but I had a number of CS modules/classes. LaTeX was the only programming language I recall using. Students with better handwriting could probably get away with not doing any programming at all. It's not clear to me that this is a problem, but I imagine that the systems requirement of most CS programs will involve C. For what it's worth, I default to python in interviews even though it's my least favorite out of the languages that I use frequently.

ageofwant 10y ago
> I default to python in interviews even though it's my least favorite out of the languages that I use frequently. Why is that ? I would image that you'd use the language you are most comfortable with and trust the most during an interview ? What makes Python a good 'interview' language but a less good bread and butter language for you ?
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  If he's listing LaTeX as a programming language and talking about how little programming he had, I suspect he's stuck with R or Matlab.
  - spicyj 10y ago
    TeX is a "real" programming language.
    - kevin_thibedeau 10y ago
      It's a macro expander. Good luck debugging that.
- vostok 10y ago
  I find that python requires the least boilerplate code out of the most common programming languages. I mostly dislike it on aesthetic grounds. I really like the modern incarnations of C++ and statically typed ML-influenced, but not necessarily ML-derived, languages. There are many criticisms that one could make about R, but I like some of its lispier features.
jonathankoren 10y ago
If you're taking CS classes and boasting about how you don't know how to program, it is a problem.
- yzmtf2008 10y ago
  In many more theoretical CS classes, programming is not a requirement.
  - jonathankoren 10y ago
    There's a word for that. It's "math".
    - Zalastax 10y ago
      Computer Science and maths are heavily intertwined [1], just like physics and maths are. [1]: http://math.stackexchange.com/q/649408 http://math.stackexchange.com/q/649408

by vostok 10y ago

ageofwant 10y ago

> I default to python in interviews even though it's my least favorite out of the languages that I use frequently. Why is that ? I would image that you'd use the language you are most comfortable with and trust the most during an interview ? What makes Python a good 'interview' language but a less good bread and butter language for you ?

jonathankoren 10y ago
If he's listing LaTeX as a programming language and talking about how little programming he had, I suspect he's stuck with R or Matlab.
- spicyj 10y ago
  TeX is a "real" programming language.
  - kevin_thibedeau 10y ago
    It's a macro expander. Good luck debugging that.
vostok 10y ago
I find that python requires the least boilerplate code out of the most common programming languages. I mostly dislike it on aesthetic grounds. I really like the modern incarnations of C++ and statically typed ML-influenced, but not necessarily ML-derived, languages. There are many criticisms that one could make about R, but I like some of its lispier features.

jonathankoren 10y ago

If you're taking CS classes and boasting about how you don't know how to program, it is a problem.

yzmtf2008 10y ago
In many more theoretical CS classes, programming is not a requirement.
- jonathankoren 10y ago
  There's a word for that. It's "math".
  - Zalastax 10y ago
    Computer Science and maths are heavily intertwined [1], just like physics and maths are. [1]: http://math.stackexchange.com/q/649408 http://math.stackexchange.com/q/649408