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I really can't stand it when people complain about computer science education. News flash - programming != computer science. It doesn't require a PhD to learn

I really can't stand it when people complain about computer science education. News flash - programming != computer science. It doesn't require a PhD to learn (or teach) Python or AJAX. In fact there's nothing inherently scientific about the day-to-day uses of that language. You want to learn to program? Go to ITT Tech or work on open source. Hell, you could land an interview pretty much anywhere if you spent 12 weeks watching the MIT Intro to Algos lecture and The C Programming Language. WHY DO YOU THINK IT'S AN INTRO COURSE? If you want to learn how programming languages (syntax, grammar, compiler, interpreter), an operating system, automata, logic/circuits, Turing machines, AI, HCI, graphics, databases, MATH works and the theory and provenance behind all of it...you want a computer science degree. Sorry your professor isn't teaching you the difficult inner-workings of jQuery.

arethuza 16y ago
Well said, jQuery is a fantastic bit of programming - but I'm struggling to think what relevance it has to a Computer Science course.
Zev 16y ago
In my defense, whenever I complain, its about the opposite ;) A class I signed up for three semesters ago was listed as "Theory of Programming Languages". Sounds like a great class, right? The syllabus said it would cover Common Lisp, Prolog and Smalltalk, in addition to us doing a "serious" paper studying another language in-depth, on our own. However, when it came time to take the class (two semesters ago), it had been renamed to simply "Programming Languages" in preparation for future changes to the curriculum. Instead of going over the neat things about the language (S-expressions in Lisp, how dynamic and flexible Smalltalk is, etc), the professor spent a month per language going over over syntax. The hardest thing we had to do in any language was to flatten a list that had lists within it. The curriculum changes that were being prepared for? The biggest one that I've heard of involved replacing Smalltalk with PHP. The reasoning for this? "Students complained they didn't get any practical knowledge they could put on their resume out of the class."

arethuza 16y ago

Well said, jQuery is a fantastic bit of programming - but I'm struggling to think what relevance it has to a Computer Science course.

Zev 16y ago

In my defense, whenever I complain, its about the opposite ;) A class I signed up for three semesters ago was listed as "Theory of Programming Languages". Sounds like a great class, right? The syllabus said it would cover Common Lisp, Prolog and Smalltalk, in addition to us doing a "serious" paper studying another language in-depth, on our own. However, when it came time to take the class (two semesters ago), it had been renamed to simply "Programming Languages" in preparation for future changes to the curriculum. Instead of going over the neat things about the language (S-expressions in Lisp, how dynamic and flexible Smalltalk is, etc), the professor spent a month per language going over over syntax. The hardest thing we had to do in any language was to flatten a list that had lists within it. The curriculum changes that were being prepared for? The biggest one that I've heard of involved replacing Smalltalk with PHP. The reasoning for this? "Students complained they didn't get any practical knowledge they could put on their resume out of the class."