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That makes sense. Theres one big difference between real life and (undergrad?) CS classes: the discovery phase. In most classes, the solution is laid out for
by sbov 16y ago
That makes sense.
Theres one big difference between real life and (undergrad?) CS classes: the discovery phase. In most classes, the solution is laid out for you or implied in some way. Algorithms classes generally just consist of following a spec outlined by the book/teacher.
But when you run across a problem in real life it doesn't tell you to use a specific algorithm to solve it. Because of this, finding the solution usually requires a deeper level of knowledge.
When I graduated, that was the scariest part for me. Sure, I knew a bunch of algorithms, but I didn't have much practice in discovering when to use them and applying them to problems.
- evo_9 16y agoExactly - how to find answers to new problems is huge. That's probably the question that makes or breaks interviews I give to new programmers. If they can't tell me how they'll figure something out on there own, yeah not good. In fact, even just being honest and saying you'd not consider this and weren't sure would be fine too. But you'd be surprised how many people how no real answer or scramble something out that doesn't quite cover it. The funny thing is - esp. depending on how old you are - it is incredible how much easier it is to learn/find answers now. Pre-google it was tough - I frequented Barns & Nobles often to see what new books had arrived, or just to go find an answer in a book I knew they had. But I digress... google/stackoverflow/etc have all made our lives so much easier.