5 ms·

"Formal education in CS" is not the same as, say, a degree related to programming languages or compilers.

tralarpa 7y ago
Yes. There is a section in one of his books where he wrote that he added some feature in an ad-hoc way just because of a request from a colleague. Unfortunately, as I have already written in another comment some months ago, C++ was the wrong thing that came at the right time (C people were starting looking for alternatives, seeing what cool things other languages were doing).
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  I think you might mean the 'protected' thing in classes. It was something he regretted later. IIRC the person who asked for it also regretted that, but I'm less sure on that.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
iainmerrick 7y ago
Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. I don’t think you could study just “compilers”, say, at undergrad level. Maybe you mean postgrad or postdoc-level qualifications? It would certainly be a pretty different world if you were only allowed to design a new programming language after getting your PhD in language design.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. Which is neither here, nor there. A reputable CS degree is an all rounder, it's not expertise in PL design and research. >I don’t think you could study just “compilers”, say, at undergrad level. Maybe you mean postgrad or postdoc-level qualifications? For starters, yes, but it's not about official qualifications. Someone (e.g. Simon Peyton Jones) could be a PL expert without "official qualification" in the form of such a degree. Even writing many increasingly successful languages could do it. Starting with your first (or first serious) attempt at a language, however, is not that... Anders Hejlsberg is another famous example. He didn't complete his university (and it was on Engineering anyway), but after decades of successful work on the field be became a major PL designer and expert. Stroustrup, however, was hardly anything like that at the time he first designed C++.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    In most European universities CS and Engineering are intermingled. Pure CS theory tends to be a maths major.
    - coldtea 7y ago
      >In most European universities CS and Engineering are intermingled. Not at the time, when CS didn't even exist in many European universities, or was rudimentary at best.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        You will find plenty of degrees already available during the 70's, almost a decade before C++ came to be.
- throw_xyzyz 7y ago
  >Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. An undergraduate degree in physics covers building nuclear reactors too. For obvious reasons we don't let undergrads design them.

Yes. There is a section in one of his books where he wrote that he added some feature in an ad-hoc way just because of a request from a colleague. Unfortunately, as I have already written in another comment some months ago, C++ was the wrong thing that came at the right time (C people were starting looking for alternatives, seeing what cool things other languages were doing).

tempguy9999 7y ago
I think you might mean the 'protected' thing in classes. It was something he regretted later. IIRC the person who asked for it also regretted that, but I'm less sure on that.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

iainmerrick 7y ago

Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. I don’t think you could study just “compilers”, say, at undergrad level. Maybe you mean postgrad or postdoc-level qualifications? It would certainly be a pretty different world if you were only allowed to design a new programming language after getting your PhD in language design.

coldtea 7y ago
>Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. Which is neither here, nor there. A reputable CS degree is an all rounder, it's not expertise in PL design and research. >I don’t think you could study just “compilers”, say, at undergrad level. Maybe you mean postgrad or postdoc-level qualifications? For starters, yes, but it's not about official qualifications. Someone (e.g. Simon Peyton Jones) could be a PL expert without "official qualification" in the form of such a degree. Even writing many increasingly successful languages could do it. Starting with your first (or first serious) attempt at a language, however, is not that... Anders Hejlsberg is another famous example. He didn't complete his university (and it was on Engineering anyway), but after decades of successful work on the field be became a major PL designer and expert. Stroustrup, however, was hardly anything like that at the time he first designed C++.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  In most European universities CS and Engineering are intermingled. Pure CS theory tends to be a maths major.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >In most European universities CS and Engineering are intermingled. Not at the time, when CS didn't even exist in many European universities, or was rudimentary at best.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      You will find plenty of degrees already available during the 70's, almost a decade before C++ came to be.
throw_xyzyz 7y ago
>Sure it is! A reputable CS degree will cover multiple programming languages and compiler implementation. An undergraduate degree in physics covers building nuclear reactors too. For obvious reasons we don't let undergrads design them.