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I was in Andy's dorm (house) at Caltech. When I matriculated, I chose begrudgingly to study a "real" science--physics--instead of what I actually liked--compute

I was in Andy's dorm (house) at Caltech. When I matriculated, I chose begrudgingly to study a "real" science--physics--instead of what I actually liked--computer science. It was in no small part thanks to Andy's contagious and unabashed excitement for CS that I eventually switched over and became a happy software engineer.

artemisyna 6y ago
Hmmmm... you didn’t happen to start the 2-seater car physics major trend, did you?
xvedejas 6y ago
Great to have such upperclassmen as role models as a student. Doesn't surprise me that it would have a big effect on what majors students choose. But sometimes we wonder if too many people take cs at caltech these days just because it is trendy or just easier? Guess I really Don't know if that's a "problem" Either, I am happy it worked out for you.
- qwhelan 6y ago
  As yet another housemate of Andy's at Caltech, it is perhaps worth mentioning that he was also involved in updating Caltech's CS curriculum prior to it becoming as popular as it is today. Hard to say how much of the trend is just what happened everywhere, but CS1 being in Python rather than Scheme probably helped a bit.
  - grugagag 6y ago
    Was swapping Scheme for Python a good thing though? Scheme is a very good way to understand the concepts of CS in a more fundamental way. Python can be learned independently anyway through SICP.
    - qwhelan 6y ago
      IIRC, CS1 was a mandatory class for other majors (like MechE) and a course in Scheme was basically hazing from their perspective. I forget if Scheme was moved to a later course or made optional.
      - andymatuschak 6y ago
        It was moved to a later course, thankfully. I’m a big SICP fan! (Hi Chris!)
antognini 6y ago
Hi! I was in Blacker, too (same year as Andy). I matriculated wanting to do astro and stuck with it, but there were enough excited CS majors around (of which Andy, of course, was one) that I ended up taking a number of CS classes for fun before graduating. And thank goodness I did! I eventually left astro for industry and that experience (both the formal classes and just being around a bunch of CS people a lot) helped with that transition tremendously.

artemisyna 6y ago

Hmmmm... you didn’t happen to start the 2-seater car physics major trend, did you?

xvedejas 6y ago

Great to have such upperclassmen as role models as a student. Doesn't surprise me that it would have a big effect on what majors students choose. But sometimes we wonder if too many people take cs at caltech these days just because it is trendy or just easier? Guess I really Don't know if that's a "problem" Either, I am happy it worked out for you.

qwhelan 6y ago
As yet another housemate of Andy's at Caltech, it is perhaps worth mentioning that he was also involved in updating Caltech's CS curriculum prior to it becoming as popular as it is today. Hard to say how much of the trend is just what happened everywhere, but CS1 being in Python rather than Scheme probably helped a bit.
- grugagag 6y ago
  Was swapping Scheme for Python a good thing though? Scheme is a very good way to understand the concepts of CS in a more fundamental way. Python can be learned independently anyway through SICP.
  - qwhelan 6y ago
    IIRC, CS1 was a mandatory class for other majors (like MechE) and a course in Scheme was basically hazing from their perspective. I forget if Scheme was moved to a later course or made optional.
    - andymatuschak 6y ago
      It was moved to a later course, thankfully. I’m a big SICP fan! (Hi Chris!)

antognini 6y ago

Hi! I was in Blacker, too (same year as Andy). I matriculated wanting to do astro and stuck with it, but there were enough excited CS majors around (of which Andy, of course, was one) that I ended up taking a number of CS classes for fun before graduating. And thank goodness I did! I eventually left astro for industry and that experience (both the formal classes and just being around a bunch of CS people a lot) helped with that transition tremendously.