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OK, now for the contrarian opinion: you're barking up the wrong tree. A good university does not coddle up students like kindergartners, feeding them pap. It's

by ableal 18y ago

OK, now for the contrarian opinion: you're barking up the wrong tree. A good university does not coddle up students like kindergartners, feeding them pap. It's more like boot camp - in the mud, on foot, carrying a heavy pack. Apparently, it's pointless, sadistic, exercise: the 'product' of the work has no value. Except for the connections your synapses make ... Frankly, it's hard to feel sorry for students who will not 'read the FAQ', or do anything to improve their conditions by themselves, if they feel it's important. It either is not important, or the culture of helplessness has reached too far. Also: C.S. is not about this week's 'state-of-the-art' tools - as the late Dijkstra (who taught at U.T.Austin) put it, it's like astronomy and telescopes. P.S.: in any organization with more than a few dozen people, support staff will ask for emails or web-tickets. That's for two reasons: accountability and knowledge sharing.

ams6110 18y ago
Agree! My C.S. undergrad program did not even cover specific languages. There were no courses such as "The 'Foo trendy du-jour' Programming Language" -- the language was incidental to the subject matter, and you were expected to learn the language, editor, OS utilities, compilers, debuggers, etc. on your own time.
sketerpot 18y ago
There's a difference between expecting students to overcome adversity in a tough curriculum and making things pointlessly painful.
manvsmachine 18y ago
CS is not about state-of-the art tools, but it is most definitely about good tools. In fact, I'd argue that much of undergraduate CS is about learning how to recognize, use, and build good tools, and part of the way that you do this is exposure. I think that people still forget that CS is, at least partially, a creative discipline, and the solutions that its practitioners come up with are often influenced by the tools that they use.

by ableal 18y ago

ams6110 18y ago

Agree! My C.S. undergrad program did not even cover specific languages. There were no courses such as "The 'Foo trendy du-jour' Programming Language" -- the language was incidental to the subject matter, and you were expected to learn the language, editor, OS utilities, compilers, debuggers, etc. on your own time.

sketerpot 18y ago

There's a difference between expecting students to overcome adversity in a tough curriculum and making things pointlessly painful.

manvsmachine 18y ago

CS is not about state-of-the art tools, but it is most definitely about good tools. In fact, I'd argue that much of undergraduate CS is about learning how to recognize, use, and build good tools, and part of the way that you do this is exposure. I think that people still forget that CS is, at least partially, a creative discipline, and the solutions that its practitioners come up with are often influenced by the tools that they use.