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I disagree. While knowing what these licenses are, how they work, and some pros and cons of each is nice, it's decidedly not computer science. There's no tradit

by dkuntz2 12y ago

I disagree. While knowing what these licenses are, how they work, and some pros and cons of each is nice, it's decidedly not computer science. There's no traditional CS courses I can think of that this would fit in, except for maybe an ethics in CS course, which not all schools have.

nitrogen 12y ago
Scientists have an obligation to understand the legal, ethical, and social context of their work. So if no "traditional" CS course would fit a discussion of software licenses and copyright, a new course is needed. This is even more true for software engineering, but even a scientist who only knows science is in danger of being exploited or of damaging the reputation of his/her community.
lake99 12y ago
This can easily be accommodated in a Software Engineering course. Project (and library) licenses are as important a matter as project lifecycle.
kevan 12y ago
I believe most CS students would benefit greatly from this type of class. The topic may not perfectly fit into pure computer science topics but it's something that anyone who writes code will run into during their career and should have a basic understanding of. Another (albeit more absurd) example is version control. You can successfully argue that it's not a computer science topic, but anyone graduating with a CS degree will be much better off in the real world having learned about it.
Htsthbjig 12y ago
"While knowing what these licenses are, how they work, and some pros and cons of each is nice, it's decidedly not computer science." Reusing other people's work(1) is decidedly computer science. Without it(access to source code) it would be simply impossible to teach ANY CS course. Good luck teaching compilers without accessing one, or OS without being able to read the internals of one. (1)Like Linux,network stack, LaTex, gnu tools, llvm, valgrind, qt, kde, WebKit engine, grass, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Arduino, OpenScad, freecad and RepRap...
cbd1984 12y ago
Even if it isn't part of theoretical CS, it's certainly part of the practice of programming, which university-level CS programs claim to teach. > There's no traditional CS courses I can think of that this would fit in, except for maybe an ethics in CS course, which not all schools have. All CS programs should have an ethics course, at least, and I think this would work in that context. For example, deontological ethical reasoning is about navigating among conflicting duties, and licenses can certainly impose duties on people.
metaphorm 12y ago
an engineer should be educated about the legal and ethical aspects of her/his field of work. these are pragmatic concerns, and engineering is a pragmatic discipline. while it might not fit into an academic computer science research curriculum, a good university program should include courses on these topics anyway. if your school doesn't (or if you didn't go to school!) its still a good idea to learn about law and ethics through self study.
Vespasian 12y ago
During my CS studies I heard a course about my local equivalent of copyright and patent law and while it was only a few hours it greatly helped me to understand the implications of licenses and when to ask a professional for help. I think basic knowledge of laws concerning your work of field is an important asset to anyone working in tech. Especially if your laws diverge from US ones (e.g. no "fair-use") the internet is a dangerous place sometimes ;)

by dkuntz2 12y ago

nitrogen 12y ago

Scientists have an obligation to understand the legal, ethical, and social context of their work. So if no "traditional" CS course would fit a discussion of software licenses and copyright, a new course is needed. This is even more true for software engineering, but even a scientist who only knows science is in danger of being exploited or of damaging the reputation of his/her community.

lake99 12y ago

This can easily be accommodated in a Software Engineering course. Project (and library) licenses are as important a matter as project lifecycle.

kevan 12y ago

I believe most CS students would benefit greatly from this type of class. The topic may not perfectly fit into pure computer science topics but it's something that anyone who writes code will run into during their career and should have a basic understanding of. Another (albeit more absurd) example is version control. You can successfully argue that it's not a computer science topic, but anyone graduating with a CS degree will be much better off in the real world having learned about it.

Htsthbjig 12y ago

"While knowing what these licenses are, how they work, and some pros and cons of each is nice, it's decidedly not computer science." Reusing other people's work(1) is decidedly computer science. Without it(access to source code) it would be simply impossible to teach ANY CS course. Good luck teaching compilers without accessing one, or OS without being able to read the internals of one. (1)Like Linux,network stack, LaTex, gnu tools, llvm, valgrind, qt, kde, WebKit engine, grass, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Arduino, OpenScad, freecad and RepRap...

cbd1984 12y ago

Even if it isn't part of theoretical CS, it's certainly part of the practice of programming, which university-level CS programs claim to teach. > There's no traditional CS courses I can think of that this would fit in, except for maybe an ethics in CS course, which not all schools have. All CS programs should have an ethics course, at least, and I think this would work in that context. For example, deontological ethical reasoning is about navigating among conflicting duties, and licenses can certainly impose duties on people.

metaphorm 12y ago

an engineer should be educated about the legal and ethical aspects of her/his field of work. these are pragmatic concerns, and engineering is a pragmatic discipline. while it might not fit into an academic computer science research curriculum, a good university program should include courses on these topics anyway. if your school doesn't (or if you didn't go to school!) its still a good idea to learn about law and ethics through self study.

Vespasian 12y ago

During my CS studies I heard a course about my local equivalent of copyright and patent law and while it was only a few hours it greatly helped me to understand the implications of licenses and when to ask a professional for help. I think basic knowledge of laws concerning your work of field is an important asset to anyone working in tech. Especially if your laws diverge from US ones (e.g. no "fair-use") the internet is a dangerous place sometimes ;)