[Info-vax] Dave Cutler, Prism, DEC, Microsoft, etc.

[Rich Alderson]

"P. Sture" <paul.nospam at sture.ch> writes:

> In article <mailman.14.1257831627.9279.info-vax_rbnsn.com at rbnsn.com>,
>  Paul Raulerson <paul at raulersons.com> wrote:

>> Mantra or not, it is unassailable truth. <grin> And no, they are  
>> teaching them the same old PAP
>> about how programmers will be extinct in a few years, because programs  
>> will learn how to write themselves. (*sigh*)

>> I get CS grads interviewing who have never written a compiler. :(

> I came across a comment the other day questioning why a CS student would 
> need to go near the command line.

> Shudder.

It depends on how one views the discipline.  In departments in which it is
viewed as a mathematical discipline, there is little need for programming
skills, or exposure to any user interface, whether command line or graphical,
to move forward in one's studies.  Analysis of algorithmic complexity, proof
of correctness, etc. are the bread and butter of the field.

In departments in which it is viewed as an engineering discipline, compiler
construction and other issues of language implementation, design of operating
systems, and the like, are studied.

Neither is the whole story, but the two kinds of CS departments rarely mix,
in my experience.

-- 
Rich Alderson                  "You get what anybody gets. You get a lifetime."
news at alderson.users.panix.com                           --Death, of the Endless