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

[Paul Raulerson]

On Nov 12, 2009, at 3:46 PM, John Reagan wrote:

> 
> "Rich Alderson" <news at alderson.users.panix.com> wrote in message 
> news:mddk4xvtqmg.fsf at panix5.panix.com...
> 
>> 
>> 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.
>> 
> 
> Then things must have changed.  When I was at Purdue (77-81), I did 
> algorithm proof & complexity classes; OS design classes; compiler 
> construction classes; database design classes; etc.  That was all from the 
> CS dept.
> 
> That said, the compiler I built at Purdue was a toy compared to the real 
> world compilers I found at DEC.  It parsed a subset of Pascal and generated 
> a homebrew bytestream that was executed by a provided interpreter.  (it was 
> on punched cards as well on a CDC6600 if that shows my age).
> 
> When folks came to the compiler group (including myself), there was still a 
> long aprenticeship program before you got to invent real stuff.  Compilers 
> aren't magic.  Lots of table lookups, hashtables, linked lists, trees, etc. 
> You just need to know what order they go in. :)
> 
> John 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Info-vax mailing list
> Info-vax at rbnsn.com
> http://rbnsn.com/mailman/listinfo/info-vax_rbnsn.com
> 
 And my experience, in the same time frame (maybe a year earlier or so) is the same.  And 
on top of it, to claim any kind of engineering state, you had to learn how to weld. Most annoying,
as I do not *like* to weld. But still had to learn it. 

We had to take plenty of math as well, up through tensor calc along with sides of matrix 
algebra and complex variables. 

-Paul