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

[Robin Fairbairns]

 Bob Eager <rde42 at spamcop.net> writes:
>On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:49:59 -0500, Rich Alderson wrote:
>> 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.
>
>One of my colleagues is fond of describing the CS degree at one of the 
>very oldest universities in the UK thus:

hmmm.  you wouldn't be thinking of a university that's invented an 800
year history for itself?

>"A core of mathematics, surrounded by....mathematics."

because that's not really true of this place.  lots of practical
courses; the students get to choose whether they specialise in
mathematical disciplines or in practical ones.  either way, they have
to demonstrate practical ability in assessed exercises.

>There are obvious cases where the reverse applies, and it's largely to do 
>with the university department that originally spawned the CS department 
>there.
>
>Where I work, the department grew up independently so it's pretty well in 
>the middle.

here, the department was founded in 1935 by a chemist and morphed to
digital computing to build the edsac (starting 1947, first ran 1949).
when i came here to for my diploma (1960s) there were still hand
calculators on the students' desks, but i avoided numerical analysis
altogether.

mind you, i've not built a *real* compiler in all my working life, and
certainly not as a student.  (things like lex and yacc derived from
monsters like the "compiler compiler" that took the whole of the
mainframe's memory in the 60s to run, and so wasn't used much...)
-- 
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge