Comments on: Comp. Sci. Degree Recommended, Not Required http://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/01/30/comp-sci-degree-recommended-not-required/ Long form thoughts from a Software Engineer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:42:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark http://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/01/30/comp-sci-degree-recommended-not-required/comment-page-1/#comment-66 Mark Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:53:02 +0000 http://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/01/30/comp-sci-degree-recommended-not-required/#comment-66 Chris, I agree. I think there is room for debate for what should be a core curriculum of CS. Let that live on. What I don't agree with is this reaction that CS should be split or forced to be the same everywhere. I think some people are advocating a move that would only unsettle CS more and create worse problems than currently exist. And in no way did I intend this article to be a critique of yours, but instead a reaction to the debate as a whole. Your post was just such a great resource for the links and your distillation of the argument to a simple form, that I couldn't help but link to it. Thanks for your work on that. Chris,

I agree. I think there is room for debate for what should be a core curriculum of CS. Let that live on.

What I don’t agree with is this reaction that CS should be split or forced to be the same everywhere. I think some people are advocating a move that would only unsettle CS more and create worse problems than currently exist.

And in no way did I intend this article to be a critique of yours, but instead a reaction to the debate as a whole. Your post was just such a great resource for the links and your distillation of the argument to a simple form, that I couldn’t help but link to it. Thanks for your work on that.

]]> By: Chris Ammerman http://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/01/30/comp-sci-degree-recommended-not-required/comment-page-1/#comment-65 Chris Ammerman Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:15:57 +0000 http://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/01/30/comp-sci-degree-recommended-not-required/#comment-65 I largely agree with your post here. Especially about the general purpose of college being to prepare a person for lifelong learning, and to persevere in adversity. And about experienced programmers mentoring the fresh faces to fill the inevitable gaps. Diversity in education is also very important. But just to be clear, I'm not complaining about diversity, but rather inconsistency, which is very different. Some things are fundamental to CS. Leaving those out of an education isn't diversity. It's just irresponsible. It would certainly be a tragedy if the education system became, as you say, homogeneous. But the opposite is at least as dangerous, and we are a lot closer to that right now. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a core of information that should be pretty much universally taught in any CS degree. There is plenty of room for variety and specialization on top of that. I largely agree with your post here. Especially about the general purpose of college being to prepare a person for lifelong learning, and to persevere in adversity. And about experienced programmers mentoring the fresh faces to fill the inevitable gaps.

Diversity in education is also very important. But just to be clear, I’m not complaining about diversity, but rather inconsistency, which is very different. Some things are fundamental to CS. Leaving those out of an education isn’t diversity. It’s just irresponsible.

It would certainly be a tragedy if the education system became, as you say, homogeneous. But the opposite is at least as dangerous, and we are a lot closer to that right now.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a core of information that should be pretty much universally taught in any CS degree. There is plenty of room for variety and specialization on top of that.

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