[PLUG] Linux or Unix Classes(warning: VENTING)

Ed Sawicki ed at alcpress.com
Thu Jan 8 00:46:02 UTC 2004


On Wed, 2004-01-07 at 22:01, Kevin Theobald wrote:
> Rich Shepard writes:
> 
>  >   Real-world experience probably counts for much more than does classroom
>  > learning. Lots of options out there for the well motivated, and that
>  > includes you. :-)
> 
> As a former academic, I strongly disagree.  What classrooms SHOULD be
> giving is a foundation in the fundamentals of your profession.

Speaking as a training company, I agree. We prefer to offer Linux
training that's mostly distribution-neutral and covers the
concepts and fundamentals. That's why we've never offered "Red Hat
Linux" training.

> "Real-world experience" is too tied up in details to give this
> understanding.  Some people may be able to figure out the general
> concepts from the specifics, but most people will not.  Most
> programming and other books written for "professionals" are aimed at
> people who either already understand the fundamentals, or don't care.
> 
> Most CS courses have been taught in Unix-family OSes because they are
> well-structured, illustrate the principles well, and some are
> open-source, which is ideal for study.  If they are teaching MS, most
> likely they are not teaching anything applicable to other areas.  Most
> likely, it's "OK, to set up this network, click on
> Configure->Network->..." or something like that.

I'm not sure where the term originated, but we (ALC) call the
knowledge gained in MS training courses "throwaway knowledge".
It's knowledge that becomes outdated when the vendor makes changes
to the product. The same would apply to a lesser degree to
specific Linux distributions. It's a poor investment since the
knowledge becomes obsolete over a relatively short period of time.
Learning Unix/Linux concepts is a better investment because the
knowledge has a long shelf life and changes that vendors make to
their products doesn't affect it greatly.
 
Ed

> 
> Kevin






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