[PLUG] Computer Science at PSU a nightmare

[Carlos Konstanski]

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007, Alan wrote:

> Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:34:05 -0800 (PST)
> From: Alan <alan at clueserver.org>
> Reply-To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help;	civil and on-topic"
>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
> To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help;	civil and on-topic"
>     <plug at lists.pdxlinux.org>
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Computer Science at PSU a nightmare
> 
>> Quoting Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com>:
>>
>> [Hide Quoted Text]
>> someone <plug_1 at robinson-west.com> dijo:
>> Anyone else find PSU's computer science program next to impossible to
>> get through?  If the physics and Calculus don't stop ya, it seems
>> that Karla Fant will.  Programming Systems is called an intro course,
>> but there's nothing intro about it.
>> The discussion is not about Linux, so I am replying on plug-talk.
>> Perhaps one of the "arcane, useless" skills that future employers
>> may find essential is the ability to post to the proper email list.
>> The discussion or Portland State's computer science degree in general
>> is not about Linux?
>>
>> A Linux specialist needs to know: bash, perl, python, and php more than
>> Java and C++.  C is important because the kernel is written in it.
>> This discussion is relevant from the standpoint of, is it worth it if
>> your interest lies in Linux to get a CS degree?  I'm leaning towards
>> no until the mandatory courses are a) passable without special help,
>> and b) relevant to a Linux environment.  I shouldn't have to ask a
>> special tutor that I have to compete with 200 people for how to
>> understand and approach my programming assignments.  Nor should I
>> have to put up with incompetent tutors, a problem I ran into with
>> physics at PCC.  College isn't the work world, you pay a lot of money
>> to access so called higher education where there's a service to be
>> rendered to you.  Yes, you have to take care of yourself.  It's an
>> academic setting, the professor isn't supposed to fous on confusing
>> people.
>
> Not all intro courses are designed to be easy.  Some are there to see if
> you have the true desire and to weed out the weak and infirm.
>
> When I was in college I saw a number of people in programming classes who
> had no business being there.  They took it because computers were the
> "cool thing" or they thought that they could take it for an easy grade.

I wish the intro to programming (pascal) course at Idaho State
University were harder than it was for this very reason.  I dropped the
class because it was soooo boooring.  It was geared toward the biggest
moron in the class.  That guy should have been culled from the herd.  As
a result, I never took another computer class.  I don't feel like I
missed much by getting a real-world education instead of an academic one.
Maybe it pays to find a CS department that specializes in the area you're
interested in.  I would think that OSU would be much more linux-oriented,
being a key datacenter in the linux universe.

Carlos Konstanski