[aklug] Re: AKLUG and others

Lol-I had most of that included in HS programming class-could not get
any buy in from district as they focus on AP (ie the worst of java)
and "web design" and such at KCC, code for learn very little about HTML.

In talking to a CS teacher at a small outside college, they were very
excited about my focus on simulating the real world client,boss,serf
paradigm, lol, as they were realizing their kids were not prepared.

On the other hand, I did a stint at a small tech focused program, and
I'd have to say they were so focused on certs that many of their grads
could not see forest for the trees.

On Mar 5, 2010, at 8:55 AM, Christopher Howard <choward@indicium.us>
wrote:

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> Royce Williams wrote:
>> Shane Spencer said, on 03/05/2010 07:22 AM:
>>> On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Christopher Howard <choward@indicium.us
>>> > wrote:
>>>> I'd go so far to say: if you took just about any energetic,
>>>> self-motivated young programmer, put him in a house with an
>>>> Internet
>>>> connection, and gave him the financial means to do nothing but
>>>> study
>>>> programming on his own for four years, he would become a
>>>> programming
>>>> genius and make any UAF CS graduate look like a drop-out script-
>>>> kiddie.
>>>> And heck, I wouldn't mind trying that myself, but unfortunately I
>>>> have
>>>> not yet found a backer. So I learn what I can in my spare time
>>>> (a.k.a.,
>>>> breaks from my regular homework.)
>>
>> I've seen the code generated by self-taught "programming geniuses"
>> who
>> have spent years coding without realizing that programming is for
>> human
>> readability, that cleverness is the enemy of maintainability, and
>> that
>> the perfect is the enemy of the good.
>>
>> Give somebody an interesting problem to solve (or help them to
>> think of
>> one of their own. Ground them in some basic best practices.
>> Occasionally point out ways to make the code more clear or more
>> efficient.
>>
>> But don't grow them in a vacuum. Even the ones with native clue will
>> waste a lot of time reinventing many, many wheels. A little "doing
>> it
>> the hard way" is educational, and writing Yet Another Templating
>> Enging
>> for PHP may also teach you a few things ... but a little initial
>> guidance and some true mentoring can really jump-start someone's
>> programmer-fu enlightenment.
>>
>> Some of that homework is trying to tell you this. While some of it
>> does
>> a better job than others, it's like finding out at 25 that your dad
>> is
>> smarter than you thought he was when you were 15. :-)
>>
>> Don't get me wrong; some CS can be bad, especially in the hands of
>> bad
>> instructors. But there are also some giants on whose shoulders you
>> can
>> stand if you can peer through the occasional curriculum cruft to
>> recognize the opportunity when you see it.
>>
>> Royce
>> ---------
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>> with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
>>
>
> Well, of course, "initial guidance and some true mentoring" is great.
> But once again, my experience in reality: What "best practices" have I
> been taught by my CS instructors? OOP? Already knew about it. Code
> isolation? Was already a fan of it. Readability, comments, and
> documentation? Did it when my instructors told me it wasn't required.
>
> Good group programming practices? Not one of my instructors taught
> me /a
> thing/ about version control systems. (Learned SVN and Git on my own
> initiative.) FOSS ideals? Only have had one instructor so far who is
> demonstrably a FOSS idealist.
>
> "Some of that homework is trying to tell you this" you say? Oh yeah, I
> learned a ton from that tic-tac-toe exercise. This week, my assignment
> is to write my first pThreads program. (I wrote a whole pThreads-based
> application on my own last year.)
>
> I'm not advocating "growing them in a vacuum." I'm just saying that
> with
> a decent high-speed internet connection, any Joe Blow could learn /
> way/
> more about /good/ programming through online reading, forums, e-mail
> lists, and personal practice in four years than he would through the
> equivalent time in a CS program.
>
> Aside: I think it is very hard to learn high-level mathematics outside
> of a classroom, which can be useful for scientific programmer or in
> some
> library design work. You can actually get that, though, without
> being in
> the CS program.
>
> Aside 2: I think "on the job" is a great way to learn programming as
> well. I got a ton of knowledge being forced to learn new things inside
> my work environment. Typical pattern was: Get to a new stage in the
> project, find out you need to do something you don't know how to do,
> google it (or post it), program it, and then start over. I'm real
> fortunate to have been able to work as a student programmer.
>
> - --
> Christopher Howard
> http://indicium.us
> http://theologia.indicium.us
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Received on Fri Mar 5 09:07:35 2010