Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I simply meant the following:* I will appreciate a copy of your response on the
differences between computer science, technology, etc, be it off-list or
on-list (if moderators approve).* I'll appreciate Lamar's too, and the outcome
from his University (if available).
Just to provide context, I'm from computer science (CSC); I encounter very
strange views of CSC, IT, ICT, etc. (e.g., CSC is of Engineering and has no
place in general [secondary] education or that IT skills are sufficient for
CSC); and typically feel I and the other party(ies) are from different planets.
William.
On Tuesday, February 23, 2016 9:29 AM, Yasha Karant <[email protected]>
wrote:
Apologies, but I do not understand the "+1"; is this approval to post
additional commentary on this matter, or, again, is this discussion not
suitable for this list? I did not initiate the matter of the ACM view or
curricular recommendations, in contrast to that of an information technology
approach; but there seem to be fundamental misconceptions concerning the fields
of computer science and engineering in the commentary, just as I have met some
"applied" physicists who have misconceptions about fundamental physics (e.g.,
high energy physics and general relativity). (I mention fundamental physics
because that is the basic reason for the existence of both Fermilab and CERN --
at both institutions, EL is the operating environment to enable the research,
rather than DEC VMS of a previous epoch. Those in the EL community gain from
this use.)
For Lamar, who evidently has looked at my not-recently-updated academic home
page, the item you mention is posted there from another source (I do not have
any graphics artists to support my work, and do not have the spare time to do
the stick figure material you see) that I thought was credited. I use this
introduction to AES (and cryptography in general), along with a Conan Doyle
short story, as my part of the "dog and pony show" my department does on an
annual basis to recruit high school students to come to our ABET accredited
programs as undergraduate majors. If a person cannot handle mathematics,
including that behind encryption, then, regrettably, computer science and
engineering probably is not a good fit (nor would physics be). When I teach a
course involving encryption, I cover it with greater depth than what you see in
the cartoon -- but I still have the students read the cartoon to get some
background before I teach the mathematics and then the cryptography.
On 02/22/2016 11:29 AM, William Shu wrote:
Yasha/Lamar + 1 for your views on these comparisons, and Lamar's university's
conclusions (and justifications thereto) when done, on or off list.
William.
On Monday, February 22, 2016 6:54 PM, Lamar Owen <[email protected]> wrote:
On 02/22/2016 11:50 AM, Yasha Karant wrote:
> would it be appropriate for me to post a response? The differences
> are deep and fundamental.
>
I can't answer that; a moderator would need to. I would personally
welcome a direct e-mail with the explanation myself, as my .edu is
currently investigating 'CS' curricula (where 'CS' is the
Google/Microsoft version and not the ACM version of 'CS').
And for the list, one of the more fascinating things you are likely to
ever read is Yasha Karant's 'A Stick Figure Guide to the Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES)' which is available at
http://www.csci.csusb.edu/ykarant/cryptography/aes-cartoon.pdf ; I
certainly found it interesting.
My paragraph was simply there to let you know that there are probably
many more IT folk here than CS folk, and IT folk tend to have a very
hands-on and practical 'here's the standard way to do it' answer and an
eye towards maintainability, and all of that is just a part of the IT
mindset. Neither is the more correct mindset; the mindsets are just
different. A CIS-mindset is yet even more different, but that's not
nearly as well represented here, nor are the CE or SE mindsets, but the
IT mindset is very much predominant here. As well, it was to serve to
let the list as a whole know that there are different mindsets out there
that are very different from the typical sysadmin IT-centric mindset.
