On Sat, Sep 09, 2000 at 11:40:14AM +1100, Matt Allen wrote:
> On the programming side of things, This is what *i* mostly do and
> all I think uni would have done for me is put me back 3-4 years.
> The question I ask is "Could uni have taught me how to write PHP and
> HTML". I guess sort of, maybe in the basics but it still would have
> taken 3-4 years :)
neal stephenson has a good article called "in the beginning was the
command line":
http://cryptonomicon.com/command.zip
(read it, its good)
its completely irrelevant to this discussion, except that he comes up
with a good distinction between computer users:
people who use the interfaces (/abstractions) provided.
people who understand how things work, and provide the interfaces for
those who don't.
neal calls them "eloi" and "morlocks" respectively. (yes, as in "the
time machine")
i've also read a similar (although described completely differently)
distinction given in "the programmer's stone" (do a web search and
read it too, its also good): "packers" are people who learn by storing
and retrieving new facts. "mappers" learn by building a large "map" of
the relationships between everything and extrapolate from there.
we all know that there are those who "get it", and those that
don't. if someone "gets it" they don't learn *a* language, they learn
the general techniques (/idioms) and concepts appropriate to a
particular style of language. learning a new language then becomes
flicking to the appendix on syntax at the back of the relevant
o'reilly.
of course a uni course wouldn't (or shouldn't) teach you "how to write
PHP and HTML". thats not what uni is for.
unfortunately uni's are now filled with packers, since they are by far
the majority. the curricula and funding are controlled by packers who
want to "see results" and don't understand that someone who comes out
of a uni course *shouldn't* know how to do anything specific.
if you still want a "classical" education, you have to go to a uni and
look for it. they are still there if you find the right group of
people, the right subjects and keep yourself suitably distanced from
the actual details of the material being presented. regular
conversations with groups of like-minded people, prompted by the
opinion and explanation of an "expert", is by far the fastest way to
truly learn.
i've worked with a few, and its a very sad thing to meet someone who
"gets it", but hasn't been given the groundwork they need meet their
potential.
don't go to uni to prepare for a job. if that is your expectation, a
short course at TAFE will save you money, time and frustration.
and hire someone who "gets it" over someone who doesn't every single
time. regardless of paper qualifications.
</esoteric>
--
- Gus
("Free software meets Buddhist enlightenment" religion anyone?)
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