kirby urner wrote:
On 2/26/06, *Brad Miller* <bmiller@luther.edu <mailto:bmiller@luther.edu>> wrote:
Data structures and algorithms may not be exciting (for Kay), but they are as fundamental to computing as cells are to biology.
I think the goal is to get into these quickly and painlessly (Python helps!) but not make 'em the "be all end all" i.e. these are tools, means to an end, but the object is to get work done on some project of immediate import and interest. That's unlikely to be either data structures or algorithms UNLESS you're a CS major or other kind of math nerd. Nothing wrong with that, but we're not prejudiced. We're *happy* to equip students with a lot of CS savvy and send them on their merry way: to be graphic designers, to be cartoonists, to be vampire slayers or what have you.
Well we are talking about CS courses. So I hear you reluctantly agreeing that there this it is appropriately core curricula. The first 2 words of the title of Brad's book is 'Problem Solving' - implying a "means to an ends". What else? Kay? You admire him. I judge his public persona harshly. He is paraphrases by an admirer: ""nothing exciting about computing today has to do with data structures and algorithms""" I don't think there is *nothing* to that statement. But his way is to overstate things, not state things. I don't think that is appropriate for someone claiming to represent the high order of any branch of science - as he so claims. Art
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