Why aren't we all speaking LISP now?

Neil Benn neil.benn at cambridgeantibody.com
Tue May 15 06:30:18 EDT 2001


Hello,

            I'm from the UK and the way in which you were taught Andy is
exactly the way I was taught (around 5 years ago) - loadsa people complained
about not being taught C++/java (we used eiffel as an example language) but
a good ground in OO methodology, design and programming far outweighs being
taught Pyhton, Perl, Java, C++, <insert whichever language you think is the
bee's knees>.

    This is the reason why arguments over which language is better than
another makes me chuckle (I cut out the best quotes and e-mail them to my
office! - OK, I know I should be doing work).

Cheers,

Neil Benn
Automation Informatics Scientist
CaT

"Andy Todd" <atodd at spam.free.email.com> wrote in message
news:Xns909D8B6323177atodddexterpinioncom at 203.2.194.51...
> Laura Creighton <lac at cd.chalmers.se> wrote in
> <mailman.989409253.7945.python-list at python.org>:
>
> [Major snippage]
> >
> >What sort of teaching did the rest of you that took computer science
> >courses get?
>
> Well, I feel qualified to answer this question because I've got a degree
in
> Management and Computer Science. Which, if I'm honest, qualifies me to be
> able to understand the rubbish both computer scientists and management
> speak ;-)
>
> However, The discussion is an interesting one but has one *major*
> presumption; that the study of computer science is the study of
> programming.
>
> The only programming course I took during my degree course was
Introduction
> to COBOL (for *$%@@'s sake!) and even then we had to submit all of our
> course work as written source code listings. Actual use of a computer was
> not required, in fact it was positively discouraged amongst
undergraduates.
>
> Now, ten or so years later I make my living in IT and (allegedly) do a lot
> of development (i.e programming) work. I can still converse with
> developers, management and business people largely due to the firm
> grounding I had at University in the concepts of information technology.
>
> Never once did we discuss the merits of LISP vs Python vs C vs Assembler,
> rather I studied the 'Concepts and Paradigms of Computer Languages'. Not
> for us Oracle vs Sybase vs Informix vs DB2, but 'Principles of Database
> Systems' and 'Advanced Database Systems' [ hetergeneous databases that
will
> encapsulate relational, hierarchical, object and sequential database
> concepts anyone? ].
> As I've said, I make my living (largely) as a programmer but every
> programming language (tool) that I use for my work has been learnt on the
> job (through formal training as well as the hard way). I bring knowledge,
> experience and design savvy, they provide the toolkit.
>
> Having said that, Python is the only language I have taken time out to
> learn by myself and I regret not a minute of it. Now, if I could just
> persuade my clients to stop using some of the technologies they currently
> (ab)use and to wake up and smell the 21st century I'd be a very happy
> bunny, but that's another thread ...
>
> As a final observation, is it possible that the approach to education
> differs between the US and, say, Europe? At my university in the UK the
> emphasis was not on rote learning (like school and US undergraduate
courses
> <duck>) but on getting to grips with the fundamental tenets of the subject
> you studied. I must admit to not making sense of some of this stuff until
> *many* years later, but when the 'aha' moments came they reassured my
faith
> that my education wasn't completely wasted.
>
> >
> >Laura Creighton
> >lac at cd.chalmers.se
> >
>
> Regards,
> Andy
> --
> Content free posts a speciality





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