Comments on: What Else to Learn at University http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/ Jeff Staddon on Business and Technology Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:41:26 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Anonymous Acquaintance http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-633 Anonymous Acquaintance Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:29:26 +0000 http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-633 Well, I don't know about "top notch", although I would probably agree with "decent" or "good"...but then maybe I just had high expectations. And interestingly enough, my difference of opinion with you on this point is precisely because I did what this post recommends and got most of my knowledge/experience/abilities outside the classroom. Well, I don’t know about “top notch”, although I would probably agree with “decent” or “good”…but then maybe I just had high expectations. And interestingly enough, my difference of opinion with you on this point is precisely because I did what this post recommends and got most of my knowledge/experience/abilities outside the classroom.

]]> By: LKM http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-325 LKM Fri, 05 Oct 2007 06:40:16 +0000 http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-325 > "Watch out for teaching languages." Most universities teach classes in all kinds of languages. What you call "teaching languages" are simply languages that implement fundamental programming concepts in very clean ways: Eiffel, Pascal, Oberon, Prolog and so on are great for learning concepts. And guess what, you go to Unversity to learn concepts, not programming languages. If you've studied Computer Science and learned to program in Eiffel, learning Java is a two-day job. You already know all the concepts, you've just got to become familiar with the syntax and with where to find information about the libraries. Of course, becoming proficient in a language is another matter; proficiency equals knowledge of libraries, and the Java libraries are a huge mess; you're only going to learn that on a real job, anyway. If your University has no classes that are thaught in C or Java or C# or C++ or Perl or Ruby (and really, most do at least have classes in C and Java), you can and should learn them on your own. But don't put too much weight on doing so. If you studied computer science and apply for a job that requires knowledge of a particular language, the employer has no clue and you probably don't want to work for him anyways. > “Watch out for teaching languages.”

Most universities teach classes in all kinds of languages. What you call “teaching languages” are simply languages that implement fundamental programming concepts in very clean ways: Eiffel, Pascal, Oberon, Prolog and so on are great for learning concepts. And guess what, you go to Unversity to learn concepts, not programming languages.

If you’ve studied Computer Science and learned to program in Eiffel, learning Java is a two-day job. You already know all the concepts, you’ve just got to become familiar with the syntax and with where to find information about the libraries. Of course, becoming proficient in a language is another matter; proficiency equals knowledge of libraries, and the Java libraries are a huge mess; you’re only going to learn that on a real job, anyway.

If your University has no classes that are thaught in C or Java or C# or C++ or Perl or Ruby (and really, most do at least have classes in C and Java), you can and should learn them on your own. But don’t put too much weight on doing so. If you studied computer science and apply for a job that requires knowledge of a particular language, the employer has no clue and you probably don’t want to work for him anyways.

]]> By: Timmy Jose http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-323 Timmy Jose Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:05:12 +0000 http://jeffspost.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/what-else-to-learn-at-university/#comment-323 Nice post mate. I agree entirely with the "database skills" part. That feeling became yet more enforced after watching the youTube Scalability Google Techtalk. Useful post for someone just graduating from college. Nice post mate. I agree entirely with the “database skills” part. That feeling became yet more enforced after watching the youTube Scalability Google Techtalk. Useful post for someone just graduating from college.

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