CSE 306, or Operating Systems IN JAVA

Most operating system programming is just about knowing the algorithms involved. You don''t need a low-level language to learn algorithms...

And as for companies looking for high-level graduates, that''s simply because if you get a graduate, you at least know you''re not getting a complete moron. You really can''t figure out if someone is right for your company in a one hour interview, and a degree is just one more way of separating the good from the bad.

If I had my way, I''d have all of you shot!

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codeka.com - Just click it.

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Original post by kill
You come out of the university with worthless knowledge instead of a strong base that lets you learn new emerging technologies on the fly.

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Care to explain this statement? Maybe you''re just not very good at seeing the big picture?

No, I don''t let the trees keep me from seeing the forest. I see the big picture.

What I meant is this. My company starts a new project that uses Java and I never heard of it before, no problem. I pick up a book and in a week or two I''m programming in Java. Tomorrow they move me to a C# project and I don''t know C#, no problem, I pick up a book and in a couple of weeks I''m working with C#. In a year I get hired to another company that needs to write COM components in C++ and I have no clue how COM works, no problem I pick up a book and in a couple of weeks I''m writing COM components. Get the pattern?

As opposed to "starting tomorrow you''ll have to implement COM components in C++" - "umm... we never learned that, I don''t know how to use COM, can you sign me up for a course in it or move me to a Java project?"

In computer science you cannot learn something very well and expect this knowledge to hold tomorrow, a week from now or a year from now. What you *should* be learning in a university is strong basis that lets you learn new things on your own later. This is what I meant by my statement above.

Yeah, a good program will teach you the principles of computing in general, and not very specific details that only apply in some cases. The idea should be to make great programmers/compuer scientists, instead of great C++/Java/C#...programmers. Once you learn how certain things work, like programming languages, picking up a new one is very easy. I picked up Ada95 almost entirely from the reference manual, because I understand how syntax and semantics work. If I just knew how to program in C++, then it would be much more difficult.

I suspect the idea of the OS in Java course is to teach you the basic OS algorithms and principles and not force you to look at low level C and assembly.

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Original post by kill
What I meant is this. My company starts a new project that uses Java and I never heard of it before, no problem. I pick up a book and in a week or two I''m programming in Java. Tomorrow they move me to a C# project and I don''t know C#, no problem, I pick up a book and in a couple of weeks I''m working with C#. In a year I get hired to another company that needs to write COM components in C++ and I have no clue how COM works, no problem I pick up a book and in a couple of weeks I''m writing COM components. Get the pattern?

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So you''re saying that the courses you are currently taking are not providing you with enough of a foundation to be able to pick up new things quickly?

In the first five minutes of my very first university computer science course, the professor said something to the effect of "we will not be teaching you programming languages, we will be teaching you fundamental concepts that form the basis of everything else ... any self-respecting programmer can learn the syntax of a new language over the weekend and start using a language within a week." Or something like that.

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Original post by kill
As opposed to "starting tomorrow you''ll have to implement COM components in C++" - "umm... we never learned that, I don''t know how to use COM, can you sign me up for a course in it or move me to a Java project?"

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If any university computer science graduate were to act like that I''d say that they should have their diploma revoked. The only people I know who act like that are stupid people, old people who are afraid to change the status quo, lazy people, or people who graduated from technical colleges (i.e. not a real computer science program).

There is no better gauge of the quality of a university program than its own alumni. If you only see inept people coming from your program or university, then you should consider that a serious warning (irrespective of your own talents, you can''t always dictate how other people will look at you).

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Original post by kill
In computer science you cannot learn something very well and expect this knowledge to hold tomorrow, a week from now or a year from now.

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Now that''s just not true. I''m pretty sure 99% of everything I''ve learned in school won''t magically become bullshit when I leave for industry. This almost seems like a conflict between you and your curriculum: maybe you''re just not learning the things that you want to learn right now? Or perhaps you meant to say that many of the techniques you learn are not readily applicable to real-world problems?

Then again, if you''re convinced that your schooling is so useless then why stay?

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Original post by kill
What you *should* be learning in a university is strong basis that lets you learn new things on your own later. This is what I meant by my statement above.

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This *is* what I learn in university, and I''m sorry if your school doesn''t run its program the same way. Maybe you should look around for another school (seriously)? Any university program which is not strong on fundamentals isn''t a university program: it''s a technical diploma or certificate program.