If you're thinking about CompSci at UIUC...
I cannot recommend Mike Heath strongly enough as a prof. Outstandingly clear lectures with great notes and superb examples make even hard material seem simple. I spent almost 12 years in college (all the way, baby) and Mike's CS350 was the single best class I took.
Oh, and nice cluster.
Oh, and nice cluster.
Comments
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Who spends 12 years in college? I hope you meant University, and that you have some higher degrees.
12 years in college?
and you can't figure out where to put a post?
<cough>, <cough> <waste of money>, <cough>, <cough>
Originally posted by TednDi
12 years in college?
and you can't figure out where to put a post?
<cough>, <cough> <waste of money>, <cough>, <cough>
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I screwed up and clicked the wrong button. If anyone needs me, I'll be dangling from this noose in the corner.
Originally posted by jimhill
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I screwed up and clicked the wrong button. If anyone needs me, I'll be dangling from this noose in the corner.
all birth is painful!
Welcome!
Originally posted by TednDi
all birth is painful!
Welcome!
Thanks. For the record, that paean to Mike Heath was supposed to be in the thread about UIUC's new XServe megamachine, of which he's the jefe.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Who spends 12 years in college? I hope you meant University, and that you have some higher degrees.
I did. I went to school part time from '92 until Spring '04. Got a 2 year degree in accounting, then a 4 year degree in CS.
You'd be surprised how many full time workers like me get their degrees part time in the evenings and on weekends.
Thank god it's finally over.
Their undergraduate department, while highly-ranked, does a horrible job at instructing students. For the few good instructors out there, I can name at least ten who aren't. What good is being able to tell me if a problem is NP-complete if you can't hack out a simple C function?
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Who spends 12 years in college? I hope you meant University, and that you have some higher degrees.
erm, tutors - did I win anything?
Originally posted by Majuki
If you're thinking about CS at UIUC wanting to learn how to program, you will graduate with a CS degree at UIUC wanting to learn how to program.
Their undergraduate department, while highly-ranked, does a horrible job at instructing students. For the few good instructors out there, I can name at least ten who aren't. What good is being able to tell me if a problem is NP-complete if you can't hack out a simple C function?
The sign of a good CS program is one that teaches you everything about programming and computer science, not one that tests or instructs you on how to program various languages which you can learn from a book on a weekend. Should I complain that Podunk University doesn't teach Ruby or Objective-C or Python or PostGRE SQL?
The point is that you should be learning how to use different languages on your own time, not expecting them to actually teach it to you. The degree in computer science is definitely worth it. It is definitely not a degree in software engineering or in programming certain languages.
Originally posted by g3pro
The sign of a good CS program is one that teaches you everything about programming and computer science, not one that tests or instructs you on how to program various languages which you can learn from a book on a weekend. Should I complain that Podunk University doesn't teach Ruby or Objective-C or Python or PostGRE SQL?
The point is that you should be learning how to use different languages on your own time, not expecting them to actually teach it to you. The degree in computer science is definitely worth it. It is definitely not a degree in software engineering or in programming certain languages.
Agree 100%. A database class should teach you Entity-Relationship, Semantic Object Modeling & the different forms of database normalization. It should not be about the details involved with setting up tables in Access or other RDMS software.
Likewise, CS classes should be teaching you about linked lists, trees, hashes, graphs, OOP, and search & sort functions as well as algorithm analysis. Although I would say that CS classes should include programming in C plus an OOP oriented language (Java, C++, etc.) and assembly because ASM teaches you how CPUs tick. C is important because most device drivers are written in C and much *NIX functionality is based in C. Plus, languages such as Java, C++, Obj-C's syntax is derived from C.