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• Thursday, September 14, 2006 08:22 AM

  ...and why Susie doesn't understand structured analysis or databases

  Since I came up through comp sci in the late '70s/early 80's, our computer science department required us to do all the math and the low-level programming. They wouldn't teach COBOL, for example; not applicable to comp sci in their opinion, though they taught FORTRAN, Pascal, C, assembly, etc. We had to learn how to bootstrap a PDP-11 from scratch.

  We were also required to take many upper level courses that cross-listed with applied math. And as a woman (and often the only one in the class), it was also disappointing to see how comp sci and mathematics was out of balance between men and women - but that's another issue.

  The one thing I now notice in my middle age is that newer programmer/analysts don't have a grasp of the fundamentals behind what they are coding - exactly what the article pinpoints. It's frustrating to me to have to explain to someone with a comp sci BS how underlying principles of design for databases and languages work. So it seems this is endemic even in some universities, which is frightening. Not to mention the interfaces with the OS and tuning issues - I work in a UNIX environment, but the developers normally code on Microsoft platforms.

  I love the suggestion of an older machine as a tool for my daughter. I'll be surfing on e-Bay today! Thanks for a great article!

  —Eileen Potocnak Arnold Read Eileen Potocnak Arnold's other letters
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