

Open source in higher education - why not? - michaeltwofish
http://www.imperialwicket.com/open-source-in-higher-education-why-not

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fendrak
"How is it that a CS major pays tens of thousands of dollars for a degree, and
has little to no concept of version control, project roles, design
documentation, functional specs, or a bug tracker?"

Simple: this isn't what Computer Science is about! A fundamental misconception
about computer science seems to be that is _is_ software engineering. This
couldn't be further from the truth. CS is about algorithms: their efficiency,
their provable correctness, and their applicability to actual problems. None
of that necessitates version control.

Dijkstra said, "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is
about telescopes." It seems to me that version control, bug trackers, and
wikis are about _software_ , not Computer Science. These things are important,
to be sure, but they're not Computer Science.

~~~
imperialWicket
You make a valid point, and I probably should have centered more around CS
majors seeking software development positions. I have not investigated this,
but I have to assume that a large percentage of CS majors end up working in
software development at some point or other; thus it seems a slight
modification to the CS major could prove fruitful.

This also touches on the ever-sensitive recruiter/hiring manager issues. So
many recruiters seeking a software developer have a mandatory checkbox that
indicates Computer Science degree; which (as you point out), just is not an
appropriate fit; but why not?

Also, Dijkstra was a bright guy, but I don't think the distinction between
Computer Science and computers is at stake here. There are plenty of skilled
software engineers who couldn't replace RAM if their project depended on it.
However, I don't think the jump from the theory and foundation of computer
science to software development techniques is a large one. Wikipedia (citing
numerous sources) calls Computer Science - the study of the theoretical
foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for
their implementation and application in computer systems. I think your CS
distinction is the first clause - and I think it's important. Nonetheless, my
point falls into the second clause, and learning the "practical techniques for
their implementation" seems more economical for most individuals.

