11–20 of 53 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why isn't it?
What's important is whether this person has any important skills that you care about. Also, it's quite possible to get by under Windows without knowing anything about tar files.
This is a statement telling me what the comp-sci is not doing:
- not interested in "systems" by not downloading installing free operating systems & servers
- not interested in software "tools" by not using free software compilers downloading new & interesting code to sample and understand
- not interested in "making things" because a lot of software is still delivered as source code wrapped in tar.
- just plain not interested
From physicists to chemists, archaeologists to biologists people in science use, hack and develop their own tools on computers to solve their problems and would most likely encounter tar.
$ tar -zxvf foo.tar.gz
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_(file_format)
What greatly disturbs me is his choice of text editor. Notepad? Seriously?! If you've only programmed with IDEs or Notepad, that is a serious problem. I love vi, and am competent in emacs, but even in a Windows environment he should go for Notepad++ or something...
Reminds me of a quote from one of the most famous Computer Scientists, who was really a mathematician:
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - E. W. Dijkstra (1930 - 2002)
What other fields of study require this sort of initiative outside of the classroom? Is it enough for a chemist to go to class and complete the homework?
I can't think of any field where curiosity is as important as in computer science and where the classroom is so insufficient.
Long answer: Not always. Large and fascinating branches of CS has nothing to do with computers. A programmer looking to work on UNIX-based file systems should know what a .tar file is.
A commitment to GUI interfaces (and general mouse love) and not knowing .tar files probably just means the person had only seen Windows. I'd say the average child will take a week of dedicated learning before OK at using command line/Linux-based OS's. It would probably be a good idea to have a little intro-course to people who haven't seen Linux (kind of like a summary of OS class in college) at your company to catch these people up.
One of the things that bothers me most about the snobbier computer enthusiasts is how much pride they take in their curiosity, even if what they learn isn't all that impressive - it would take less than a minute to explain .tar file is to a degree more thorough than understood by half of the people who use them.
Computer Science can be taught without a student ever having used a computer; it's a branch of mathematics. Would you expect a mathematician to know what a .tar file is? Reminds me of a quote from one of the most famous Computer Scientists, who was really a mathematician: "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - E. W. Dijkstra (1930 - 2002)
I would imagine that a comp sci department where they never reach a point where the "rubber meets the road" is not worth the trouble.
Interesting. To become a competent programmer, a person has to spend a significant amount of time exploring and learning all of the nuances involved. What other fields of study require this sort of initiative outside of the classroom? Is it enough for a chemist to go to class and complete the homework? I can't think of any field where curiosity is as important as in computer science and where the classroom is so insu…
I'm not worried about him not knowing what a tar file is - fine, he likes Windows, whatever. What greatly disturbs me is his choice of text editor. Notepad? Seriously?! If you've only programmed with IDEs or Notepad, that is a serious problem. I love vi, and am competent in emacs, but even in a Windows environment he should go for Notepad++ or something...