The problem with this title is that in the reference, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", the character actually has something that's relevant to his travels.
I think that's the joke.
Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
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Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#12A more accurate title would be "Studied Humanities, Will Code". I have a liberal arts degree from Middlebury College where I studied Computer Science, so it shouldn't be too surprising that I will code (and do code full-time professionally).
Similarly, all the CS grads from Berkeley have BA's with lots of general education breadth requirements (EECS students have BS's).
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#13The problem with this title is that in the reference, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", the character actually has something that's relevant to his travels.
Programming is writing.
Programming is to writing what building a machine from basic electronic components to electrically stimulate vocal cords is to speech.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#14Do we really have 10-year-old "ace web programmers" running around?
Not 10 year old ace web programmers, but I have a friend who started coding PHP at age 10 and was doing serious freelance work (making as much as any other seasoned PHP dev) in high school.
Definitely not the same, but getting started at 10 and being proficient at 14 isn't unheard of.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#15The problem with this title is that in the reference, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", the character actually has something that's relevant to his travels.
Programming is writing.
Despite the flurry of Stunk&White analogies, I actually found the two activities to be quite distinct. I think in part because language is much more general (you could say "lose") and because programming exhibit concepts that are nowhere to be found in language (even at the "language" level, programming idioms have little to do with actual idioms).
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#16> If a 10-year-old can become an ace web programmer, why can’t a liberal arts graduate?
Brain plasticity. Next.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#17A more accurate title would be "Studied Humanities, Will Code". I have a liberal arts degree from Middlebury College where I studied Computer Science, so it shouldn't be too surprising that I will code (and do code full-time professionally).
Similarly, all the CS grads from Berkeley have BA's with lots of general education breadth requirements (EECS students have BS's).
If I could afford to continue and get a 4 year CS degree, I'd prefer myself to get a BA, or get a CS degree at a non engineering school.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#18I did this. My undergraduate degrees are in the humanities. I started programming in my late twenties. I also have kids. For anyone in the same spot -- it's not impossible, you'll just have to consistently put in hours to learn, and be open to criticism when you make the inevitable mistakes. That's probably true for most career paths.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#19This is a real pet peeve of mine, but "Liberal Arts" is not synonymous with "Humanities": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liberal%20arts > College or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. ... In modern colleges and universities, the liberal arts include the study of litera…
> Computer science (as distinct from "programming" or "software engineering") is a liberal art!
Arguably, but a BS in Computer Science isn't a Liberal Arts degree, its a science degree that is named that to distinguish it from a Liberal Arts degree (BA, the "Arts" refers to Liberal Arts.)
Of course, if you have a BA in Computer Science, that is a Liberal Arts degree.
Re: Have Liberal Arts Degree, Will Code
#20The problem with this title is that in the reference, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", the character actually has something that's relevant to his travels.
"Have X, Will Y" pre-dates that novel