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10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

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Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#21

Post by quanticle »

gaius wrote: post #3

How is any of that computer science ? I mean, is there a list out there for astronomy students that includes, grind your own lenses?

Its not, and that's the point. I've seen computer science students struggle at basic system administration tasks - even things like moving files and directories. I maintain that half the trouble we have deployment is that developers don't know anything about how configuration and setup works in the real world. This list helps to bridge some of that divide by having programmers deploy software, not just build it.

EDIT: I also think astronomy students should grind their own lenses and mirrors, so that they can understand the practical difficulties of building and operating a telescope.

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#22

Post by pavel_lishin »

gaius wrote: post #3

How is any of that computer science ? I mean, is there a list out there for astronomy students that includes, grind your own lenses?

Specifically, grinding lenses for one specific type of telescope designed for looking at once specific thing.

Has everyone forgotten that there's more to computer science than writing a CRUD app with a web interface?

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#23

Post by Caerus »

gaius wrote: post #3

How is any of that computer science ? I mean, is there a list out there for astronomy students that includes, grind your own lenses?

Speaking as a mechanical engineer, experience in fields related to your own, however tangentially, is extremely valuable.

Two example from my career:

I spent two summers working construction on job sites. Running pipe, cutting beams, and building scaffolding are skills I likely will never use again professionally. However, it gave me insight into what people who are directly affected by my work experience. I am now extremely careful to consider what the end users experience. Maybe moving the bolt holes from position X to Y will add 4 hours to my workload, but it will save the installer 30 minutes on every one they put in.

I started in computer engineering. I didn't go very far but thanks to those 2 semesters, my programming skills are miles ahead of many of my peers (although they are still quite primitive). This gives me the ability to write scripts/programs to create functionality that is nonexistant it my field. Sometimes it allows me to work projects that would otherwise be impossible, sometimes it just saves myself or others hours or even days.

I hope this doesn't come across as boastful, my skillset is woefully inadequate in many areas which my peers do have experience.

Neither of those skills were touched on in my engineering curriculum, but learning them made me a much better engineer. I would imagine many of these items, while not "core computer science", would make a CS grad better and more marketable.

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#24

Post by pavel_lishin »

ghurlman wrote: post #8
gaius wrote: post #3

How is any of that computer science ? I mean, is there a list out there for astronomy students that includes, grind your own lenses?

That's the point. There's a general disconnect in a good amount of CS programs between the curriculum and reality. This post is trying to bridge the two. I'd also like to add: 10000 Learn to use source control, use it to store your new LAMP code on Github. 10001 Start studying design: web, graphic, type.

    10010 Work with at least one other person on a software project; bonus points if they are remote.

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#25

Post by pyrhho »

maurits wrote: post #12

Let me compress this list, for those people in CS programs which focus on theoretical/more abstract paradigms, it is useful ( and fun ) to code. SO 10 Write code in for based on on 20 goto 10

Maybe release it at some point? For me, actually shipping things is often the hardest part...

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#27

Post by sanderjd »

natural219 wrote: post #15
JeanPierre wrote: post #13

It's an interesting list, but I do believe it lacks a lot of computer-specific things which I personally think people should do. For example - Build your own computer - Build your own (small) operative system - Build your own programming language would be on my list of things a CS-student should do before graduating, because you will most likely get into problems where knowledge of the three things mentioned above wi…

I wouldn't recommend that EVERY CS student do those. I mean, I would, but you can't expect every person to be able and willing to build any of those things. I think that this list is great in that it's reasonable; none of these things are particulalry hard, but each one of them actually sounds fun and produces something cool.

I assume he means putting together a computer in the sense of constructing one from commodity parts, in which case that one is definitely in line with the rest of the list. The other two are certainly more advanced exercises than the rest, but I think they are absolutely things CS students should be expected to be able to do, though many won't be willing to. Many won't be willing to do the other things on the list either, that's kind of the point of making an inspirational list, isn't it?

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#28

Post by natural219 »

sanderjd wrote: post #27
natural219 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't recommend that EVERY CS student do those. I mean, I would, but you can't expect every person to be able and willing to build any of those things. I think that this list is great in that it's reasonable; none of these things are particulalry hard, but each one of them actually sounds fun and produces something cool.

I assume he means putting together a computer in the sense of constructing one from commodity parts, in which case that one is definitely in line with the rest of the list. The other two are certainly more advanced exercises than the rest, but I think they are absolutely things CS students should be expected to be able to do, though many won't be willing to. Many won't be willing to do the other things on the list ei…

Oh. I read it as, "design and construct your own circuit board." Building your own computer isn't that hard, but I don't know what (if anything) it has to do with computer science / software engineering.

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#29

Post by peregrine »

ghurlman wrote: post #8
gaius wrote: post #3

How is any of that computer science ? I mean, is there a list out there for astronomy students that includes, grind your own lenses?

That's the point. There's a general disconnect in a good amount of CS programs between the curriculum and reality. This post is trying to bridge the two. I'd also like to add: 10000 Learn to use source control, use it to store your new LAMP code on Github. 10001 Start studying design: web, graphic, type.

Whats a good place to start studying for 10001? Say for someone engineering minded.

Re: 10000 things all CS students should do before graduating

#30

Post by metellus »

gaius wrote: post #18
parfe wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think graduating computer science majors go on to do?

That graduating computer scientists often get work as programmers is orthogonal.

...unless you read the title with an implied [to prepare for their job] rather than an implied [to be better at computer science].
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