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Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

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Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#31

You should invert the question: since EVERYONE forgets all of this CS stuff then perhaps teaching this CS stuff to us programmers is a complete waste of our time in the 1st place? So it's not YOU who is "wrong": it's the universities who have it backwards and are disconnected from the real world work that programmers do.

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Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#32

You should invert the question: since EVERYONE forgets all of this CS stuff then perhaps teaching this CS stuff to us programmers is a complete waste of our time in the 1st place? So it's not YOU who is "wrong": it's the universities who have it backwards and are disconnected from the real world work that programmers do.

I don't think it's a waste. Some people going into web development, some into compiler design, some into database optimisation, some into IT management, some into AI, some into 3d game development etc etc. CS is a broad subject. It's pretty much like studying general science in college.

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#33
In some specializations of programming, you're going to need a lot of those things. For instance, working with game engines, scientific simulations, image or signal processing, finance, or simply making the base software and libraries that other people use, can involve a lot of CS.

In larger corporations, the programming is often much higher level, and consists more of stringing together libraries and frameworks and entire systems so that they fulfill a business purpose. Even simple programs can take hundreds of megabytes of memory and have tens or hundreds of dependencies beyond anyone's control.

If you want to keep practicing your algorithm skills, you might try something like https://projecteuler.net/ , which is very mathy, or https://checkio.org/ , which is a bit more user-friendly, and get some practice there. As for OS theory, there are always open-source operating systems one can contribute to, though I suspect many of them would consume a lot of a person's time.

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#34

You should invert the question: since EVERYONE forgets all of this CS stuff then perhaps teaching this CS stuff to us programmers is a complete waste of our time in the 1st place? So it's not YOU who is "wrong": it's the universities who have it backwards and are disconnected from the real world work that programmers do.

I don't think it's a waste. Some people going into web development, some into compiler design, some into database optimisation, some into IT management, some into AI, some into 3d game development etc etc. CS is a broad subject. It's pretty much like studying general science in college.

Then why do we not study debugging, naming, maintenance, reading code etc... specifically?

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#35
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's a waste. Some people going into web development, some into compiler design, some into database optimisation, some into IT management, some into AI, some into 3d game development etc etc. CS is a broad subject. It's pretty much like studying general science in college.

Then why do we not study debugging, naming, maintenance, reading code etc... specifically?

There needs to be an entire class devoted to working with Product Managers without killing anyone...

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#36

You should invert the question: since EVERYONE forgets all of this CS stuff then perhaps teaching this CS stuff to us programmers is a complete waste of our time in the 1st place? So it's not YOU who is "wrong": it's the universities who have it backwards and are disconnected from the real world work that programmers do.

No, the universities are right. We need academia to advance our knowledge, this also includes teaching.

The programmers should take one level or so below that level of education (which has different names depending on where you live).

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#37

You should invert the question: since EVERYONE forgets all of this CS stuff then perhaps teaching this CS stuff to us programmers is a complete waste of our time in the 1st place? So it's not YOU who is "wrong": it's the universities who have it backwards and are disconnected from the real world work that programmers do.

I think in every decent university you get to choose most of the courses, so you can fit it to your interests. Now it can be that somebody did the wrong choice, and now does not find a job where what he learned is useful. I think the university’s curriculum is not bad as it is. More specifically, you do not need to be a CS graduate to be a programmer.

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a CS prof of mine once said, studying CS to be a programmer is like studying architecture to be a house builder...

Poor comparison, imo.

I'd probably suggest that its like studying physics to become a plumber.

Note that I based this analogy on being a CS graduate myself and also working for a while for a chap whose academic speciality was mathematical modelling of things like water hammer.

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#39
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's a waste. Some people going into web development, some into compiler design, some into database optimisation, some into IT management, some into AI, some into 3d game development etc etc. CS is a broad subject. It's pretty much like studying general science in college.

Then why do we not study debugging, naming, maintenance, reading code etc... specifically?

Because in most universities it's a Computer Science degree, not a Software Engineering degree. I suppose in those universities that offer SE degree, they have more courses focusing on programming and managing software projects.

Re: Ask HN: Working as a software engineer for 5 years, I've forgotten all CS stuff

#40
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's a waste. Some people going into web development, some into compiler design, some into database optimisation, some into IT management, some into AI, some into 3d game development etc etc. CS is a broad subject. It's pretty much like studying general science in college.

Then why do we not study debugging, naming, maintenance, reading code etc... specifically?

Because those are all closely tied to the specific programming language, editor, complier etc that you use, which will change repeatedly over your career.
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