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What every computer science major should know (2011)

matt.might.net

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Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#71

Suggested revisions: - More on databases (including non-relational). We all need to know a lot of this for day-to-day work yet it but it barely made the list. - More on writing clean, readable code (this isn't on anyone's list, damn it!) How to name variables appropriately, how to comment, how to not write 150-character lines, etc. Fail them if they can't produce code that other students can quickly read. - Corporate…

Any book to recommend to learn Corporate survival skills, and writing clean code?

John Sonmez's Soft Skills has a decent section on surviving corporate life. http://amzn.to/1zLdIWf

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#72
post #30

I graduated 10 years ago and never used calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, or physics in my job. I'm not saying this to say they aren't useful. But does anyone find them generally useful for their job? If so, what for? I'd like to know what I'm missing here, if anything. I don't want to go through a refresher just to forget it in another couple of years.

[deleted]

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#74
This seems like a complete counterpoint to this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9486391

Being self-taught, different experiences bring different problem-solving approaches and not _everyone_ has the need to know Haskell or Racket to self-identify as a programmer.

This is exactly the kind of article that prevent people to consider a software engineering career.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#75

Suggested revisions: - More on databases (including non-relational). We all need to know a lot of this for day-to-day work yet it but it barely made the list. - More on writing clean, readable code (this isn't on anyone's list, damn it!) How to name variables appropriately, how to comment, how to not write 150-character lines, etc. Fail them if they can't produce code that other students can quickly read. - Corporate…

Any book to recommend to learn Corporate survival skills, and writing clean code?

The rules of work.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Work-Expanded-Edition/dp/013...

For writing clean code, at least maybe start with the Python style guide.

https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#76

Concerning visualization I'd rather recommend Wilkinson's "The Grammar of Graphics" instead of Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", since the former contains much more practical examples and advice.

Thanks for the reference. I was rather disappointed with Tufte's works, given all the hype. There were too many specialised "arty" graphs, and not enough standardised methods.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#77
post #30

I graduated 10 years ago and never used calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, or physics in my job. I'm not saying this to say they aren't useful. But does anyone find them generally useful for their job? If so, what for? I'd like to know what I'm missing here, if anything. I don't want to go through a refresher just to forget it in another couple of years.

I use them all everyday... but then again I work for a Naval Architecture company writing CFD software so thats not exactly typical.

Re: What every computer science major should know (2011)

#78
The author is trying to shove too many things into a CS curriculum that just don't belong there. CS is for studying the theory and nature of computation, so why is cutting and crimping a network cable on the list? System administration, user experience design? No way. This isn't a vocational program to get someone a job, it's Computer Science!
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