🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael Dwyer (mdwyer@holly.ColoState.EDU) wrote:

: To be quite honest, I'm a little embarassed that CIS has beautiful
: labs and "Technology Enhanced" classrooms.  I would /really/ like to
: have a class where I can play net-games through the whole session...
: On the other hand, CS doesn't have a 24hr lab (like Engr), and I have
: NEVER had a class in front of a computer.  In CS, we still think 
: overheads and whiteboards are a neat idea!

The biz group does get a lot of slick sexy toys, like the neat
window shades, but they also get some nice useful stuff. I took
the systems analysis class last summer, and got to mess around with
something called Macabe(?) that would take source code input and
spit out stuff about the complexity, paths needed for testing, etc.
I got the idea it was a multi $K package, and it sounded like more
fun than rational rose. Different tools for different jobs.

: I would be /more/ content if CS majors used computers more.  I'm a 
: real hands-on person.  And some of those examples in class would have
: made a lot more sense on a live computer in the front of the room.

I'm not sure I'd agree with you on this one. Personally, I need to type
in a significant amount or I don't get it. I've had books with code on
disk, where the idea is you look at it, compile it, and learn, but I
don't generally retain as much as I do when I bang it out with my own
fingers. I guess spending the extra time with it rolling around my 
head helps.

: But I can hold the jealousy back with a simple thought:  I'm not
: majoring in PowerPoint. :) 

Amen. My take on the CS program is it prepares us to build the tools,
while the CIS program uses these tools to get bigger things done. I'm
sure if this wasn't in the csu.cs group we could get some smoke or
maybe even flames out of the biz group.

A footnote against wintel - a former coworker took a job at Sun, in
marketing, and she had to beg, screem, and jump up and down just
to get an Apple for her publishing layout software. They didn't want
to let her get that much, and they *FORBID* windows.
-- 
                 Mike House 
 Computer Science Colorado State University
Commuting and Telecommuting from Loveland, CO
     http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~house