Studying Computer Science at Home?
Jack asks: "My fianceé would like to study computer science at home, with a view to becoming a software engineer. She is disabled, so it is hard for her to attend a course at an actual college or university. She completed high school, getting good qualifications in maths, but has no formal training in computer science, as yet. Can anyone recommend good home study courses for her? (We are in the UK)."
get that bitch some legs and get her out of the house! am i right, fellas? eh? eh?
Is computer science her passion? Seriously.
Does she wake up at 4:00AM and scribble down a bunch of indented words and punctuation on some graph paper she keeps by the bedside?
In the middle of some other activity, like watching TV or eating lunch, does she say in an uncomfortably loud voice "A HA!" and if you ask about it she mutters something about combining hashing with tree sorting?
Does she have strong feelings about vi vs. emacs? If not, did she at least write her own text editor at some point?
Does she type so fast and bursty that the keyclicks seem to be forming musical passages?
Does she just stare at leafless trees in the autumn, kind of tilting her head trying to get a good view of it, or position herself so that part of one tree overlaps another?
Does she organize things in a counter-intuitive manner, i.e. clothes closets and drawers are not arranged by color or fabric, but the order in which the items are put on?
Does she have musical talent, like to draw weird abstract drawings, or some other intracate skill?
Did she ever surprise you with a deep grasp of knowledge on a technical subject like physics or genetics?
Does she have a collection of computers from the 1980's or some assembly code printed out with tractor holes still attached and the smear from a chain printer dragging across the page?
Does she read a lot of newsgroups that start with comp.lang.something?
Does she want to do this badly enough that she would be willing post her own "Ask Slashdot" all by herself w/o your help?