Ask Slashdot: What To Tell High-Schoolers About Computer Science?

First time accepted submitter lsllll writes "I got drawn (without my intention) into three 20 minute sessions, talking to high school students about computer science and programming, and am wondering what are some of the things I should talk to them about. I have previously done the same thing for a forty minute period, and all the students wanted to talk about game programming. My only game programming experience dates back to the late '80s and programming a few games (some which ran on top of Novell's network) in Turbo Pascal. Since then I have done lots of database design, web interface programming, and systems configuration and integration. I am pretty fluent with Windows and Linux, but my contemporary programming skills are somewhat limited to Coldfusion, PHP, Javascript, SQL and bash scripts. Should I talk to them about different aspects of computer science, what it's like to work full-time in the computer industry, or do I make the sessions just question and answer, since 20 minutes might not allow me to talk and do question and answer?"

Comments

Tell them this

[gatkinso]

If they are passionate about it it is a fun and rewarding career, with lot's of job opportunities.

They won't get outside much, they will need to stay active after work to not get fat, and that programmer != sys admin.

Don't go for gaming.

[LinuxIsGarbage]

Be sure to tell them that the gaming industry is the worst possible CS career path. Expected 100 hour work weeks for peanuts, and usually not working on fun stuff either. And that testing isn't fun either because it doesn't mean you're playing the game for fun, but instead trying to break it.

Re:Don't go for gaming.

[Surt]

Unfortunately, he's not even right about testing trying to break the game. Mostly testing is following script after script to try to exercise every path through the game. It is truly mind numbing tedious work with an enormous turn over. Burnout average is less than a year (at the 3 large, well-known companies I know for sure).

Quote the Good Book

[Sponge Bath]

Read them some Dilbert cartoons.

math

[spottedkangaroo]

Tell them it's math. Everything else is programming, sysadmining, networking, or otherwise not computer science (which is math).

Re:KISS

[DerekLyons]

You, like most posters here, confuse Computer Science with Information Technology. They aren't the same thing, any more than Materiel Science and Welding is.

Re:Society and CS

[MacGyver2210]

I got heavily into Game Dev during school, and it made for a more fun way to learn intricate programming and neat tricks to get the code to do things you never imagined you'd need. There are some aspects you will need to go deeper into outside of the game mechanic side of things, such as machine architecture and extremely low-level coding, but all of the game-related school programs I have seen include courses for these other fields.

It also gives you a great understanding of the graphics pipeline, 2D/3D math and collisions, physics, and calculus. This means that - while it's not usually necessary - you can build your entire application engine from the ground up if you need to, instead of vaguely understanding how a third-party library or API works.

If you REALLY want to go program, Game Dev is a fun way to learn CS.

(IAACS)