I've seen this countless times... thankfully, a lot of you have mentioned the same things. This is simply a case of a guy that was a mediocre spaghetti code writing PHP Programmer who took 2 years to learn a more formalized, more structured Programming Language (Ruby) and its MVC oriented Framework who got a little lost along the way and decided to return to what he knows, PHP. Luckily, he is taking with him some of the more structured programming experience he gained along the way and will undoubtedly be a better programmer for the effort.
Is it a waste to take 2 years out of your life and learn better coding practices only to throw it away and go back to a less structured programming language? Yes and No... if he learned something along the way and it makes his PHP code better, more structured then it was a great lesson.
I wish him good luck and I hope others out there reading the Slashdot and Digg Article Titles don't go nuts and drop Ruby on Rails for PHP. Read the article and educate yourself.
Every time the topic comes up people always pull out the "offline" card as if that is just so important. I just can't keep from wondering how many people ever work on their computer in an "offline" mode. Maybe if you use dial-up, but if you do, then online apps such as those from Google are not for you.... not to mention the fact that you must still be in the stone age.
Since moving to broadband years ago, I can't say that I have ever worked "offline" by choice.
I personally see no problem whatsoever in online apps that don't have "offline" counterparts. However, in Googles defense, their Docs and Spreadsheets apps work with file formats compatible with Microsoft Word and OpenOffice and even provide for synchronization to update from your "offline" changes. For photos, Google Picasa works both online and offline and as for E-Mail, I think that is a given, why would you even think of working on E-Mail when you are not connected?
Sorry about that, you are definitely right about Delphi... great RAD language built off of the traditional Pascal (expanded heavily in the OOP area of course). I personally like Delphi. Unfortunately, in the US having Delphi on your resume is a black mark against you (a lot of my friends here in the states have removed Delphi experience from their resume).... not sure why that is because it is much better than VB was back in the pre.NET days (still is) and has kept up quite well with.NET (you can program in.NET using Delphi today). The majority of the Borland (Delphi) programmers helped design the.NET Framework, Visual Studio and the C# language.
BTW, I was a little peeved in college/university because not only did they not teach Visual Basic but they also didn't teach Delphi. I am a C# programmer (since its release) but I programmed in VB professionally for many years.
My brother-in-law programs in Delphi over in Mexico (lots of Delphi shops there) but he has found that he needs to add C# to his arsenal to ensure that his skills remain viable for programming in the US and Canada.
You are definitely right about using books as supplements to any formal education.... heck you don't even need to go to school to learn to program... books and web articles will serve you very well in that respect.
CS is definitely not dead, as someone else pointed out, CS is a "Science" and as long as "Science" isn't dead, CS is not dead, however, in general, I do feel that CS focuses on the wrong things and doesn't fully prepare a student for the "real" world.
Most CS Departments focus on theory, mathematics, robotics and Artificial Intelligence but rarely spend much time on the actual art of Programming. Sure, they attempt to include Computer Programming as part of their curriculum by teaching Pascal (old and unused language) or Java (trying to remain hip in a world that has already forgotten about Java). However, none of the Computer Programming courses taught through CS will prepare their students for "real world" programming.
The Business world needs people that know how to design database driven applications that are not only functional, but look appealing and get the job done. These applications need to be built fast, be modular and easy to update/maintain. CS will teach you how to design a Database System to lay the groundwork for a Database Application but it doesn't focus on making use of the popular Databases out there such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, etc.
CS also doesn't prepare students for the world of RAD (Rapid Application Development). Believe me, I've been programming for 15+ years now and the single most important factor for any business or customer is RAD Development.
To do RAD you need to know how to use RAD tools such as Visual Studio,.NET, Ruby on Rails, etc. CS doesn't teach that sort of stuff. In fact, most Universities refuse to make use of Visual Studio or any technologies by Microsoft so that incredibly limits possibilities of Rapid Development. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people right here on Slashdot complain about how their Universities do not use or endorse Visual Studio. Of course, they sell it in their School Software Stores because the stores on campus at least know what the students want.
Most good programmers skip CS at Universities and go to Community Colleges which are typically more up to date on technologies such as Programming Languages and RAD Tools such as Visual Studio. Believe me, if you want to learn C# which is popular on all main platforms (Windows, Linux and the Mac) or if you want to learn about Ruby, you are not going to get that from a University CS Department.
This means that if you want to make it in the IT world, you really owe it to yourself to skip CS and big Universities (or at least supplement) and go to a Community College for a Programming degree. I have actually done both. I started out in a Community College studying programming and then went on to CS at a University and found that nothing they taught would help me in the professional Programming job I was already doing. So, I moved into MIS which is a little better since it touches on RAD and Management/Business which will help anybody in the "real" world.
I think theory (understanding of algorithms, etc) is important but learning about the tools and programming languages needed for "real world" development are essential.
Computer Science isn't dead but NASA and Lockhead Martin can only hire so many Artificial Intelligence programmers. Otherwise, a Computer Programmer needs to look out for themselves and get their education where it is truly offered (Community College and Tech Schools).
Bill Gates tells us that CS students should be focusing on Bio-Tech and they can surely do that but while we waste our time away in school learning about the "future" all of our jobs are going to the people overseas that know what to do now and that will ensure that the people learning about the "future" of IT at school will not be able to get a job when they get out.
Slashdot Mirror
I've seen this countless times... thankfully, a lot of you have mentioned the same things. This is simply a case of a guy that was a mediocre spaghetti code writing PHP Programmer who took 2 years to learn a more formalized, more structured Programming Language (Ruby) and its MVC oriented Framework who got a little lost along the way and decided to return to what he knows, PHP. Luckily, he is taking with him some of the more structured programming experience he gained along the way and will undoubtedly be a better programmer for the effort.
Is it a waste to take 2 years out of your life and learn better coding practices only to throw it away and go back to a less structured programming language? Yes and No... if he learned something along the way and it makes his PHP code better, more structured then it was a great lesson.
I wish him good luck and I hope others out there reading the Slashdot and Digg Article Titles don't go nuts and drop Ruby on Rails for PHP. Read the article and educate yourself.
Every time the topic comes up people always pull out the "offline" card as if that is just so important. I just can't keep from wondering how many people ever work on their computer in an "offline" mode. Maybe if you use dial-up, but if you do, then online apps such as those from Google are not for you.... not to mention the fact that you must still be in the stone age. Since moving to broadband years ago, I can't say that I have ever worked "offline" by choice. I personally see no problem whatsoever in online apps that don't have "offline" counterparts. However, in Googles defense, their Docs and Spreadsheets apps work with file formats compatible with Microsoft Word and OpenOffice and even provide for synchronization to update from your "offline" changes. For photos, Google Picasa works both online and offline and as for E-Mail, I think that is a given, why would you even think of working on E-Mail when you are not connected?
Sorry about that, you are definitely right about Delphi... great RAD language built off of the traditional Pascal (expanded heavily in the OOP area of course). I personally like Delphi. Unfortunately, in the US having Delphi on your resume is a black mark against you (a lot of my friends here in the states have removed Delphi experience from their resume).... not sure why that is because it is much better than VB was back in the pre .NET days (still is) and has kept up quite well with .NET (you can program in .NET using Delphi today). The majority of the Borland (Delphi) programmers helped design the .NET Framework, Visual Studio and the C# language.
BTW, I was a little peeved in college/university because not only did they not teach Visual Basic but they also didn't teach Delphi. I am a C# programmer (since its release) but I programmed in VB professionally for many years.
My brother-in-law programs in Delphi over in Mexico (lots of Delphi shops there) but he has found that he needs to add C# to his arsenal to ensure that his skills remain viable for programming in the US and Canada.
You are definitely right about using books as supplements to any formal education.... heck you don't even need to go to school to learn to program... books and web articles will serve you very well in that respect.
CS is definitely not dead, as someone else pointed out, CS is a "Science" and as long as "Science" isn't dead, CS is not dead, however, in general, I do feel that CS focuses on the wrong things and doesn't fully prepare a student for the "real" world.
Most CS Departments focus on theory, mathematics, robotics and Artificial Intelligence but rarely spend much time on the actual art of Programming. Sure, they attempt to include Computer Programming as part of their curriculum by teaching Pascal (old and unused language) or Java (trying to remain hip in a world that has already forgotten about Java). However, none of the Computer Programming courses taught through CS will prepare their students for "real world" programming.
The Business world needs people that know how to design database driven applications that are not only functional, but look appealing and get the job done. These applications need to be built fast, be modular and easy to update/maintain. CS will teach you how to design a Database System to lay the groundwork for a Database Application but it doesn't focus on making use of the popular Databases out there such as Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, etc.
CS also doesn't prepare students for the world of RAD (Rapid Application Development). Believe me, I've been programming for 15+ years now and the single most important factor for any business or customer is RAD Development.
To do RAD you need to know how to use RAD tools such as Visual Studio, .NET, Ruby on Rails, etc. CS doesn't teach that sort of stuff. In fact, most Universities refuse to make use of Visual Studio or any technologies by Microsoft so that incredibly limits possibilities of Rapid Development. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people right here on Slashdot complain about how their Universities do not use or endorse Visual Studio. Of course, they sell it in their School Software Stores because the stores on campus at least know what the students want.
Most good programmers skip CS at Universities and go to Community Colleges which are typically more up to date on technologies such as Programming Languages and RAD Tools such as Visual Studio. Believe me, if you want to learn C# which is popular on all main platforms (Windows, Linux and the Mac) or if you want to learn about Ruby, you are not going to get that from a University CS Department.
This means that if you want to make it in the IT world, you really owe it to yourself to skip CS and big Universities (or at least supplement) and go to a Community College for a Programming degree. I have actually done both. I started out in a Community College studying programming and then went on to CS at a University and found that nothing they taught would help me in the professional Programming job I was already doing. So, I moved into MIS which is a little better since it touches on RAD and Management/Business which will help anybody in the "real" world.
I think theory (understanding of algorithms, etc) is important but learning about the tools and programming languages needed for "real world" development are essential.
Computer Science isn't dead but NASA and Lockhead Martin can only hire so many Artificial Intelligence programmers. Otherwise, a Computer Programmer needs to look out for themselves and get their education where it is truly offered (Community College and Tech Schools).
Bill Gates tells us that CS students should be focusing on Bio-Tech and they can surely do that but while we waste our time away in school learning about the "future" all of our jobs are going to the people overseas that know what to do now and that will ensure that the people learning about the "future" of IT at school will not be able to get a job when they get out.
IMHO