"You are getting students that are already interested in the subject." I took a computer programming class in 1968 because I had to. Didn't want to, but found to my surprise it was great fun. And I've been doing it (almost) ever since. Had it not been required, I probably wouldn't have gotten into it. So at least from my N of 1, it seems to be a good idea to require at least an intro to CS. Some of the students might discover they like it. (Whether it should be required every year is a different question, and maybe that's your point.)
You do make a good point about the cooking equipment. That said, my first computer language was FORTRAN, and the second was PL/1 (which was, IIUC, IBM's attempt to make a standard programming language that everyone would use, so that teaching it was sort of like using IBM's cooking equipment). I've never used either language since, but the concepts stuck with me. And a good teacher can bring in algorithms. I didn't realize it at the time, but the methods for adding/ multiplying/ etc. multi-digit numbers are algorithms. While computers are obviously very good at dealing with numbers, you might could start teaching algorithms by having the students program an algorithm like that that they already know, before progressing to algorithms they don't already know.
"...and sometimes middle school": That caught my eye, as we're thinking of doing s.t. along those lines. Can you say a little about how much CS middle school students are capable of? Are you teaching average students, or the best? And by CS and robotics, I assume you mean beginning programming, right? Do you introduce it with things like Blockly? Can the students progress beyond that? Have you published anything on this?
I realize that's a lot of questions; I'd be happy to see (or start) a new \. thread on this.
I would have said that neither rocket design nor software design is science, they're both engineering. At least mostly; if you're trying to create a non-chemical rocket (or other device) to take people to Mars, or you're working on AI, then there's science. But building a low Earth orbit rocket, or building medical (etc.) software, is, IMO, engineering.
"...six different careers in their lifetimes." When I was in my teens (in the 60s), I read that for many of us, the job we would have in 30 years (made up number, I don't recall the real one) didn't even exist yet. I kind of laughed. Now I'm a computational linguist.
Not every field changes like that, of course. But I tell the linguists who work for me that their field is going to be radically different in 20 years--pretty much absorbed into computational linguistics. And they had best get on the bandwagon now.
BTW, I'm the same age as your coworker, which I guess makes me an Old Fart.
Also BTW: I thought Baggins sailed off into the West. Shouldn't we be voting for Gamgee?
It was around (or at least s.t. by that name, dunno if it was the same content you're talking about) in the early 60s. I was there. (Take that, Judy Collins!) Set theory, a smattering of geometry, non-decimal bases.
...and even back in the 60s. I had New Math in 7th and 8th grade in 1963-4 (now you know how old I am). Our Junior High was one of three or four that fed into a single High School. One of the other Jr Hi's had opted out of New Math, and had had Algebra in 8th grade. That put them a year ahead of the rest of us.
A very good High School math teacher put me back on track by letting me take two math classes at the same time. If it hadn't been for him, I (along with everyone else from our Jr Hi) would have been permanently behind.
I know, I used it for years that way. But it's easier in 3. And it wasn't that hard to switch over; most of the work was done by 2to3.py I did still have to fiddle with open(), though; it seems like opening a file in utf8 could have been made easier.
I wondered the same thing. I guess if all you ever deal with is ASCII, Python 2 is ok. But 3 makes it a lot easier to deal with non-ASCII Unicode, and as a linguist I have to deal with that every day. (Although I'll admit it's still not easy--I still feel like I have to stand on my head to open a Unicode file, even in 3.)
"When I click on a link for a news story or some other item which seems interesting and it turns out to be a video, I click the back button instantly." Amen. Well, maybe not instantly, but I instantly hit pause and look to see if there's any text to read. If there isn't, then I hit back. I've given up on some major new outlets (I'm talking about you, CNN) because they think I need to see video.
WRONG. A one-time pad, used correctly, is unbreakable. "Used correctly" means you only use a page to encode a single message (hence the moniker), the message must be no longer than that page, and the numbers on the pad are truly random (ok, as random as can be); plus you have to ensure that the custody chain of the one-time pads, and (preferably) destroy the page after use.
If you don't believe me, then look it up. Hint: google, wikipedia.
Google doesn't believe in giving users any choices. Want a real menu in Chrome? Sorry, if you're on a Windows machine, no can have. Want to use '+' to tag words that must appear in searches? Sorry, now you have to use quotes, and who knows what that does if you want to get inflected forms (+dog should give you hits with dogs, "dog" should not). Want the old Google Maps or Google News interface? Outa luck.
Google; they know what's good for you better than you do.
I would hazard a guess that you've never learned another language. It's not easy, at least not as an adult. Much harder than learning algebra, for instance.
As for babbling in foreign language, I suppose it's equally possible that the Mohawks, Cherokees, Navajos, Ojibways, Aleuts, Sioux, Salishen, Lushootseeds and others get annoyed hearing you babble in English.
Slashdot Mirror
They thought that back in the 60s. Sort of like nuclear fusion.
"You are getting students that are already interested in the subject." I took a computer programming class in 1968 because I had to. Didn't want to, but found to my surprise it was great fun. And I've been doing it (almost) ever since. Had it not been required, I probably wouldn't have gotten into it. So at least from my N of 1, it seems to be a good idea to require at least an intro to CS. Some of the students might discover they like it. (Whether it should be required every year is a different question, and maybe that's your point.)
You do make a good point about the cooking equipment. That said, my first computer language was FORTRAN, and the second was PL/1 (which was, IIUC, IBM's attempt to make a standard programming language that everyone would use, so that teaching it was sort of like using IBM's cooking equipment). I've never used either language since, but the concepts stuck with me. And a good teacher can bring in algorithms. I didn't realize it at the time, but the methods for adding/ multiplying/ etc. multi-digit numbers are algorithms. While computers are obviously very good at dealing with numbers, you might could start teaching algorithms by having the students program an algorithm like that that they already know, before progressing to algorithms they don't already know.
"...and sometimes middle school": That caught my eye, as we're thinking of doing s.t. along those lines. Can you say a little about how much CS middle school students are capable of? Are you teaching average students, or the best? And by CS and robotics, I assume you mean beginning programming, right? Do you introduce it with things like Blockly? Can the students progress beyond that? Have you published anything on this?
I realize that's a lot of questions; I'd be happy to see (or start) a new \. thread on this.
Just curious: by "hysterically-high charge/discharge rates", you're referring to hysteresis, not comedy, right?
I would have said that neither rocket design nor software design is science, they're both engineering. At least mostly; if you're trying to create a non-chemical rocket (or other device) to take people to Mars, or you're working on AI, then there's science. But building a low Earth orbit rocket, or building medical (etc.) software, is, IMO, engineering.
I believe you meant sublunarian...
"...six different careers in their lifetimes." When I was in my teens (in the 60s), I read that for many of us, the job we would have in 30 years (made up number, I don't recall the real one) didn't even exist yet. I kind of laughed. Now I'm a computational linguist.
Not every field changes like that, of course. But I tell the linguists who work for me that their field is going to be radically different in 20 years--pretty much absorbed into computational linguistics. And they had best get on the bandwagon now.
BTW, I'm the same age as your coworker, which I guess makes me an Old Fart.
Also BTW: I thought Baggins sailed off into the West. Shouldn't we be voting for Gamgee?
It was around (or at least s.t. by that name, dunno if it was the same content you're talking about) in the early 60s. I was there. (Take that, Judy Collins!) Set theory, a smattering of geometry, non-decimal bases.
...and even back in the 60s. I had New Math in 7th and 8th grade in 1963-4 (now you know how old I am). Our Junior High was one of three or four that fed into a single High School. One of the other Jr Hi's had opted out of New Math, and had had Algebra in 8th grade. That put them a year ahead of the rest of us.
A very good High School math teacher put me back on track by letting me take two math classes at the same time. If it hadn't been for him, I (along with everyone else from our Jr Hi) would have been permanently behind.
I know, I used it for years that way. But it's easier in 3. And it wasn't that hard to switch over; most of the work was done by 2to3.py I did still have to fiddle with open(), though; it seems like opening a file in utf8 could have been made easier.
I have two computers running Win7, and I have yet to see an upgrade to 10 note. I get standard updates, but no nags. Why am I so lucky?
I wondered the same thing. I guess if all you ever deal with is ASCII, Python 2 is ok. But 3 makes it a lot easier to deal with non-ASCII Unicode, and as a linguist I have to deal with that every day. (Although I'll admit it's still not easy--I still feel like I have to stand on my head to open a Unicode file, even in 3.)
And if your second pen runs out of ink, there's always blood.
But even so, the Brontosaurs died out after the Jurassic, long before the extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous.
If a man without a woman is incomplete (as the Bible says), then I guess this guy decided to autocomplete.
"When I click on a link for a news story or some other item which seems interesting and it turns out to be a video, I click the back button instantly." Amen. Well, maybe not instantly, but I instantly hit pause and look to see if there's any text to read. If there isn't, then I hit back. I've given up on some major new outlets (I'm talking about you, CNN) because they think I need to see video.
WRONG. A one-time pad, used correctly, is unbreakable. "Used correctly" means you only use a page to encode a single message (hence the moniker), the message must be no longer than that page, and the numbers on the pad are truly random (ok, as random as can be); plus you have to ensure that the custody chain of the one-time pads, and (preferably) destroy the page after use.
If you don't believe me, then look it up. Hint: google, wikipedia.
Perhaps not using the shift key is, for you, a form of encryption? I didn't find his post at all hard to read.
Which law would that be?
Polysemy.
How do they study this? The key does not get sent to the website, rather it's interpreted by the browser. Does Chrome do key logging?
"1% like (but honestly can do without)" Yeap, by using a different program.
Amen, brother. Wish I had mod points to give...
Google doesn't believe in giving users any choices. Want a real menu in Chrome? Sorry, if you're on a Windows machine, no can have. Want to use '+' to tag words that must appear in searches? Sorry, now you have to use quotes, and who knows what that does if you want to get inflected forms (+dog should give you hits with dogs, "dog" should not). Want the old Google Maps or Google News interface? Outa luck.
Google; they know what's good for you better than you do.
I would hazard a guess that you've never learned another language. It's not easy, at least not as an adult. Much harder than learning algebra, for instance.
As for babbling in foreign language, I suppose it's equally possible that the Mohawks, Cherokees, Navajos, Ojibways, Aleuts, Sioux, Salishen, Lushootseeds and others get annoyed hearing you babble in English.