You seem to be right, from my experiences so far. I'm in first year software engineering at the University of Waterloo (Canada, for those who don't know), and I'm already noticing this a bit...
First, we're learning Java - it's just first year, and I'm reasonably certain we do get into other languages later on. It's a reasonable language from my perspective so far, and we aren't just doing GUI programs... Mostly, yes, unfortunately, but I honestly can't say most of the class seems to know much about anything beyond Windows and GUIs (some people, certainly, but not most).
Everything so far seems to be aimed at making everyone do the same thing in (most often) the same way. Most of our courses so far are very closed-ended, as in everything basically has one way to do it, so you have to do it the same way as everyone else is. Perhaps this will change in future years, but so far it's not been fun for me (which is part of what accounts for some of my less-than-stellar marks in the first term - repetitive, uninteresting work is not the best way for me to learn, although I don't know about other people).
I'm also beginning to wonder (although if this is accurate, I'd bet it's a general problem with universities) how much actual experience some of the professors, TAs, and so forth have with real-world programming, as some of the courses are seeming a little... Over-the-top with theory, and lack many real applications of the things introduced. (It's amazing just how much math theory seems to be only really applicable to creating... Yup, more math theory. At least that's all we're being taught.)
The co-op system is one of the parts that many people seem to really enjoy of the entire system. I'm a little concerned about the lack of university involvement in some parts of it. They're the ones setting up many of the job positions, and students *do* receive grades/credits they need for graduation, but I was told by someone in the "career services department" that the university has no part in, for example, employee contracts signed by students, nor has there been any course that deals with contract law and common sense. I fear that when it comes to it, some of the co-op positions will have hefty legalese contracts that most students can't understand, and will sign blindly - with clauses claiming ownership to all 'intellectual property' they ever create. The general world getting into the mindset that such things are 'right' or 'just the way things are done' is something I fear greatly.
Overall it really does seem aimed at turning us into good little drones, possibly because the university receives money from these co-op corporations, although I'll have to see how a co-op term goes before I can make any real judgments on that.
As a note, since I'm not posting anonymously, this is just my opinion and views based on observations and impressions, nothing terribly concrete. As I'm only in first year, I may also be rather off-base on a lot of this.
Or mount a piton system in the front of your average police cruiser, that could pneumatically or explosively shoot out a grappling hook that stabbed thru the trunk of the fleeing vehicle and drag it to a stop.
And what if (also like on TV!) there's someone in the trunk? Or even in the back-seat, and this over-shoots it's target? Or misses? The potential for lost life is so staggeringly huge, I'd be afraid to ever drive if this became common-place.
Not to mention the fact that I doubt most car trunks could take that much force on them without ripping either apart, or off the main body of the car...
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You seem to be right, from my experiences so far. I'm in first year software engineering at the University of Waterloo (Canada, for those who don't know), and I'm already noticing this a bit...
First, we're learning Java - it's just first year, and I'm reasonably certain we do get into other languages later on. It's a reasonable language from my perspective so far, and we aren't just doing GUI programs... Mostly, yes, unfortunately, but I honestly can't say most of the class seems to know much about anything beyond Windows and GUIs (some people, certainly, but not most).
Everything so far seems to be aimed at making everyone do the same thing in (most often) the same way. Most of our courses so far are very closed-ended, as in everything basically has one way to do it, so you have to do it the same way as everyone else is. Perhaps this will change in future years, but so far it's not been fun for me (which is part of what accounts for some of my less-than-stellar marks in the first term - repetitive, uninteresting work is not the best way for me to learn, although I don't know about other people).
I'm also beginning to wonder (although if this is accurate, I'd bet it's a general problem with universities) how much actual experience some of the professors, TAs, and so forth have with real-world programming, as some of the courses are seeming a little... Over-the-top with theory, and lack many real applications of the things introduced. (It's amazing just how much math theory seems to be only really applicable to creating... Yup, more math theory. At least that's all we're being taught.)
The co-op system is one of the parts that many people seem to really enjoy of the entire system. I'm a little concerned about the lack of university involvement in some parts of it. They're the ones setting up many of the job positions, and students *do* receive grades/credits they need for graduation, but I was told by someone in the "career services department" that the university has no part in, for example, employee contracts signed by students, nor has there been any course that deals with contract law and common sense. I fear that when it comes to it, some of the co-op positions will have hefty legalese contracts that most students can't understand, and will sign blindly - with clauses claiming ownership to all 'intellectual property' they ever create. The general world getting into the mindset that such things are 'right' or 'just the way things are done' is something I fear greatly.
Overall it really does seem aimed at turning us into good little drones, possibly because the university receives money from these co-op corporations, although I'll have to see how a co-op term goes before I can make any real judgments on that.
As a note, since I'm not posting anonymously, this is just my opinion and views based on observations and impressions, nothing terribly concrete. As I'm only in first year, I may also be rather off-base on a lot of this.
I don't think they are. MD5 is on the main SquirrelMail site, package is hosted on SourceForge.
Or mount a piton system in the front of your average police cruiser, that could pneumatically or explosively shoot out a grappling hook that stabbed thru the trunk of the fleeing vehicle and drag it to a stop.
And what if (also like on TV!) there's someone in the trunk? Or even in the back-seat, and this over-shoots it's target? Or misses? The potential for lost life is so staggeringly huge, I'd be afraid to ever drive if this became common-place.
Not to mention the fact that I doubt most car trunks could take that much force on them without ripping either apart, or off the main body of the car...
And you have to go thirty kilometers below the speed limit. Which is still probably more than most cars can do in reverse gear...
So you'll be *facing* the wrong way too!