Whether Calculus is used by a student later in their life is irrelevant. Calculus (as well as other college level subject like physics, biology, etc.) enables a person to develop their mental capacity to think well and think critically. What you learn in CS is a set of tools that are used to solve problems. Whatever area you go into and apply your CS training you will need these thinking skills to solve those problems.
Old programming languages never die. If the code written in those languages still work, then they are run forever, which is why 50 years after its invention, FORTRAN (and Cobol) are still in use.
To become a truly competent programmer must learn as many different programming languages as possible. My first programming class was split into 3 sections over the school year; FORTRAN, Cobol, and Assembler (IBM 360). During my CS education my professors exposed their students to as many types of programming languages as possible. We learned the design and functionality of these many programming language examples so we would be able to pick up any new languages in the future without problems. You want a hard language to learn, try APL or LISP... I did, and got a paycheck for the work I did.
It is likely that as a new graduate, you will enter the programming world and encounter legacy code written in some ancient programming language like FORTRAN. If you tell your boss, "I can re-write this in X (java, python, ) and it will only take me a month (likely 6...)", your boss will nod his head with a smile and tell you he will think about it. What he is really thinking is "Why would I pay to re-write code that was paid for 40 years ago, that already works".
Slashdot Mirror
Whether Calculus is used by a student later in their life is irrelevant. Calculus (as well as other college level subject like physics, biology, etc.) enables a person to develop their mental capacity to think well and think critically. What you learn in CS is a set of tools that are used to solve problems. Whatever area you go into and apply your CS training you will need these thinking skills to solve those problems.
Old programming languages never die. If the code written in those languages still work, then they are run forever, which is why 50 years after its invention, FORTRAN (and Cobol) are still in use.
To become a truly competent programmer must learn as many different programming languages as possible. My first programming class was split into 3 sections over the school year; FORTRAN, Cobol, and Assembler (IBM 360). During my CS education my professors exposed their students to as many types of programming languages as possible. We learned the design and functionality of these many programming language examples so we would be able to pick up any new languages in the future without problems. You want a hard language to learn, try APL or LISP... I did, and got a paycheck for the work I did.
It is likely that as a new graduate, you will enter the programming world and encounter legacy code written in some ancient programming language like FORTRAN. If you tell your boss, "I can re-write this in X (java, python, ) and it will only take me a month (likely 6...)", your boss will nod his head with a smile and tell you he will think about it. What he is really thinking is "Why would I pay to re-write code that was paid for 40 years ago, that already works".