Why is it that there are always studies like this of the "geeks", but there's nothing representative of the other masses? Shouldn't someone do a study of stuff like this when a Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts film hits the theaters and millions of housewives, secretaries and others flock to see it?
What about take-your-daughter/son-to-work day? I wonder how much that costs us?
How about what it costs us ever time Clinton stopped to get a h$mmer.... If that's not a massive waste of cash, what is?
Exactly, and that's something I'm going to have to battle over next year (once I'm done).
Can you imagine a company and an educational institution fighting over YOUR software application (tool/widget/etc) which YOU developed for YOUR degree. Bah!
Perhaps you should patent it now, and then let it get real hairy!
So what about if you go back to school part time to work on a Master's or PhD. Especially with respect to software developement for your degree, (in my case, software for my PhD). Do they think they own my software and ideas central to the PhD?
At my school (and many others define a PhD this way), PhD work has to be new, original work that adds to the discipline. Almost certainly anything that you do under the PhD banner would be something a company might claim falls under such a contract. Regardless if the work relates to the company's products/goals/ideals, this does not seem right and fair to me.
I am not in this situation, but know others that are. Just wondering...
I totally agree with your comment that most people don't care, and that it makes the movies and games (and TV shows) more realistic. However, sometimes, (rarely?) these things pay off....
Remember what happened to Reeces' Pieces when it was in the move ET (see this story about the effect)? Yikes, everyone was eating those things! (And since the 20th anniversary of ET is going to yeild its re-release on 3/20/02, so we may have to endure it all over again!)
As a current TA for the class mentioned above, I can only validate what a huge problem this is here at VT. We use a variety of methods in our analysis, one of which is MOSS from Berkeley.
This deparment has a near 100% conviction rate with the university's student run honor code and all cheaters are prosecuted fully. I agree with one poster below that one goal of a CS program is to develop people who can do things on their own. Working together has it's place, but cheating (generally as a form of laziness to get help when you don't understand something) when collaboration is not permitted is just plain old bad.
While you are likely to get a variety of answers from posting on/., you might wish to consider asking that same question to the admissions (and department faculty) at the schools you apply to. Be sure that you understand how each school considers each major and what their focus is. I'm sure answers will vary from school to school as well.
I'd settle for a set of Office Previewer programs, so I can read and print the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. formats. I don't think that's too much to ask...
That's paranoia at it's best. What do they plan to do about engines like Google, Yahoo, etc.? What about news released about their company? How about those financial reports that their drones put out and link back to their site for more info????
Ugh.
Well, I've done a Java for juniors and seniors who already know OOP here at VT. In the past we have used the Core Java Volume 1 book, but that's not appropriate to your audience, since they don't already know OOP.
Take a look at Java Software Solutions (Addison-Wesley, author=John Lewis), if you are looking for a book tied directly to a language that the students will be working with. (Shameless plug: John was my Master's advisor, and I contributed to the text). It's been very well received at the collegiate level and is well supported. Since your students know C, they may be able to skip a few intro chapters on programming, data types, etc... or at least get through them quickly.
Deitel and Dietel's Java texts are also popular.
If you are looking for only a discussion of OOP topics and not bound to a particular language, I can't be of too much help there, I've not perused any of those recently.
One final point. Please consider attending SIGCSE (http://www.cs.cofc.edu/sigcse2002) in February. It's an invaluable resource for computer science instruction for both new (novice) and old (er, experienced) instructors. SIGCSE is a great place to make contacts, get help on related issues, check out the texts, etc....
One key point you neglected to state is the level of instruction you are participating in. Are you getting involved in high school programming or college? There are texts for both areas, and you might get a better reponse by telling us.
Secondly, if you are going to be doing high school instruction, you might want to consider broading your research. The AP test (for high school students to get college credit) will be in Java starting in '02 or '03 (I forget), so that might impact your decision, since you *might* be helping your students by getting them acclimated to Java and OOP from the start.
Oh, I don't think that the meetings were wrong, I agree that it was a product of talented people working hard. What I hated was the prevalence of the meeting where it was like "...well EJBs are patented, what else is there.... what about FOO working with EJBs.... that might be ok to go after". That's what nauseated me. Of course, perhaps it was just that I was not used to that atmosphere.
Having interned at IBM for a summer (2000), I was somewhat nauseated during a meeting I sat in on where the focus was 'What can we patent?'. While I understand the purpose of such meetings, anything not nailed down was fair game to have a patent attempted for it.
We were constantly reminded that IBM was the corporate leader of patents (whoo hooo! How about getting my damned stock price up again!) and that meetings like this were common.
I had a friend who was supposed to be working for/at the NSA on a secure Linux kernel this fall. I don't know anything else about the project, or it's status, but it's clear that the NSA is using *nix.
Here at VT, two years ago they clamped down on sites with the Hokie name in them (a trademarked name/symbol of the school mascot), and other VT/ Virginia Tech domain names. Their reasoning at the time, I recall, is that use of the names violated their registered marks.
In addition, they were going after sites which used player likenesses and images (i.e. Michael Vick) because under the NCAA rules, student-athletes are not permitted to endorse a product or service. VT was apparently concerned in that case about NCAA sanctions related to student run web pages which used player images and likenesses to promote their site.
My point, it's not always the case that the school is trying oppress free speech, but rather protecting the use of their marks and are worrying about other factors, like the NCAA situation.
Still here at VT, students are not permitted to use the school logos on their web pages (see this page).
I left my tech job to return to grad school. I've completed 2 Master's and am nearing a PhD. That's not the fun part. That's the sucky part.
My fun job is running a sports web site with two other like-minded people from my alma mater. We've started our own company, provided free and subscription-based news, recruiting and other info. We bring in enough to keep it afloat and to advertise with. We run contests, we buy crap to give away (hats, shirts, etc), and have tons of fun meeting others who read our site, are passionate fans like us. Occasionally, it pays for travel to games (we went last year from the east coast to a game at UCLA). It's a ton of fun for me to have a hobby which pays a little something back.
This may not have entirely answered your questions, but for me, it's a marriage of two things I love: my school's teams and tech. You might wish to consider finding something similar that suits you....
Slashdot Mirror
I like to do one of two things:
1) Ask them when they are going to get a job that they can be proud of. That usually gets them flustered.
2) Do a Seinfeld, and ask to recall them at their home when they don't like to be bothered.
I wouldn't let Bill Gates manage a WaWa.
Wasn't he doing both at the same time?
Now he wants to be a talk show host. I wonder if it will be Springer-like......
Why is it that there are always studies like this of the "geeks", but there's nothing representative of the other masses? Shouldn't someone do a study of stuff like this when a Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts film hits the theaters and millions of housewives, secretaries and others flock to see it?
What about take-your-daughter/son-to-work day? I wonder how much that costs us?
How about what it costs us ever time Clinton stopped to get a h$mmer.... If that's not a massive waste of cash, what is?
Isn't this just more geek bashing?
I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
I'll buy one if they let me hook it to my LAN, and have a panel with Mozilla built into it. Then I can read /. while I'm in there!
Exactly, and that's something I'm going to have to battle over next year (once I'm done).
Can you imagine a company and an educational institution fighting over YOUR software application (tool/widget/etc) which YOU developed for YOUR degree. Bah!
Perhaps you should patent it now, and then let it get real hairy!
So what about if you go back to school part time to work on a Master's or PhD. Especially with respect to software developement for your degree, (in my case, software for my PhD). Do they think they own my software and ideas central to the PhD?
At my school (and many others define a PhD this way), PhD work has to be new, original work that adds to the discipline. Almost certainly anything that you do under the PhD banner would be something a company might claim falls under such a contract. Regardless if the work relates to the company's products/goals/ideals, this does not seem right and fair to me.
I am not in this situation, but know others that are. Just wondering...
I totally agree with your comment that most people don't care, and that it makes the movies and games (and TV shows) more realistic. However, sometimes, (rarely?) these things pay off.... Remember what happened to Reeces' Pieces when it was in the move ET (see this story about the effect)? Yikes, everyone was eating those things! (And since the 20th anniversary of ET is going to yeild its re-release on 3/20/02, so we may have to endure it all over again!)
As a current TA for the class mentioned above, I can only validate what a huge problem this is here at VT. We use a variety of methods in our analysis, one of which is MOSS from Berkeley.
This deparment has a near 100% conviction rate with the university's student run honor code and all cheaters are prosecuted fully. I agree with one poster below that one goal of a CS program is to develop people who can do things on their own. Working together has it's place, but cheating (generally as a form of laziness to get help when you don't understand something) when collaboration is not permitted is just plain old bad.
While you are likely to get a variety of answers from posting on /., you might wish to consider asking that same question to the admissions (and department faculty) at the schools you apply to. Be sure that you understand how each school considers each major and what their focus is. I'm sure answers will vary from school to school as well.
Does this mean we can drop a few 'Daisy Cutters' on Redmond?
I'd settle for a set of Office Previewer programs, so I can read and print the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. formats. I don't think that's too much to ask...
That's paranoia at it's best. What do they plan to do about engines like Google, Yahoo, etc.? What about news released about their company? How about those financial reports that their drones put out and link back to their site for more info???? Ugh.
endorphuns (sp?). If you do it and you like it, your brain is likely releasing them. After that, you likely miss them and want more.
Well, I've done a Java for juniors and seniors who already know OOP here at VT. In the past we have used the Core Java Volume 1 book, but that's not appropriate to your audience, since they don't already know OOP.
Take a look at Java Software Solutions (Addison-Wesley, author=John Lewis), if you are looking for a book tied directly to a language that the students will be working with. (Shameless plug: John was my Master's advisor, and I contributed to the text). It's been very well received at the collegiate level and is well supported. Since your students know C, they may be able to skip a few intro chapters on programming, data types, etc... or at least get through them quickly.
Deitel and Dietel's Java texts are also popular.
If you are looking for only a discussion of OOP topics and not bound to a particular language, I can't be of too much help there, I've not perused any of those recently.
One final point. Please consider attending SIGCSE (http://www.cs.cofc.edu/sigcse2002) in February. It's an invaluable resource for computer science instruction for both new (novice) and old (er, experienced) instructors. SIGCSE is a great place to make contacts, get help on related issues, check out the texts, etc....
One key point you neglected to state is the level of instruction you are participating in. Are you getting involved in high school programming or college? There are texts for both areas, and you might get a better reponse by telling us.
Secondly, if you are going to be doing high school instruction, you might want to consider broading your research. The AP test (for high school students to get college credit) will be in Java starting in '02 or '03 (I forget), so that might impact your decision, since you *might* be helping your students by getting them acclimated to Java and OOP from the start.
Oh, I don't think that the meetings were wrong, I agree that it was a product of talented people working hard. What I hated was the prevalence of the meeting where it was like "...well EJBs are patented, what else is there.... what about FOO working with EJBs.... that might be ok to go after". That's what nauseated me. Of course, perhaps it was just that I was not used to that atmosphere.
Having interned at IBM for a summer (2000), I was somewhat nauseated during a meeting I sat in on where the focus was 'What can we patent?'. While I understand the purpose of such meetings, anything not nailed down was fair game to have a patent attempted for it.
We were constantly reminded that IBM was the corporate leader of patents (whoo hooo! How about getting my damned stock price up again!) and that meetings like this were common.
I found it to be pathetic.
I had a friend who was supposed to be working for/at the NSA on a secure Linux kernel this fall. I don't know anything else about the project, or it's status, but it's clear that the NSA is using *nix.
And if you didn't know Coming Attractions and others have confirmed that Gloria Foster (who played the Oracle) past away last weekend.
In addition, they were going after sites which used player likenesses and images (i.e. Michael Vick) because under the NCAA rules, student-athletes are not permitted to endorse a product or service. VT was apparently concerned in that case about NCAA sanctions related to student run web pages which used player images and likenesses to promote their site.
My point, it's not always the case that the school is trying oppress free speech, but rather protecting the use of their marks and are worrying about other factors, like the NCAA situation.
Still here at VT, students are not permitted to use the school logos on their web pages (see this page ).
http://www.gat.com/asi/aero.html
I left my tech job to return to grad school. I've completed 2 Master's and am nearing a PhD. That's not the fun part. That's the sucky part.
My fun job is running a sports web site with two other like-minded people from my alma mater. We've started our own company, provided free and subscription-based news, recruiting and other info. We bring in enough to keep it afloat and to advertise with. We run contests, we buy crap to give away (hats, shirts, etc), and have tons of fun meeting others who read our site, are passionate fans like us. Occasionally, it pays for travel to games (we went last year from the east coast to a game at UCLA). It's a ton of fun for me to have a hobby which pays a little something back.
This may not have entirely answered your questions, but for me, it's a marriage of two things I love: my school's teams and tech. You might wish to consider finding something similar that suits you....
Thank God I only go to SIGCSE - the Computer Science Education conference that the ACM holds. They can't copyright pedagogy, right? ;-)