As another geek girl, I totally agree with the post above (although I have not read the book mentioned).
I went into computing after a first degree in languages and what I found hardest was being looked down by male students who thought I probably had no idea of programming or anything related to IT. Only after I passed my first examns and did a couple of projects, they understood I was as good as anyone and I started to make friends. But the first 3 months were hell: I hardly had any support from other students.
Why did I not go into computing straight after school even if I had great marks at maths and science? Because I though I wasn't good enough, specially in comparison with male students in my class who seemed so confident. I knew my good marks were the result of hard work and I thought this would not be enough, that to be a computer scientist or an engineer you had to have some "natural talent". I later understood you must feel naturally inclided towards scientific subjects but working hard can take you pretty far...
I would also recommend awk. It is the language they taught at my old job to people that were not good in programming but needed to do some text processing stuff (Perl was considered too difficult).
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Not to mention libraries!
As another geek girl, I totally agree with the post above (although I have not read the book mentioned).
...
I went into computing after a first degree in languages and what I found hardest was being looked down by male students who thought I probably had no idea of programming or anything related to IT. Only after I passed my first examns and did a couple of projects, they understood I was as good as anyone and I started to make friends. But the first 3 months were hell: I hardly had any support from other students.
Why did I not go into computing straight after school even if I had great marks at maths and science? Because I though I wasn't good enough, specially in comparison with male students in my class who seemed so confident. I knew my good marks were the result of hard work and I thought this would not be enough, that to be a computer scientist or an engineer you had to have some "natural talent". I later understood you must feel naturally inclided towards scientific subjects but working hard can take you pretty far
I would also recommend awk. It is the language they taught at my old job to people that were not good in programming but needed to do some text processing stuff (Perl was considered too difficult).