Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Just about anyone can learn to program a computer. Not many people earn degrees in Computer Science.

I first noticed the above statement in 1978 (yes, I am that old). Students were telling me how they loved to write computer programs. We were taught something called PL/I in those days. Then the students lamented the Computer Science degree. You had to pass through Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics for that degree. What did those things have to do with writing computer programs?

The answer then, as it is now, was “nothing.” The angle of refraction has nothing to do with the evils of the GO TO statement and a hash table. Still, to be a professional in the sciences, you needed to understand science and mathematics. Right? Well, I have to say, “yes” to that question.

So, today, we have people attending “app boot camps.” In the 1990s, we had people with degrees in English “programming” web sites. And this goes on and on with example after example. Bill Gates dropped out of college. Mark Zuckerburg dropped out of college (I think). But the guys who started Google were grad students doing computer science research, so that is at least one counter example.

And what do we do now? We still have the same liking for computer programming and disdain for Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics.

Maybe someone else can provided a good answer; I can’t.