Computer Science - 23 years on ...

pvr

pvr

Dutch
 Ruler of the South East UK
I graduated in 1988 in Computer Science, and yesterday I took my son to a University open day for Computer Science as he wants to do the same. Part of this was a lecture / summary of the course contents.

I could not believe how little has changed in all that time, the subjects are the same, the authors of the books are the same I had, I was quite amazed really. Applications may have changed, but the fundamentals of translating problems / projects into algorithms is identical.

The conclusion of the lecture really rung true with me though, he said " IT people are like drivers of cars, they know how to drive a car. Computer Science graduates are the ones that actually develop the engine of the car".

I must remember that one, as I often get asked why I charge ten times more then Indians from outsourced companies. The parallels actually describe it perfectly.
 
Not much changed since you studied it? Are they still using those punch cards that you type a line of code in then stack them up in a big machine to run your programme?
 
'I graduated in 1988 in Computer Science'

- so you were one of those guys that went to university when they were just 14 years old then... :wink:
 
Zed Five said:
'I graduated in 1988 in Computer Science'

- so you were one of those guys that went to university when they were just 14 years old then... :wink:
Click to expand...

It's PVR we're talking about here don't forget :rofl:

So given PVR alleged on this board that he charges £500 per day, (in spite of another poster claiming that being able to charge those amount's were long gone)
That means the "Indian" (his words) would only be charging £50. :roll: :)
 
cj10jeeper said:
Not much changed since you studied it? Are they still using those punch cards that you type a line of code in then stack them up in a big machine to run your programme?
Click to expand...

That is the misconception, Computer Science is about the algorithms and structural information problem solving etc. I did mention that the application thereof has changed.
 
Kryton said:
Zed Five said:
'I graduated in 1988 in Computer Science'

- so you were one of those guys that went to university when they were just 14 years old then... :wink:
Click to expand...

It's PVR we're talking about here don't forget :rofl:

So given PVR alleged on this board that he charges £500 per day, (in spite of another poster claiming that being able to charge those amount's were long gone)
That means the "Indian" (his words) would only be charging £50. :roll: :)
Click to expand...

No - you got that wrong, £500 is what I pay my sub contractors, not what I charge :P
 
Surely there's been a big development in formal methods, software project management etc since then? I guess having typed that though these are all things I learnt post-uni, the stuff in uni was pretry boring things that I've barely ever used in an everyday job/application...
Surprised the languages etc haven't moved on either, in terms of object orientation etc.

(Computing & Electronics 2002)
 
Way back in the late 60's our neighbour Roger had a BSc in Math majoring in computer Science (it hadn't really been invented yet) and he was in charge of an outfit with a Sperry Univac (i think). Big machine with tape reels on it. Pages and pages of binary code for him to interpret. A few years later I was learning Fortran and writing code for the punchcard girls to punch in. (mistakes aplenty .."Fatal Error" showed up quite often in the printouts...)

NOW aren't you lot glad you didn't have to got through that period. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
Just to make it clear - I am talking pure Computer Science here, also I studied this in NL and not in the UK although from the lecture, it seemed that the approach seems similar, ie algorithm and maths based.

The tools used are different and evolve, but the generic approach and translation in mathematical models is what is the real base of this is, and that is basically the same.

You may not actually use the exact tools you use at uni, but the most important part is how you approach a project / problem, which is exactly what you do learn with CS.

The only disadvantage is that you apply the same approach with almost everything in life after that :D
 
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