[OT] destroy all software (was Programming language WATs)

[Adam D. Ruppe]

On Saturday, 21 January 2012 at 21:56:35 UTC, Chad J wrote:
> I also took a Physics degree instead of a CS degree.

That's what I did for my first go. I actually went
to college twice: one year right after high school,
doing physics (at SUNY Oswego), then wanted to go
home, but a couple years later, figured I'll give
college a second go and did a year and a half of
CS at the local community college (SUNY Jefferson).

What I hated most about year #1 wasn't the classes -
they actually didn't bother me at all - but rather
the college environment and all the bullshit.

First off, they required all the first year students
to live on campus. WTF. And, of course, they required
these exorbitant fees for all that too.

IIRC, when I went, it was $2,500 for the semester, but
let's look at today's price. (Another annoying thing:
the prices are always hidden on college websites...)

http://www.oswego.edu/administration/student_accounts/tuition_and_fees.html

I pity the fool who comes from out of state!

But, even the in state folks are charged $6,000,
per semester!

A semester goes from the fail end of August
to mid-December, a little more than three months
(and they kick you out for at least one week in there..)

This works out to about $2k / month!


Unbelievable. That's flabbergasting. The room I had
was, oh, I didn't measure, but I think about 10 feet
by 10 feet is about right; 100 ft^2, divided by two people.

Fifty square feet.... two THOUSAND dollars a month. Sure,
that includes other stuff too, but wow.


Compare that to what I'm paying right now in the real world,
if you will. I have my own little house in the city of
Watertown, about 950 square feet, and I pay about $1100 per
month in total expenses, excluding taxes, but including rent,
heat, electricity, internet, food, water and sewer.

It's not even in the same /ballpark/ as the college room
and board cost!


Best of all, I have my own bathroom and kitchen. And it's
quiet here, pretty much all day and all night. I live next
to a fire station, and it's infinitely more quiet
than living next to college drunkards.


The classes are OK, but the other crap they *required*
just gets a huge HELL NO.



And then, there's the tuition on top of that, oh my.
And they nail you with interest?

Just outrageous.




Aaanyway, I did round two at the community college,
and switched to computer science figuring an AS in
computers is probably more useful than in physics,
and is something I should be able to turn around
quickly.

And that wasn't bad at all. Government grants paid
for the whole thing (for three semesters... I had
already eaten a huge chunk of them in year 1) and
I could live wherever I wanted.

I might be ok with finishing that off someday if my
business crashed and burned (and nobody took my years
of experience as a substitute for college), but
since the free money ran out, even the three or
four grand they'd want to finish it off just doesn't
look worth it.



oh my looks like i got started on college ranting
anyway. :)

> Duplicate code is not reusable or maintainable.

Amen.