Let Go, Standard Library From Community

[Jeff Nowakowski]

Walter Bright wrote:
>> Caltech requires of all its graduates:
>>
>> o    3 years of calculus
>> o    2 years physics
>> o    1 year chemistry

Bill Baxter wrote:
> If all you know is CS, then I think you're restricting the kind of work 
> you can do.

I have a Computer Science degree, and I have never needed calculus, 
physics, chemistry, etc. in any of my programming jobs.  I resent all 
the time I was forced to waste taking these courses, instead of learning 
about my trade.

Sure, these topics would have been useful if I wanted to get a 
programming job in a field that made use of it, but I don't want these 
kinds of jobs, and there are plenty of programming jobs that don't need 
them.  I even wouldn't have minded being exposed to the topics, but I 
was forced to take the same physics and calculus courses as mechanical 
engineers.  I wasted so much time memorizing formulas and learning how 
to solve problems that I never touched again.

I'm not into heavy math or physics, though I like the concepts at a high 
level.  This doesn't make me a bad coder.

> I've heard that CS departments at schools these days are suffering from 
> a big drop in the number of majors.

My understanding is that there is a greater emphasis on Software 
Engineering as a degree for those who want to actually code instead of 
doing academic research.  This is a good thing.  Too many programmers 
graduate from college woefully unprepared for working in the industry.

-Jeff