Let Go, Standard Library From Community

[Bill Baxter]

Walter Bright wrote:
> Bill Baxter wrote:

>> I've heard that CS departments at schools these days are suffering 
>> from a big drop in the number of majors.  But that seems to me to be 
>> as it should be.  The IT boom brought on a lot of silliness.  You 
>> really don't need a CS degree to do most IT jobs.  Yes, *everybody* 
>> needs to know how work with computers these days to varying degrees.  
>> Just like everyone needs math to varying degrees.  But that doesn't 
>> mean there need to be a lot of math majors, or CS majors.   Almost 
>> everyone takes a class or two from the math department, but very few 
>> major in it.  Likewise, pretty much everyone these days should have a 
>> class or two from the CS dept, but we don't really need that many majors.
> 
> In defense of CS majors, Andrei has an academic CS background, and he's 
> been a huge help in taking my limited back-of-envelope approach to the 
> next level.

Yeh, I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with a CS degree. 
But you may be better off with something else, unless what you really 
want to do is take fundamental concepts of computing to the next level. 
  Just like you don't major in math just to learn how to use math.  You 
major in math if you're interested in creating *new* math.  Or 
discovering it.  Whatever you want to call it.

If what you want to do is create advanced new compilers or new 
languages, or new algorithms, then yeh, the CS degree is a good thing, 
provided it's done right.

--bb