Re: Is relational theory irrelevant?

Martha Stewart called it a Good Thing when "Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_golden.net> wrote:
> I disagree that it is really a lack of education, per se. The real problem
> is misguided education. Computer science educations that focus on procedural
> languages are stuck in the 1960's and in the days of assembly language.
> Frankly, I think it is criminal the way academia damages the minds of our
> youth.

I didn't think they taught assembly language anymore, but even if they do, that doesn't strike me as a problem. Assembler is part of what underlies things, so it seems quite appropriate to teach it as One Of The Abstractions.

The problem comes when they fail to teach about important abstractions.

To my mind, the _true_ problem is that universities have gotten away from "universal" sorts of knowledge, and have instead decided that they have to become glorified 'business schools,' and instead of teaching about abstractions, get TOO concretely into the details of Java and C++.

When students imagine that the features of Java and C++ are the whole of "Computer Science," THAT is the 'criminal damage' to the minds of youth.

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