Re: Guessing?

paul c <toledobysea_at_ac.ooyah> wrote:

>Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>> paul c <toledobysea_at_ac.ooyah> wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> (Here on the west coast of Canada, there must be a couple of hundred
>>> thousand students attending degree-granting institutions within a 30
>>> mile radius from where I live. Only one of the big universities here
>>> has any edition of that important book in its library, just one copy at
>>> that and apparently it has rarely if ever been signed out. What does
>>> that tell you?)
>>
>> That you probably live in Vancouver? Or Greater Vancouver.
>>
>> Hello from Kamloops.

>Hello yourself. I think I passed through there in '68, had some fun but
>seem to remember the summer was hot and I guess the winters are cold.

     Oh, no, found out!

>Anyway, I was wrong about only one school around 'lesser' Vancouver
>having the book, another (UBC) has the second edition only. Obviously
>nobody there read that one either, otherwise they would have obtained
>the third edition, presumably they could have got it free. The public
>libraries here have mostly the 'dummies' books, same as bigger cities
>like Toronto, just fewer in total. Somehow it seems telling that

     That is my experience with public libraries.

     I was in a bookstore on Saturday, and it did not have much other than stuff for the masses. There was one very involved book by Hawking: "God Created the Integers". I think they must have ordered the two copies by mistake. It is too much for me yet, and I am minoring in math.

[snip]

>1) your 'elites' don't use public libraries anymore.

     There is a lot on the Web. I am minoring in math, and I have textbooks. I also have instructors to talk to. The joys of living across the street from a university!

>2) CS is now too 'big; a subject for one person to master, possibly DB
>too and neither is perceived as 'elite'. whether this is legit is
>another question - in the face of all the bumpf likely it's the rare
>student who'll have the courage to broaden themselves by reading other
>stuff, say Plato's Republic or learn to master enough English to make
>themselves understood. i knew dozens of people with multiple CS or Math
>degrees who had never heard of predicate calculus, couldn't spell, let

     I do not know ENOUGH predicate calculus. I can spell.

>alone express one idea in a five hundred words which Codd could do even
>if he was wrong here and there.

     I can write.

     These skills are not nearly as common as I would like.

>3) since cities and schools have only crap libraries now, I may as well
>go live in a trailer park, nothing against Kamloops but my crummy
>circulation prefers to be near the coast.

     I prefer the drier climate myself. Chacun a son gout.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:

     I have preferences.
     You have biases.
     He/She has prejudices.