The perfect IT Education? (IT/Nerd Alert)

[Im Your Huckleberry]

Don't bother. All these jobs will be in India or Russia in another five years.

[Chad Fairbanks]

This isn't about the client, since we dont have client's paying us for custom products - we have a product line, of which VB is used for user interface layers, which are part of not just a software package, but a hardware package as well. We dont' write code that is given to a client.

Any code written needs to be maintanable, since a year from now I, or another coder, may need to go back and fix, update, or otherwise modify what was written - and it's pain in the a$$ if you have to waste time trying to figure out what the original coder did, or why they did something, because they neglected to comment the code or otherwise document it etc...

Well documented, well-structured code should be the norm, not just 'if the client is paying for it'.

[dfwgator]

Ya got a lotta purple-haired dudes out there sitting in front of keyboards for days at a time, couldn't code a binary sort if their life depended on it.

That's true, but I would be more impressed with someone who knew of an API that actually performed the bimary sort, rather than someone who reinvented the wheel. And the fact is, with today's languages, you shouldn't have to code basic functions like binary sorts.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Well, there are 10 types of people out there - those who know Binary, and those who don't ;0)

[Chad Fairbanks]

good points, but knowing the underlying principles of Binary Sorts would be nice either way... :0)

[Captain Beyond]

Bump

[zeromus]

And the fact is, with today's languages, you shouldn't have to code basic functions like binary sorts.

Todays languages may not run on old hardware. And knowing how to make a binary sort is not so important as having all the knowlege that is necessary to make a binary sort (knowlege which is priceless but which will cause the making of the sort to be trivial)

[zeromus]

This isn't about the client, since we dont have client's paying us for custom products

Then you can afford to do it right. But when you have a client directly, and a bid, and a budget, sometimes you can't. (sometimes is unhappily always ALL THE TIME in my case ;_;)

[dfwgator]

I certainly agree that you should know when to use a binary sort as opposed to other types of sorts.

[djf]

That would be nice if it was true.. sort of. But what I see is somebody comes along with an idea for an application that's gonna take "only a terrabyte" of disk. Not to long before it's up to 1.75 terrabytes, but we should get 2.5 for growth and just in case...

I was a math major. One of the things you learn is that it's impossible to trisect a angle with a ruler and compass. That way, you don't spend the next forty years trying to do it.

Fundamental education in comp-sci should always include basic algorithms and data structures. There are right ways (and very wrong ways) to handle hash tables and linked lists. Do it right and you have data integrity and recoverability. Do it wrong and you will have alot of people out there on your network playing solitaire because the application DB's are trashed.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I used to have direct clients, when I was a gasp... consultant. I always made sure when I made my bid, time estimates etc. that I was very clear that my code would be maintanable. I never lacked for work, and had happy clients... Sure, I had to work really long days and missed a lot of sleep, but I'm picky :0)

[Bruce Kurtz]

It's been a long time since I had a math class, so
how does [2^31 -1] +1 =-2^31 ? I don't see how you end up with a negative number

Bruce

[zeromus]

Even in cases where I could get away with doing maintainable code by working nights and weekends, I sometimes cannot justify it to myself. Why spend three weeks doing it right, when I could spend a week doing it wrong, and I am confident theyll end up being satisfied with what they get and never ask for more than a couple of minor tweaks every now and then? I just feel like I am ripping them off if I do it right.

Which is moot anyway because the bosses always bid in such a way that the wrong way is the only possible way to do it

[djf]

The convention is that if the high-order bit is turned on, it represents a negative number.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Which is moot anyway because the bosses always bid in such a way that the wrong way is the only possible way to do it

I didn't last long in jobs like that. FInally found that in Medical-related fields, if you can't do it right then it doesn't get done... Never been happier :0)

[zeromus]

I didnt last long in my first two jobs like that either... departed on unfriendly terms over ethical disagreements -_-

[forsnax5]

Re: Maintainable code.

The single biggest favor you can do for yourself is to write simple, obvious, documented code. Put it in callable subroutines, modules, or "daemons," and use it over and over.

The two biggest jerks that I have to work with on a daily basis are both me.

The first one is me last year, who considered the piece of code that I'm looking at now to be so obvious that it didn't require annotation.

The second one is me next year, who is such a dummy that he wants me to put notes on everything!

:)

[Chad Fairbanks]

Believe me, I understand - but ever since I became anal, I've been really happy and less sptressed ;0)

[firewalk]

bttt

[mommybain]

Perhaps you are not aware of the ever-increasing migration of American IT jobs to India?? I'm supposed to complete all of my outstanding programming projects (and there are several of them) by November of this year so that I can "begin working on new development" while Covansys India backfills the maintenance of our old mainframe system. You guys figure it out.

As far as a perfect IT education goes, I have a BA in music and have been an IT professional for 18 years. I agree with the earlier posters who maintain that the best IT folks are those who don't have IT degrees.