Gah
Why the FUCK would you go into Computer Science if you don’t understand elementary-school mathematics? Of the dozen or so people in my Java class, only TWO knew how to add fractions (which was relevant to some exercise), and one of them was me. Later on, multiplication of fractions came up. Most of them started by finding a common denominator. One of them was looking for a common numerator.
A bit later, one of them made some off-hand comment about “the last five digits of pi”, saying “they hadn’t been discovered yet”. He didn’t fucking know pi is an irrational number.
This would annoy me in an arts department elementary school. In Computer Science, it’s just inexcusable.
It’s a fucking miracle anyone could get to age 18 or 19 without picking up anything in the way of a general education while still being able to dress themselves in the morning.
Fuck.
cracki said,
May 10th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Hahahaha. I guess that’s what you get when you take a *JAVA* class. Java is still the hottest manure out there, at least the CEOs think that. So, the useless ones only ever bother to learn Java because mentioning it in your resume gets you a job.
Try some functional language. You will still hear them joking about the digits of pi, but you’ll laugh /with/ them.
Cairnarvon said,
May 10th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Unfortunately, it’s not optional. Most of the curriculum is set in stone, and Java is in it for the first five semesters.
As far as other languages go, we get a different one every semester. Last one was some kind of assembly language, this semester it’s Cobol. No idea what the next one is.
Terras said,
May 10th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Learn Stimula and Smalltalk~
Busman said,
May 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am
That’s nice coming from a guy who didn’t pass math.
Mertens said,
May 11th, 2007 at 8:30 am
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3060/stallowned5wk.jpg
Cairnarvon said,
May 11th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Do you need me to explain the difference between passing tests and understanding what you’re doing, in an education system that encourages rote memorisation and blind adherence to standard algorithms?
“Financial algebra” isn’t a legitimate field of mathematics.
Busman said,
May 11th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Ofcourse you don’t have to :)
I’m just pointing out that eventhough those “trained monkeys” as you like to call them/us had to freshen up their math again, they still passed more exams then our self-proclaimed-most-intelligent-student in school did.
But then again, it’s obviously not easy being an intellectual, not that I would have any idea of how that feels.
Cairnarvon said,
May 11th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Mh? Most of them didn’t, and even if they did, this isn’t the type of math you “freshen up” on anymore than you freshen up on the fact that 1 + 1 = 2.
(If you’re talking about the exam itself, I did pass that, and I passed it quite adequately. I lost points because I never showed up for class and didn’t take the tests during the semester, though.)
Busman said,
May 11th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
ah sorry, I must have confused passing the exam with actually passing the course itself.
For some reason the latter one sounds more important, perhaps you should look into it ;)
Cairnarvon said,
May 11th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
No, what you’re confusing is motivation and intelligence. A lot of people do that, but you might want to be careful before you make it the premise of an argument.
Anyway, since you’re only here to troll, I think it’s time for you to leave.
Livia said,
July 25th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Some of my classmates were amazed that I could multiple single digit numbers in my head. Then again, we’re in a technical college.
Cairnarvon said,
July 25th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Better to be a technical college than to only technically be a college, like mine.