Re: Are 'best' universities being targeted

[cis.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!csc.ti.com!tilde.csc .ti.com!mksol!mccall@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (fred j mccall 575-3539)]

In <1993Aug10.020538.14104@seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman
) writes:

>In article <244lpj$8t@schonberg.cs.nyu.edu> dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) wr
ites:
>>Well spoke John Biedler! In fact I think a lot of the "leading
>>universities" are turning out computer science students who not
>>only do not know anything about software engineering and construction
>>of large programs, but, much worse, they *think* they *do* know
>>something which makes them dangerous rather than useless. This is not
>>surprising given that the majority of the faculty members in such
>>departments know nothing about such things themselves.
>>
>You said it was OK to discuss Ada's role in all this. The thread started
>with a remark that the "leading universities" aren't doing much Ada.
>I opined that that didn't matter all that much; that it's quite OK
>for someone to change the definition of "best universities" to 
>"those that teach good software engineering, in particular with Ada."

>This time, Robert, we are in violent agreement. Whew.

But isn't this the same sort of 'triple-think' that leads people to
question all the good things that can be said about Ada?  Simply
redefine 'good' to mean 'Ada'?  How much credibility can praise for
the language have if people see it as coming from that kind of
mindset? 

I agree that it really doesn't matter what students are being taught
in, particularly, as long as they are learning principles of good
software engineering.  I even agree that many of them aren't.
However, I have to disagree with the idea that you can redefine 'good'
in this way -- you have to look at what the 'good' schools are without
regard for language and then look at language.

On that basis, I think the original statement that the 'best'
universities aren't doing much Ada is quite true.  I am not, however,
convinced that that is meaningful insofar as saying anything about the
language itself or its use (and usefulness) in industry goes.

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
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Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.