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Re: [LUG] Linux @ University of Plymouth

 

On Monday 11 August 2008 22:26, Aaron Trevena wrote:
> 2008/8/5 Dave Foxcroft <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> > Ross Bearman wrote:
> >> I'll hopefully be joining Plymouth as a Computer Science undergraduate
> >> this September and was wondering if anyone on the list is currently
> >> studying at Plymouth, previously studied at Plymouth, or just happens to
> >> know about the state of Computing there.
> >
> > I Graduated from UoP last year - topped up from an HND - it's a great
> > place - never had any problems with any of the staff - all very
> > dedicated and willing to help if you have any problems.
>
> I graduated from UoP in 2000, from the CSN course before they dumbed
> it down (and added extra requirements) and when Cisco still came
> cherrypicked the best students.
>
> I'd say the most important things to make a difference both to the
> degree and the value of your time in uni are :
> * Learn some practical programming skills - how to do unit tests, how
> to use a debugger, how to find common bugs, when to walk away from the
> keyboard- they won't teach you this at uni and it means you're more
> likely to get your coursework and exersizes done with time to do it
> well and not get tripped up before you get anywhere, which can be a
> big problem when you're out of your depth.
Unit tests and learning to debug are THE best things you can do in computing. 
I was self taught in computing and used them as (I thought) crutches. I 
worked later with coders who could write 1000 lines of 99.99% good code. 
I'd do maybe 200 lines and some unit tests. I'd have stable software in less 
than 20% of the time that the lightning coders but was regarded as a 
shirker!!!!!  With well constructed unit tests you can find system errors in 
a single click. It may make little sense to you at first but keep at it.
Learn Knuth - "the art of computer programming".
Learn to throw code away - its a lot better to start again than try and twist 
100,000 lines to do what you now know they should do rather than what you 
thought they would do when you read the (now rewritten) spec. Especially as 
you didn't put in enough unit tests!!!
Go read Knuth again.
Dont be afraid to prototype systems - making almost empty objects that maybe 
just write the line " Object.Function called with ...." to a console just to 
get a feel for whats happening. I don't think you can be a good coder without 
being a good systems architect and vice-versa. Alas, when you get to this 
point you will have to learn to kill managers without being caught.
People learn from their mistakes - I know more than most!
Tom te tom te tom


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