I know it’s been a while since I posted, but since the only traffic this blog seems to get is from my post about Hawaii, it doesn’t seem like much of a point to update regularly.

But, since I’m bored, I figured I’d make a short post about my Ph.D. classes. I’m halfway done w/ the required classes. I only have my electives and 2 required classes left. I should be starting on the dissertation next year. > more <

I was just accepted to a university to start on my Ph.D. School doesn’t start until October but that’s fine. I don’t know how much time the Navy will give me to work on the degree anyways.

One of the reasons I haven’t posted in a long time is because I have been deployed so bloody much. Working on a Ph.D may clash with the schedule, not to mention the spotty Internet connection we have when we are at sea. > more <

I finally completed my Master’s degree last week. It only took less than 2 years, quite a bit quicker than the 7 years it took to finish my BS degree (being deployed on submarines and dealing with the aftermath of 9/11 didn’t help). > more <

Found via Slashdot, some professors at NYU have written an article in a software engineering journal about the hazards of teaching students Java as their first programming language. It’s very enlightening, especially when they talk about the advantages other languages have to offer for problem solving. They also talk about how CS, as a discipline, is declining since students aren’t learning the fundamentals needed to actually solve problems; all they know how to do is fit the right part into the project and hope it works. When it doesn’t, they are at a loss to deal with it.

Here’s a quote from the article:

Because of its popularity in the context of Web applications and the ease with which beginners can produce graphical programs, Java has become the most widely used language in introductory programming courses. We consider this to be a misguided attempt to make programming more fun, perhaps in reaction to the drop in CS enrollments that followed the dot-com bust. What we observed at New York University is that the Java programming courses did not prepare our students for the first course in systems, much less for more advanced ones. Students found it hard to write programs that did not have a graphic interface, had no feeling for the relationship between the source program and what the hardware would actually do, and (most damaging) did not understand the semantics of pointers at all, which made the use of C in systems programming very challenging.

It is worth noting that the authors do have an interest in the Ada programming language, being part of AdaCore Inc.  Obviously they make a stand for learning Ada, so there is some bias to be expected. However, some of the ideas coincide with what I’ve learned over the years, especially having taken Java as my first programming course.

Personally, I think I learned more when I taught myself Python. It was the first time I actually understood OOP even though I “learned” it through Java and C++. I guess ultimately it’s whatever continued learning you do that makes you better. School is designed to make you “well rounded” and expose you to different ideas. Learning what’s needed to actually excel in your chosen field is left up to you.

I finally got a chance to upload my MS degree papers to Google Docs. Below are the links to the new papers. As before, if you want to use them somehow please let me know. Thanks. > more <

Well, I figure it’s about time to harvest the power of the Internet and see what happens.

I plan on getting out of the Navy next June and so I’m starting to get my resume in order and see where to send it. Naturally I’m looking at Monster, et al. but for many large Internet job sites, it’s like looking for a job in the classified ads: you’re just one of several thousand resumes mass mailed to prospective employers. It’s even worse now in the digital age; it takes nothing to email a resume so a lot of people essentially spam employers in the hopes of “shotgunning a job”. > more <