Undergraduate programming

From CrossTalk, The Journal of Defense Software Engineering: “It is our view that Computer Science (CS) education is neglecting basic skills, in particular in the areas of programming and formal methods. We consider that the general adoption of Java as a first programming language is in part responsible for this decline.”

JavaSchools are not operating in a vacuum: they're dumbing down their curriculum because they think it's the only way to keep CS students. The real problem is that these schools are not doing anything positive to attract the kids who are really interesting in programming, not computer science. I think the solution would be to create a programming-intensive BFA in Software Development--a Julliard for programmers. Such a program would consist of a practical studio requirement developing significant works of software on teams with very experienced teachers, with a sprinkling of liberal arts classes for balance. It would be a huge magnet to the talented high school kids who love programming, but can't get excited about proving theorums.

When I said BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts, I meant it: software development is an art, and the existing Computer Science education, where you're expected to learn a few things about NP completeness and Quicksort is singularly inadequate to training students how to develop software.

Imagine instead an undergraduate curriculum that consists of 1/3 liberal arts, and 2/3 software development work. The teachers are experienced software developers from industry. The studio operates like a software company. You might be able to major in Game Development and work on a significant game title, for example, and that's how you spend most of your time, just like a film student spends a lot of time actually making films and the dance students spend most of their time dancing.

There are already several programs going in this direction: a lot of Canadian universities, notably Waterloo, have Software Engineering programs, and in Indiana, Rose-Hulman combines a good software engineering program with a co-op program called Rose-Hulman Ventures. These programs have no problem attracting lots of qualified students at a time when the Ivy League CS departments consider themselves lucky if they get a dozen majors a year.

In the meantime, think about how many computer science departments earned their reputation by writing an important piece of code: MIT's X Window, Athena, and Lisp Machine; CMU's Andrew File System, Mach, and Lycos; Berkeley's Unix; the University of Kansas' Lynx; Columbia's Kermit. Where are those today? What have the universities given us lately? What's the best college for a high school senior who really loves programming but isn't so excited about lambda calculus?

Students: Fog Creek Software has awesome summer internships in New York City. You get free housing, free lunches, lots of free New York activities, and a chance to write great code with great developers. And a competitive salary. Apply today: we only have four open positions and usually get hundreds of applications, which will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

About the Author: I'm your host, Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Since 2000, I've been writing about software development, management, business, and the Internet on this site. For my day job, I run Fog Creek Software, makers of FogBugz - the smart bug tracking software with the stupid name, and Fog Creek Copilot - the easiest way to provide remote tech support over the Internet, with nothing to install or configure.

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