Re:MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures...
by GFischer on Friday January 29, 2016 @06:51AM
(#10994693)
Karnaugh maps are taught to programmers (on college/university courses) too :) at least in my country, I'd be very surprised if they aren't in the U.S.
I'd actually mostly forgotten about them :) .
Re:MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures...
by bsder on Friday January 29, 2016 @05:04PM
(#10998874)
I only pull K maps out once or twice a year when some programmer absolutely insists that a conditional is correct when I can see that it isn't.
When I teach the class to programmers, state machines are the far more important concept I try to drive home. I use state machines all the time when programming.
Re:MIT dean to start new university: “No majors, no lectures...
by JoeAltmaier on Friday January 29, 2016 @05:08PM
(#10998911)
...and state machines are hard to represent in most languages! That is a real pity. Its part of the one-dimensional nature of text-based programming. While state machines are two or three-dimensional ideas.
Gonna argue with this one from the standpoint of Electrical Engineering.
I would argue that almost everything up through junior year gets used every day. Basic circuits and basic digital never quits being relevant (I have pulled out a Karnaugh map every now and then to demonstrate to some programming folks that their conditionals were wrong). Basic electronics and op-amps similarly.
Once you hit junior year, the courses get specialized and don't get so much daily use--electromagnetics, digital signal processing, control systems theory, communications system theory.
The problem is that you don't know which one you like until after you take it. And before you take it, you're not useful to a company, either, so intern/apprenticeship doesn't help.