Re:Why Many Computer Science Programs Are Stagnating
by _asummers on Saturday July 04, 2015 @09:55PM
(#9832247)
Very much this. CS programs force you to look at the various theoretical aspects of CS, such as algorithm analysis, formal verification, type theory, etc. The idea is that you will come out of it with the raw tools such that if you WANT to go into industry, you will have the fundamental skills to be able to learn whatever it is you need to learn. Hopefully you learn some programming chops along the way.
4 years of web dev is useless. 4 years of iOS and Android development is useless. 4 years where you learn systems programming, functional programming, distributed systems, OO, concurrency, parallel algorithms, algorithm analysis, compilers, networking, that all pays off in spades. Not to say people without these degrees can't do that. Not at all. But having the fundamentals instilled in you helps mold your mind for when the next thing comes along.
What my 4 year CS degree have me was a better understanding of the macroview of computer systems. It makes me consider "just spend $$$ on more memory" rather than "spend $$$$$+ tweaking the code". It allows me to quickly find issues related to computer systems from hardware/server setups/designs, networking, specific hardware, and software interactions. Its viewing the forest instead of the individual trees.