Junior developer woes
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You read the occasional story about how lots of 30 year olds are moving home to live with parents.
It's a mark of how fucked up the housing market is in some places.
(I was actually talking about other aspects of being an adult, such as the ability to purchase substances like alcohol and tobacco, and the ability to vote. I forgot about house buying…)
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It's a mark of how fucked up the housing market is in some places.
I think it's more about their relationship to the job market. Not that housing isn't crazy in a lot places.
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Not that housing isn't crazy in a lot places.
They're about to start building a bunch of townhomes about a mile from where I live that will START in the $600's*. And I'm in suburbia**, mind you.
*That's 600 x 103 dollars, obviously.
**Somehow, one of my friends was able to get a 2-story single-family home with a finished basement about 5-10 miles away for under 300k.
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Off by one. I'm the abacus generation.
I must be in the slide-rule generation then...
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IIRC Spock only ever laughed because he was a half breed although that does raise the question of why Sarek and Amanda Grayson were an item.....
The Final Reflection[1] gives a non-canonical answer.
[1] Unless that was the second book, in which case the first one is it.
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In it was a concept called Laplace Transforms[1]. I didn't get it the first time around. You know what? I failed.
Hands up, people who are familiar with "Modern Algebra". In my school, the class was required for CS and Math majors. The first day, the prof told everyone nobody else took it, and that Math majors took an average of two tries to pass, and CS majors three.
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If by "Modern Algebra" you mean "Abstract Algebra", is me favorite mathematics!
So groups, rings, fields?
My experience was, if you remember "Discrete Math"(Left inverse implies Injection, Right inverse implies Surjection) you were okay. If you hadn't taken a proof heavy class in last year-and-a-half you were fucked. As you should have been.
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The Final Reflection
The Wikipedia page for that book contains this depressing bit: "In "Requiescat in Pace, John M. Ford", Eric Burns suggests that the popularity of Ford's inside look at Klingon culture, and his positive portrayal of Klingons as an honorable people by their own lights (not simply stock villains), also influenced the canonical depiction in later incarnations of Star Trek, paving the way for honor-driven Klingons like Worf, and episodes that would likewise explore Klingon culture in more depth than the original series had done."
The Klingons in TNG and later were gorram awful parodies, and nothing like those of TFR.
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If by "Modern Algebra" you mean "Abstract Algebra", is me favorite mathematics!
So groups, rings, fields?
Yes. MA is what they called it where I went to college.
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Fair enough, I think that is a
UKRest-of-the-world vs US thing. Modern algebra seems more appropriate to me but ya know, USA, USA, USA!
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Modern algebra seems more appropriate to me but ya know, USA, USA, USA!
I actually vote "abstract algebra" -- both as an affirmative vote for it and a vote against "modern algebra."The vote against is easier to explain: that's exactly the kind of name that easily gets outdated. Then you either stick with the now-incorrect name or have to change it (in which case you might as well just start with a better name from the beginning). It's arguably already quite outdated, considering that the term "modern" algebra has been in use for something approximating a century now. How dumb will that name be in another couple hundred years?
The vote for "abstract" is precisely that. "Modern" doesn't actually tell you anything about what it's talking about, just about the chronology of when it was developed. "Abstract algebra" tells you that it's going to be an abstraction of the kinds of things covered in elementary algebra, which it is.
"Abstract algebra" is a more descriptive name that isn't inherently eventually an oxymoron.
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"Modern as of 1908 Algebra" just doesn't have the same ring to it, huh?
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True, but if you're going to keep giving a mandatory course, you're going to have to invest that time. The fact that the pass rate goes back up to 80% indicates that you've not got too many basket cases, but you might need to look at varying the emphasis of what is taught, or the examples used, so that the less-than-willing realise that this stuff is relevant to them anyway and that this is something where they're going to have to stop fucking around and get on with learning.
+1.
Emphasis mine.
This is sorely lacking in many courses.
I was fortunate in High School to take Physics and Calculus in my senior year. Learning very early that position -> velocity -> acceleration -> jerk are merely successive differentials in Calculus, and the reverse are integrals, made understanding the math being taught in Calculus so much easier.
My second time through Laplace Transforms, the professor gave an example of a control system: heating/cooling control in your home. Hey, this stuff has a purpose! One could argue that in most cases using it is like spending most of the day using the Calculus Curve of Mensuration to determine how much dirt/rocks are in a barge instead of just reading the tick marks on the side, but hey - PURPOSE nonetheless!
Digital class: professor opens first class by turning the lights on and off several times. Seems pointless, right? Until he explains that that's all a computer understands under the hood - ON and OFF (logic states 1 and 0), which are (typically) voltage ranges 3.3V+ and 0-0.8V. Put that in combinations, and you can do useful stuff - differentiate a letter "A" from a command to shut down the nuclear reactor plant, for example.
Bet some of you developers never realized that all you're doing is artfully playing around with switches in computers to make them dance for you. :P
What's common in all this? A purpose to the material is provided, leading to an application (putting to use) of the material to real life. With that, you have a chance at getting the student's interest.
Sometimes, you might only get one or two students in a class of 100 to "get it." But that's one or two more students that now get something out of the material instead of wasting everyone's time, and that is what makes the effort worth it.[1]
[1] As an anecdotal side note, it's always very gratifying to have a student come back to you and tell you something like (dramatic example that actually happened): "Before that course, I couldn't confront the 12:00 blinking lights on my VCR. After, I (long story short) handled a wiring problem our HVAC installers got wrong the other night when it dropped to nearly freezing, and I was able to get the heat working myself!" Nothing beats that feeling that you were able to help someone gain an ability like that.
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All everyone needs is a parentally-instilled distrust of everything around them, necessitating that they themselves understand the underlying math/physics/anything behind how everything works.
Best part: researching everything anyone says about anything to understand the fundamental principles behind it to verify accuracy.
Worst part: researching things your parents say, only to find that somewhere past age 40 years, EVERYONE stops being able to recognize the difference between opinion and fact.
Filed Under: Interesting study showed that college age kids aren't "liberal" just because the world is turning into liberals... they're liberal because it's at that age when kids go to college that they are most likely to question the validity of everything around them and form very liberal opinions rather than just trusting the elders. But eventually they all come back to the "get off my lawn" phase.
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I actually vote "abstract algebra" -- both as an affirmative vote for it and a vote against "modern algebra."
I just looked and the course is currently "Abstract Algebra." It's possible the course was so named when I took it, but that was 20 years ago.
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I just looked and the course is currently "Abstract Algebra."
This seems to pose the question: is there such a thing as "Concrete Algebra"? And if so, what is that?
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Maybe this?
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Hands up, people who are familiar with "Modern Algebra"
Heh...I took it as a senior. I remember telling people in my non-math classes that I had to do my algebra homework. They usually looked at me funny. Sometimes after I told them about my homework, too.
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Fair enough, I think that is a UKRest-of-the-world vs US thing.
IIRC, the class was called Abstract Algebra, but the book we used was titled Modern Algebra.
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IIRC, the class was called Abstract Algebra, but the book we used was titled Modern Algebra.
True classic, that one.
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So groups, rings, fields?
This stuff looks very cool. I've trying to pick it up but really have been too lazy The books I've found don't give anything in the way of examples or illustrations... it's abstract, after all... but even a simple met
haphor or analogy to motivate the abstraction would help.In school, I somehow got chucked straight into Topology, skipping Algebra, and was baffled...
As I am by this:
My experience was, if you remember "Discrete Math"(Left inverse implies Injection, Right inverse implies Surjection) you were okay. If you hadn't taken a proof heavy class in last year-and-a-half you were fucked. As you should have been.
are you describing?
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In school, I somehow got chucked straight into Topology, skipping Algebra, and was baffled...
We did a bit of topology at the end of Real Analysis.
The books I've found don't give anything in the way of examples or illustrations... it's abstract, after all.
My professor was a terrible teacher. A brilliant mathematician, just a worthless teacher. So of course, I ended up taking something like 4 courses with him.
I pretty much had to learn from the books in his class.
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A brilliant mathematician, just a worthless teacher
That describes so many of my teachers and lecturers. People who are so expert in their field that they seem to have completely lost track of which parts lesser mortals find difficult or unintuitive
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My professor was a terrible teacher. A brilliant mathematician,
Basically this. He talked at the board and looked out the window a lot... Probably really really good at the research.
IRC, the courses seemed to be sequenced Analysis I (Real), Analysis II (not Real, we never had a name for it), then Topology. Never did figure out what course contained Algebra...
I was lucky that Topology was completely an elective course... so I could (and did) drop it.
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This here is pretty cool, I think:
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Analysis II (not Real, we never had a name for it)
This is usually called Complex Analysis, I believe. I never took this, sadly (I was a double major, and took some extra linear algebra / number theory stuff instead, which I don't regret at all). Our Real Analysis was a two semester course.
Hmm...I think you could probably call my Number Theory course Concrete Algebra. It was basically looking at particular cases of stuff you do in Abstract Algebra.
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is there such a thing as "Concrete Algebra"? And if so, what is that?
The stuff you learn in grade school?
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The books I've found don't give anything in the way of examples or illustrations... it's abstract, after all
If I wanted to learn it now I would bite the bullet and take the college course. It's very dense stuff. My teacher would do that thing where he'd fill up 5 blackboards with a single proof. Sometimes he'd fill two or three, realize he'd made a mistake, and back up. Learning it on your own seems like an exercise in futility.
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are you describing?
Injection and surjection describe, IIRC, how the range and a domain of a function map to each other.
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If I wanted to learn it now I would bite the bullet and take the college course.
That's a thought. College courses come with level-1 and level-2 support built into the upfront cost ;)
I should look around for an online (MIT-like) course - the hard part will be finding the right course (see discussion above about what everything is named).
...or... I'm not tooooo far from qualifying for the "Golden Ticket" [1] tuition deal at the local state college...
[1] Golden, as in "Your Golden years" - retirees.
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Injection and surjection describe, IIRC, how the range and a domain of a function map to each other.
mapping things one to another is basically my default way of thinking... and I have never seen these terms*... TIL
*in this context - otherwise see "Injection, Fuel", "Injection, SQL", or "Injection, Ow! My arm hurts!"
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Includes nice pictures.
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Interesting study showed that college age kids aren't "liberal" just because the world is turning into liberals... they're liberal because it's at that age when kids go to college that they are most likely to question the validity of everything around them and form very liberal opinions rather than just trusting the elders. But eventually they all come back to the "get off my lawn" phase.
I think another factor is that most college kids haven't had to work a real job and support themselves yet, so they know the value of everything but the cost of nothing.
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Bet some of you developers never realized that all you're doing is artfully playing around with switches in computers to make them dance for you.
Ok this forum's full of dumb idiots, but none of us are that dumb.
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Basically this. He talked at the board and looked out the window a lot... Probably really really good at the research.
Or maybe he's terrible at both but a great flim-flam artist.
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Or maybe he's terrible at both but a great flim-flam artist.
Or maybe I was terrible at learning Topology...
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Or maybe I was terrible at learning Topology...
The bit I remember was nothing like what I thought it would be. All about sets and how they cover each other. Interesting, but not what I thought it'd be.
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Or maybe I was terrible at learning Topology...
So, recalling being terrible at learning Topology*...
Does anybody else remember that their math books always had as their first chapter "Sets" ?
In Kindergarten, it was "A Herd of Cows" and "A Pride of Lions", but it was Sets...
You moved into unions and intersections, Venn diagrams...
The Calc book talked about mapping the set of points on the real number line, etc..
Does anybody else remember this?
My kids' math education is completely different. (For one thing, no math book for each year.)
*Finishing my opening thought...
I think what convinced me I was over my head in Topology is that the first chapter on Sets started on page 1 with terminology and definitions I had only heard of, but not had in any class.
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All about sets and how they cover each other. Interesting, but not what I thought it'd be.
Exactly. I thought it would be (at least a bit more obviously) related to the neato cool stuff we had in "College Algebra" in H.S.
E.g. Euler's formula on edges, vertices, and faces; Color-mappings...
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Bookmarked for follow-up, got too much going on to focus on a 10-minute non-work video.
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@redwizard said:
Bet some of you developers never realized that all you're doing is artfully playing around with switches in computers to make them dance for you.
Ok this forum's full of dumb idiots, but none of us are that dumb.
You just had to take a playful perspective on something and sour it by taking it seriously, didn't you? Boo on you.
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My kids' math education is completely different. (For one thing, no math book for each year.)
Mine too.
No materials - TRWTF right there, before the students even get started.
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For a spilt second there I thought OP WAS THE JUNIOR DEV and that he was fixing issues created by a more senior dev. Not that it's unheard of... just rare.
Note to self: Need to be more attentive when reading.
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For example, the teacher cannot control how prepared the students are.
Nice anecdote incoming:
One of my professors at university once opened his first lecture of the semester with a round of questions regarding previous knowledge acquired. Just a few basic terms and such. A few by counting of hands, a few via answering some direct questions shot at random people. (And if you dared snicker, you were next on the list or asked to critique on your peer's explanation.)
At the end of that round, he went back and grabbed his paperwork containing the notes for that lecture, tidying the stack theatrically by tapping on his desk a few times. You could almost feel the air becoming ionized.
He walked back forward to address everyone, straightened his back and said: "Right! You, you, you and you!" (pointing directly at a few of the students) "You either lack the required prerequisite knowledge or think this is going to be a free ride. It will not be a free ride and it will be hard. Frankly, it will be hard enough to find the requisite time to get everyone else that is actually intent on succeeding across the finish line. I do not want to waste any of my time or your peers' time on you and likely neither do they. Stand up, leave now and do not return next class. We will wait."
Best damn course EVER.
Concrete Mathematics - Wikipedia
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