Comments on: Summer ‘05 or just Fall ‘05?

By: Val

Val — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:23:01 +0000

So either way it appears that I’m in for a busy semester. I do know what you mean about continuously learning stuff though, I’ve seen that to be true - it’s how I got into PHP - a better way to do the norm.
Thanks for the info, Owen, sorry I didn’t reply earlier… :)

By: owen

owen — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 18:40:51 +0000

I suppose that’s alright. I think it’s weird that they’re specifically mentioning Oracle, since Oracle costs $$ compared to, well, pretty much anything else. Even Microsoft’s SQL Server has a light version that is either free or packed with development tools (can’t remember, it’s been a while).

In this class, you’re likely to learn all sorts of things that you can’t do in practice. For example, MySQL is a very common database in the “real world”. MySQL doesn’t support the full SQL92 syntax (saying that Orcale does a better job is understating things a bit) and so when you try to run all of those fabulous subqueries that you can do in other tools, you’ll likely spend a day trying to figure out what’s wrong, and then how to do without.

Part of the problem with classes on computers is that they never teach practical use. Theory is good to have, and you need to cover the foundation well (Windows applicaiton programmers who don’t learn about the Windows API should be sent back remedially!), but there is practical experience that you can’t get out of school.

So realistically, these class topics are probably as good as you’re going to get anywhere. My point is that (and I’m sure you’ve noticed this by now) your formal education is only going to scratch the surface; introducing you to a small subset of what computer work is actually out there and the concepts involved.

The one weird thing you’ll find with this industry, unlike something like, say, home construction, is that you must learn new things continuously. There is always something new to learn. Could you imagine not being well-versed in HTML before the next crop of browsers is unveiled? It would be a nightmare of catch-up.

By: Val

Val — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 18:00:11 +0000

Well you’d think if that class was so important [programming logic] that they’d offer it in the evening, especially in the Fall!! Ah colleges can be dumb.

Well, this VB class is required, so oh well. :)

What do you think of the one called Oracle, SQL & Database Design? It says for the description of that one Database Techniques explore the design and use of electronic database software.

By: owen

owen — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 16:36:36 +0000

Well, it’s certainly useful to have some pre-existing procedural programming experience before moving on to the massively alternative thinking that is OOP (used in VB.net and Java). And there are a ton of companies still out there running plain VB, so it’s not useless. But you know, Microsoft isn’t developing non-.net tools any more. On the plus side, you can probably find a copy of VB6 for cheap.

OOP is something that takes most people a considerable amount of time to understand well. Hopefully your Java class doesn’t ignore that aspect. It’s probably why you need the prerequisite Programming Logic.

By: Val

Val — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 16:17:24 +0000

Greeeeaaaaaaatttt…

This is what the online course description says although I’m an idiot and accidentally threw away my book catalog thing:

Introduction to Visual BASIC Programming is an introductory course in event driven programming in the Microsoft Visual BASIC. language a popular Microsoft Windows based programming language. Students will learn the full range of this language through lectures and programming projects.

By: owen

owen — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:29:40 +0000

Visual Basic is an application development language - no server required. Although it’s going to be a waste of time if it’s not Visual Basic.net, because anything that’s worth working on is moving in that direction.