28 Apr
2016
28 Apr
'16
6:23 p.m.
On Thu, 28 Apr 2016, Rich Alderson wrote:
I received undergraduate and graduate degrees in
historical linguistics;
That is an interesting field of study. I don't really understand a lick of
it (talk about jargon! nobody beats linguists) but it's neat. As academic
fields go, I'd do operations research if I ever went back. Those guys seem
to be the brusin' bad dudes of math when it comes to getting things done.
all my computer science background is due to my own
self-directed
study--and I do mean study. I've read any number of primary papers and
books in the field, since that study made me better at using computers
for what I really wanted to do.
I've read some Dijkstra, Knuth, Jacob Ziv, and some stuff by David
Wheeler, Martin Hellman, and a few others. The math for the last three is
pretty well over my head but I got about 80%. What I read is mostly for
implementation and "applied" reasons, but it's still interesting.
I've implemented compilers, and even my own Lisp
interpreter, just for
the fun of it.
Making compilers is fun. I've done it a couple of times using Jack
Crenshaw's old papers (and he quotes Chomsky!). The lexical scanning tools
are a lot better, now though. It's actually not too bad of an exercise if
you don't have to extend or maintain the language afterwards. :-)
As you might imagine, I'm a good bit older than
either of you; I started
at university (since you both want to equate "college" with "trade
school"; in the US, we usually say "go to college" even if the
institution grants higher degrees as well)
It just seems like using the world "college" irritated fewer people when I
implied that training & education were not mutually exclusive. It feels
like some folks really recoil at that idea for universities. I just wonder
how they apply that same principle to law school, nursing, metallurgy,
etc... All (at least) 4 year degrees from universities where you'd darn
well better come out with some training, or you are going to be in
something of a pickle (failing the bar, losing your license, burning your
face off, etc..). Maybe it's only for CS, since that's all we've mostly
been talking about, and that's fair.
before Liam was born. I was married and in grad
school by the time
Swift came along.
I was born in 75, graduated (high school) in 1993, and dropped out of
college in 1998.
I'm sorry that Swift took amiss my intended humor,
but it's sparked an
interesting long thread.
Ah, did I? Sorry about that. I'm always game for a good joke.
-Swift