Sunday, April 6, 2008

Homework: visit your old CS department

First, some interesting news: in Fall 2008, the University of Waterloo will teach first-year comp sci courses with Scheme (and some C and Python).

UW isn't the first school to do so, but gives a shot in the arm to the growing ranks of schools that are moving away from teaching OO languages in the first year. Professor Prabhakar Ragde notes in the comments that this will impact 400 CS majors a year, plus about 700 non-CS Math majors.

I didn't do my undergrad at UW, but I was there for an intense, wonderful 2 years in the graduate program. When I saw the familiar name of Professor Ragde, I started poking around the website for old times' sake. (Sadly, I didn't take any classes with Ragde. He has a great reputation.)

Wow. Memories came flooding back, and I discovered that many professors have their own blogs. The little surfing expedition consumed hours.

Here's your homework assignment:

Visit your old school today! There's a chance that some of your favourite professors are still there and have blogs.

It's like Googling for Ex's Lite: all the nostalgia, without that "creepy feeling" aftertaste.