Subj : Self-taught thinking (was: Software Job Market Myths)
To   : comp.programming,comp.software-eng
From : rem642b
Date : Thu Aug 18 2005 12:51 am

> From: "Phlip" <phlip...@yahoo.com>
> ... Bob Maas ...

It's rude of you to call me by some nickname that I don't use and don't
like.

> he seems to have a formal training and experience in _thinking_,

The only formal training I had in thinking was when I took a
one-semester 2-unit class that used "Creative Analysis" workbook and
the game WFF 'N PROOF. It was supposed to increase my I.Q. by ten
points, but I missed the I.Q. test at the end because R.O.T.C. fucked
up my schedule with a conflict, so I never did learn whether the course
changed my I.Q. at all.

Most of my thinking was self-taught. For example, I invented various
things during elementary school (algebra of one variable as aid to
solving word problems, converting common fractions to a
continued-fraction notation whereby they could be bitwise compared) and
high school (simple way to analyze bridge circuits, better way to do
tallies) ...

> which obviously can't compete with the modern crop of kids taught to
> treat their debugger like a video game...)

Way way way back when I first started using computers, I found a
booklet called "You and the Computer" which had a simple explanation of
what computers do and how you tell them precisely what you want them to
do. Sometimes I wish that booklet were required reading and
understanding in school, so kids would understand what's happening.

.